SEC Media Days Storylines: Texas is a conference championship contender during its first year in the league
Tennessee hasn’t won a Southeastern Conference championship since 1998. For Ole Miss, the Rebels haven’t taken home a SEC title since 1963. Mississippi State has just one conference title to its name, and it was all the way back in 1941. Realignment additions like Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas A&M have never won a SEC title. Vanderbilt, a charter member of the SEC, has never finished No. 1 in the history of the league. Tulane, who left the league in 1965, has more SEC titles than Kentucky.
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Amid all those teams trying to win their first SEC Championship, either ever or in decades, Texas is looking to win the conference title during its first year in the league. And the current prevailing wisdom is that Texas has a better chance than all those programs to win the SEC in 2024.
Pundits are one source of confidence in the burnt orange. Lindy’s picked Texas to make Atlanta but fall to Georgia (in a rematch) in the SEC Championship. Phil Steele didn’t project a SEC champion, but he did label Texas the 1B to Georgia’s 1A in the league.
Also, Texas has a high-powered offense under the direction of head coach and play-caller Steve Sarkisian. Sark has elite pieces on offense, including On3’s top group of quarterbacks in the country, the No. 2 offensive line unit, the No. 3 wide receiver room, the No. 9 running back stable, and a quality tight end room
The defense doesn’t has the same highly-touted position groups, at least according to On3’s eyes. But a veteran secondary, a talented linebacker corps, and a portal-bolstered defensive tackle group playing alongside the best group of EDGEs Texas has had since Jackson Jeffcoat and Cedric Reed were on the 40 Acres in 2013 look to do more than repeat what was a quality 2023 campaign anchored by T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy.
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The betting markets see what the preview mags and national analysts see. Texas currently carries the second-best odds to win the SEC on FanDuel. Georgia leads the way at +185 and the Longhorns are right behind them at +350. Alabama is third with +700 odds. Sportsbooks can be fickle considering allegiances and notoriety often dictate the odds, but when dealing betting beaus like Georgia, Texas, and Alabama, the odds are what the odds are.
“The gauntlet” of facing SEC teams with greater depth is a common chirp from opposing fanbases who feel like the Horns aren’t quite ready for what they’re walking into. Plus, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is good for an emblematic quote for his old friend Sark about what playing an eight-game schedule in the sport’s most competitive conference is like.
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Despite all the varying opinions on how Texas might fare in weeks 2, 4, 6, 10, or whatever Saturday piques the most interest, the Longhorns enter 2024 as a favorite to win their new league in 2024. If Texas get its druthers, 2024 will look a lot like the program’s first year in the Big 12 in 1996 and end with a conference championship after a debut campaign in a new conference.
