In its final season in the Big 12 Conference, the Texas Longhorns took home a league title. Finishing with an 11-1 regular season record, Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns took it to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game, winning 49-21.
It was a dominant year for UT, but that was far from the norm for Texas over the last several seasons. In fact, the 2023 conference title was its first since 2009 and was just the second such time that the Longhorns were in contention for a Big 12 title.
It is true that Texas and Oklahoma took 18 of the 30 total Big 12 football championships with them to the SEC. However, the Longhorns account for just four of those.
The folks in Austin (Tex.) seem to remember things a little differently from everyone else, as several media members who cover the team have commented on how the Longhorns were “running” the Big 12 before leaving for the SEC.
Former Alabama head coach-turned-media-member Nick Saban set the record straight on Texas and how they’ll fare going into a new league.
“What kind of tickles me is all these people asking questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in,” Saban said during SEC Media Days. “They’re not gonna run the SEC. There’s a whole lot of arrogant people in a lot of places in the SEC. They can forget all about that. They’ll be a good team and a great program and Sark will do a great job, but that’s not gonna be a problem.”
The Longhorns enter the 2024 season with some of the highest expectations of any program in the country and are considered one of the favorites to win an SEC title, trailing only Georgia in preseason hype.
Texas will kick off the 2024 season against Colorado State on Saturday, August 31, with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT.
