Heather Dinich predicts Georgia, Texas will battle it out for SEC championship

Following a contentious statement by Nick Saban on Texas, ESPN’s Heather Dinich took up for the Longhorns, predicting them to make the SEC title in year one as part of the league.

“What tickles me is people asking these questions about how Texas has always ran the conference they were in. They’re not gonna run the SEC,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban declared at the ESPN desk on Monday at SEC Media Days.

“There’s a whole lot of arrogant people in a whole lot of places in the SEC. They can forget about all of that,” he added. “They’ll be a good team and a great program, and Sark will do a great job, but that’s not gonna be a problem.”

Those are strong statements by Saban. When Heather Dinich reacted to those comments by him on Tuesday morning during a spot on ESPN’s Get Up, she turned the tables to assert that Texas may very well compete for the SEC title in year one.

“Well, with all due respect to Coach Saban, I’ll just remind everyone that Texas went to Tuscaloosa and beat them by double digits last year,” Dinich said. “So, there’s that, that’s why they were in the College Football Playoff last year.”

She went on to predict Texas and Georgia to stand head and shoulders above the rest in 2024, and expects they’ll meet at least twice.

“They should beat Georgia in Austin, that’s my prediction, and then play Georgia again in the SEC Championship and lose to the Bulldogs at that point,” said Dinich of the Longhorns. “They could play each other three times, because they might face each other again in the College Football Playoff if the seedings work out.”

Nick Saban may not believe Texas will run the SEC every season, but Heather Dinich certainly can see the Longhorns making a splash in year one.

“Look, this is the deepest team Steve Sarkisian has had there, and that is critical,” Dinich continued praising Texas. “Because if you are going to survive as many as 17 games to win the national title, the teams that have the depth are the ones that can do it.”

Heather Dinich makes her point clear: Texas may be new to the SEC in 2024, but the ‘Horns can absolutely win the conference and compete for a national championship. To do so, though, they might have to beat recent back-to-back champs Georgia not once but twice or maybe even three times.