Pete Thamel believes Red River Showdown proved SEC ready

While Texas looks to rebound and Oklahoma aims to not get lost in the revelry of a rivalry win, the annual Red River Showdown on Saturday was an informative afternoon as both teams head into the SEC in 2024. For ESPN’s Pete Thamel, it affirmed that both squads are ready to hang around in new league.

Texas had already shown some signs that the Longhorns would be fine in the SEC, going to Tuscaloosa and defeating Alabama. But Thamel took a lot away about the Sooners on Saturday.

“I was not as convinced of Oklahoma’s SEC readiness. I did talk to one scout, and I’ll tell you what, usually when you talk to these scouts and they’re right, they remind you about it the day the game happens. And we had Texas around a dozen NFL guys when we talked about them going into that game. And he gave me Oklahoma around eight or nine. Right tackle [Tyler] Guyton will probably be their highest-drafted guy. But there is a depth of talent that is there. It’s not, ‘Oh my god, this is CeeDee Lamb.’ But the overall talent upgrade that Brent Venables has done has been significant,” Thamel said on the ESPN “College GameDay” podcast

He recounted the 2022 edition of Red River, when Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel didn’t play due to injury and Oklahoma was basically without functional quarterback play.

Thamel noted last Saturday was a big departure from that stinker a year ago.

“And look, Oklahoma’s struggles last year were epitomized by Red River. That’s when all the most eyeballs were on the them and Dillon Gabriel didn’t play. So, like, and quite frankly, I don’t remember who did, but they didn’t have a chance,” Thamel said.

In a game that will be an SEC league matchup a year from now, it was a different picture, as Thamel left confident both Texas and Oklahoma will enter the SEC with real designs on competing within the league.

“And the game was little bit of an arbiter of SEC readiness. You and I saw Greg Sankey on the sideline before the game. That will be on the SEC logo next year and a marquee SEC game. It’s always one of the best games. It’ll be interesting under that umbrella. We felt comfortable about Texas’ SEC readiness when they went and won in Tuscaloosa, because they were not pushed around, by any means. They did the pushing in that game,” Thamel said.