Column: Texas, Oklahoma college football teams step it up, join SEC
With phone in hand, junior Zoey Lee takes a look at the latest college football news, acknowledging CBS’s “Texas, Oklahoma joining SEC” article. In the attached column deals with Oklahoma and Texas decision to join the SEC. “I never would have thought that Texas or Oklahoma would join any other conference,” Lee said. “It’s unbelievable that this is becoming an unimaginable reality.”
September 30, 2021
Texas and Oklahoma have joined a new friend group – the Southeastern Conference – after 30 years of the SEC inviting them.
On Friday, July 30, the universities finally made a verbal agreement that the schools will officially be added to the SEC in 2025 after their contract ends. They decided to get out of their Big-12 shells and finally accept the SEC as their new click.
The conference has teams like Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, and one of the greatest, if not the greatest college football programs in the NCAA — with an unbelievable 18 national championships — Alabama.
Texas, who was ranked 15th in the nation, got their first taste of the SEC on the road against unranked Arkansas. They came out with a disappointing 21-40 loss experiencing the overwhelming and intensity of the Arkansas fanbase.
Arkansas and other SEC fans are now sparking the question, can Texas even survive in the SEC?
The answer is yes.
Although, they are rebuilding with many sophomores like Jordan Whittington, who was injured last year, but has come back stronger than ever, and is now ranked 1st for wide receivers for the Longhorns. Hudson Card, a redshirt freshman quarterback, and Casey Thompson, a junior quarterback, are both competing for the starting QB job.
Texas has moved up in the rankings to the third best recruiting class, making them able to get greater prospects for the future when the SEC comes around.
Again, the committees and fanbases are being their typical selves, expecting nothing but perfection for this Texas team. Especially after the Vince Young run in 2005 and winning the National Championship against the University of Southern California in 2006, in which the league has made expectations incredibly high for them.
Oklahoma on the other hand is in fact a perfect fit for the SEC.
Having players like Spencer Rattler, a sophomore quarterback who is in second for the Heisman, and having sophomore wide receiver, Marvin Mims, who was the first wide receiver in OU history to earn Football Writers Association of America, Freshman All-American status in 2020.
Oklahoma has been a consistent top 10 team since the 2015-2016 season. They played in the playoffs four times since it began with the four-team College Football Playoffs in 2014, but unfortunately lost all four times. Three of the four times were against SEC teams.
Nonetheless, Oklahoma has continued to compete and prove that they are more than ready to play in the SEC.
And thus, the chapter has come to an end for this quarter-century relationship with the Big 12. It’s time for new memories and new enemies, and only expect the best to come for the SEC in 2025.
