At long last, Oklahoma and Texas are now officially members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). As such, the conference that has LSU, Alabama, and Georgia in football just added two more powerhouses with Oklahoma and Texas.
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian spoke in great lengths about making the move over to the SEC, and the Texas football coach detailed what is the key to success as they go from the Big 12 to the SEC (h/t Chris Low of ESPN.)
“When I talk about beating those teams late in the year, that's why I say it. You're going to have to withstand the grind of a season and then beat those teams when it counts if you want to win a national championship.”
If you want to win in college football, you have to beat Alabama, Georgia, and others. But, Sarkisian admits they were already prepared in that regard, so that's a positive.
“The good thing for us is that the plan to build this roster really didn't have to change from what the initial plan was. We knew the road to winning a national championship was going to go through Alabama, Georgia and those teams. Now you might have to go through them more than once.”
The Longhorns are fresh off a College Football Playoff trip this past season where they lost to Washington, so Steve Sarkisian has to feel good about the direction of the program.
Steve Sarkisian returns to SEC, this time as Texas head coach
Sarkisian was in the SEC before as a coach. He was an assistant for the Crimson Tide in 2016 before going to the Atlanta Falcons and then returning to Tuscaloosa in 2019 and 2020. From there, he took the head coaching job with the Texas football program.
And, Sarkisian is recapping his time with Alabama: “I think back to that offensive line we had at Alabama in 2020,” Sarkisian said. “We had great skill people, too, but having the guys we had up front, the number of them, was something you just don't see very often. I know that's where we have worked so diligently here. It wasn't so much the defensive line when I got here, but the offensive line. We had to do a complete makeover.”
Sarkisian has now been at Texas for three seasons. After going 5-7 in the first year, they have won 20 games the past two seasons, although both postseason runs ended with bowl game losses (Alamo Bowl and then CFP).
Sarkisian has compiled a 25-14 record during his time with Texas and a 17-10 mark in the Big 12, but moving to the SEC will be a much taller task. The Longhorns 2024 schedule includes games against Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, and Kentucky, not to mention a non-conference game on the road against Michigan.
Texas doesn't face either LSU or Alabama in 2024, at least not in the regular season, but it will be a big change as Oklahoma and Texas go to the SEC amid a flurry of conference realignment moves.
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