Texas football recognizes final Big 12 conference title inside DKR Memorial Stadium

Conference realignment is about to rock college football as the moves of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC and several teams from the Pac-12 to both the Big 12 and Big Ten become official with the 2024 season.

But there’s still plenty of time left for nostalgia.

And Texas might have brought on a bit of that on Monday morning when it unveiled a new addition to the walls inside Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium. The Longhorns officially unveiled the recognition for last season’s Big 12 title, the last for Texas in the league, with a ’23’ way up high. Check it out below.

New stadium addition pic.twitter.com/76gWmWdeS2

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) March 25, 2024

While the Big 12 title was Texas’ first in more than a decade, with the last coming in 2009, it might not be so long between the next conference title. The Longhorns are returning a loaded team in 2024 as they head to the SEC.

Texas will have lofty expectations heading into the SEC, coming off one of the most successful seasons in recent program history in 2023. The Longhorns reached the College Football Playoff, falling in the semifinal to Washington 37-31 in a thrilling contest.

But the Longhorns have a lot of firepower returning, starting with quarterback Quinn Ewers. Ewers is coming off a season in which he threw for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns.

He’ll be one of the early front-runners for the 2024 Heisman Trophy.

The Longhorns have also added considerable talent through the NCAA transfer portal, some that Ewers will rely on in his pass-catching corps. Oregon State receiver Silas Bolden, Alabama receiver Isaiah Bond and Alabama tight end Amari Niblack should all prove bona fide weapons.

Of course, the transition to the SEC won’t be easy. The schedule promises to be a bear.

And, in fact, the schedule gets tough before Texas even gets into the conference portion of the slate. A road trip to Michigan in the second week of the season will be a very good early test of Texas’ mettle.

From there, Texas will face games against Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida and Texas A&M (on the road). Get through the gauntlet relatively unscathed and the Longhorns will have earned the right to be a College Football Playoff team, in all likelihood.

In any case, Texas’ entry to the SEC is right around the corner. But now the Longhorns also have some lasting proof of their dominant exit from the Big 12.