Texas is finally ready to play SEC football. Three years after announcing its move from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference, the No. 1 Longhorns open their first league schedule Saturday at home against Mississippi State.
“It's here,” senior defensive back Jahdae Barron said. “It's going to be amazing.” Steve Sarkisian was just about to start his first season as Texas coach when the deal was struck and the move itself was still years away.
The original plan had Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC in 2025. Their entry got bumped up a year through an agreement with the Big 12, and Oklahoma's SEC debut last week was a 25-15 loss to No. 5 Tennessee.
“I didn't know when I took the job that's what were were going to do,” Sarkisian said. “If you looked at the history of the College Football Playoff, the SEC is competing or winning the national championship. The thought was we had to build a roster and a team that could beat the best in the SEC.
” A trip into SEC territory the second week of the 2021 season was dismal. Texas was dismantled by old and future rival Arkansas. The Longhorns finished 5-7 that season, raising doubts whether a program that had been underachieving for more than a decade would ever be “SEC ready.
" The Longhorns answered that in 2023. The Longhorns beat Alabama on the road, won the Big 12 championship and made the College Football Playoff for the first time. Texas started this season ranked No.
3, smashed defending national champion Michi.
