Tyler Booker compares SEC rivalries to Red River Shootout

The Alabama Crimson Tide had their fair share of familiar faces present at the 2024 SEC Football Media Days. At this year’s event Alabama offensive guard Tyler Booker answered a few questions about the program he calls home. And he also shared his thoughts on the two newcomers to the conference, the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners.

While addressing the media, Booker discussed the storied rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. But he also explained that even though the Red River rivalry is an exciting matchup between two of the top programs in all college football, the SEC already has a few can’t-miss rivalry games of their own.

“They have a great rivalry, the Red River rivalry, but the SEC has them as well,” said Booker. The Iron Bowl [and] us playing Tennessee; this is a conference built off of tradition where we are blessed to have two storied programs in this conference to make it better”.

With the addition of the Longhorns and Sooners, the SEC is now home to rivalries that date back over 100 years. Including the group of Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Arkansas which were previously all part of the Southwest Conference.

Booker highlighted two of Alabama’s biggest rivalry showdowns with Tennessee and also in-state rival Auburn, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Alabama is also a long-standing rival of LSU, Florida, and Georgia. All of these programs, at some point in time, have stood in the way of each other’s dream of becoming a national champion, just as the Crimson Tide did to the Bulldogs last season when they captured the SEC crown.

Georgia and Florida’s annual showdown, also known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, is a historic rivalry that typically helped decide the fate of the SEC East division. Even down the line, with programs that aren’t often considered in the running for a national championship, there are exciting rivalries there, such as the Egg Bowl between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

When it comes to rivalry games, the SEC has no shortage of them. Texas and Oklahoma’s Red River matchup only adds to the conference’s impressive list of such games.