Nick Saban believes Texas, Oklahoma will 'add a lot' to competition in SEC

Texas and Oklahoma may not join the SEC until 2024, but that didn’t stop the two teams from being a topic at SEC Media Days in Nashville this week.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked about the addition of the Sooners and the Longhorns on the horizon, giving a detailed breakdown of what they bring to the conference and how their addition with impact competition around the league.

“I think it’s a great addition to the SEC, I mean you’ve got two great programs that have great traditions, that have great fan support,” Saban said. “The map of the SEC is stronger than ever, I think the competition it’s always been difficult, it’s going to be even more challenging because you’ve got two really really good programs who have consistently if you look at the past have been top 10 programs for a lot of years, won national championships. So they’re going to add a lot to the competition.”

Along with Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference, 2024 will also debut a new scheduling format for the conference featuring no divisions, eight conference games, and one mandated non-conference game against a Power 5 school. Giving fans something new and exciting to look forward to and coaches a new level of competition to prepare for.

“I think with the new scheduling that we’ll have in the future is more good games for fans, more diversity in who you play, so there’s a lot of positives about it. From a coaching standpoint it’s going to be much more challenging to be able to compete week in and week out because I think when you look at the SEC the thing that separates it is not the top, but the depth,” Saban said. “How many good teams there are.”

There’s no doubt that the addition of two powerhouse programs makes the strong Southeastern Conference even stronger, but having a gauntlet of a schedule is nothing new for Saban and the Crimson Tide.

“There was one year where I think we played nine teams that were in the top 15 or something, I can’t remember what year,” Saban said. “A lot of that was playing good teams in the playoffs, playing a good team in the SEC Championship game, but you also played a whole bunch of good teams throughout the course of the season and that’s one of the biggest challenges I think.”

A tough regular season schedule may present a challenge, but winning and successfully navigating through it will definitely benefit the Crimson Tide or any other SEC team that does so when College Football Playoff season rolls around in the future.

“To be able to play with the level of consistency when you six, seven, or eight really difficult games as opposed to two or three. Because consistency in performance in playing at a high level becomes a premium, which in all sports that’s always the challenge. How are we going to play this day? And how are we going to accept this challenge and do it week in and week out?” Saban asked.

In the new, loaded SEC, the team that can play the most consistently on a weekly basis versus some of the nation’s top talent will likely thrive. But for now, Saban’s focus is on returning to the SEC Championship in the current iteration of the conference.