The SEC College football media days have been centered around Texas. Even though teams, the media, and players for months have been claiming that Texas was going to be just another member of the conference, you wouldn’t know that walking around SEC Media Days.
Up to this point, outside of a few small side storylines, such as the SEC’s lack of interest in expansion and the lack of details on how a tiebreaker will work in conference now that there are no divisions, the topics have been constant, and they all revolve around Texas.
Storylines Surrounding Texas
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Everyone knew Texas and Oklahoma’s entry into the league would be a huge storyline. After all, the move set off the recent realignment blitz, which has led to 17 P4 teams either joining or moving up to a P4 conference, including the complete demise of the Pac-12 conference.
It also helped that Texas played in the College Football Playoff last year, making them one of the most relevant teams.
Still, SEC media and coaches insisted that Texas coming into the league was just another team, and they wouldn’t be getting any special treatment. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Since Media Days began on Monday, here are some of the storylines that have come out.
- More questions about Texas than Alabama, Georgia, or any other team have been asked. LSU coach Brian Kelly was asked about them, and they don’t even play this year.
- ESPN/SEC Network coverage has been constantly talking about the Longhorns.
- Many believe that Texas will win the SEC, and that conversation has come up multiple times.
- The most talked about quarterbacks are Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning.
- When Steve Sarkisian took the podium, there were more questions and energy than at any other time during the Media Days.
Sure, Texas is the new team, but what about Oklahoma?
Oklahoma Sooners Seem Like an SEC Team
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Oklahoma, like Texas, is brand new in the SEC, but you wouldn’t know it by the lack of attention it is getting. Sure, there have been a few “We’re glad to have Texas and OU in the conference” remarks, but for the most part, OU may as well be South Carolina or Kentucky.
What’s crazy is that outside of 2023, Oklahoma has been the much better team in the last decade. Oklahoma has had multiple Heisman trophy winners and played in four CFP Playoffs, while the Longhorns have only played in one.
For reference, Oklahoma has more playoff births than anyone not named Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, or Ohio State.
Yet, crickets.
What does this show? Either Texas’ brand is so big that, regardless of their lack of success over the last decade, it outweighs Oklahoma’s actual success, or it shows how much recency bias matters in today’s college football.
It is likely a combination of the two, but leaning more towards recency bias. In today’s college football, where teams see complete roster turnover with the transfer portal and NIL, each year feels like its unique story where history doesn’t matter as much as it once did.
“Everyone wants to talk about Texas. Every coach, all they’ve been asked about is Texas.”@LateKickJosh on Texas fatigue already kicking in at SEC Media Days 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/OEr6WwrEGM
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) July 17, 2024
What’s Next?
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It will be interesting whether Texas remains the talk of the SEC or if this is more of a honeymoon phase that will eventually lead to them being ‘just another SEC team’. If the latter happens, how will Texas react? They are used to being the conference’s leader and getting their way.
Oklahoma is already being treated as an average team. While not the brand of Texas, OU is also used to being the face of their conference and having a lot of influence on how things go. Now, as clearly just another team, it will be interesting to see if OU doesn’t start to miss the Big 12, where getting access to the Playoff was easier and they had much more influence.
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