Greg McElroy reveals whether Texas or Oklahoma are positioned better to immediately succeed in SEC

Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC is one of the biggest future storylines in college football. Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy evaluated both football programs making the move in 2024.

As far as who can succeed immediately? That remains to be seen for the Longhorns and Sooners, since it’ll probably be matchup and schedule dependent.

McElroy evaluated the prospect with On3’s J.D. PicKell on The Hard Count.

“So much of it is matchup based you know what I mean,” McElroy said. “I’d love to be able to tell you holistically ‘Hey, this program right now Texas has more talent on the roster.’ But you know, it depends, I mean if they draw LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee in their first year, things aren’t gonna go well for the Longhorns. I think both are in for a little bit of a difficult transition.”

McElroy took a look back at when the SEC added Texas A&M and Missouri, saying it was much different compared to the Texas and Oklahoma additions.

“For instance, look back at when Missouri and Texas A&M joined the league, the league was not as strong in 2012 as it is now hence why Missouri backdoored their way into not one but two SEC championships,” McElroy said. “I mean, we’re talking about an SEC East that was in some ways unrecognizable back in the mid-2010s. So a little different era. But I do think Texas and Steve Sarkisian have an understanding of what it needs to look like. And of course they’re going to be active in the NIL world. 

“They’re going to be active in the portal world and I think they actually probably have the best roster returning in the Big 12. So the transition for Texas should be okay, but will they immediately ascend to the top of the league? I have a difficult time forecasting that.”

Texas could succeed right away but McElroy leaned towards Oklahoma based on history and optimism going into 2023.

“I’m also very optimistic on Oklahoma because much like what we just talked about with A&M, it can’t get worse than it got last year,” McElroy said. “That was the worst Oklahoma team arguably of my lifetime … They’re going to be back. I mean, they have a tremendous athletic department. And Brent Venables, he already knows how to recruit. They’ve gone through the portal he recognized quickly where their deficiencies were ‘Hey, let’s go get some D-linemen and let’s go make sure that we we have a young quarterback to learn under Dillon Gabriel. 

“I’m very optimistic about both Oklahoma and Texas this year. So I’m expecting, I know Texas didn’t have a down year last year by any stretch, but I’m expecting them to be at the top of the Big 12 this year probably. Maybe flirting with 10 wins wouldn’t shock me. And I would be shocked if Oklahoma is not somewhere between eight and nine wins in Year No. 2 for Brent Venables. 

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“So I think both are positioned well to transition but it’s really going to come down to who they draw in their permanent crossovers, and what things look like with some of their home and away games and those first couple of years.”