Nick Saban takes shot at Texas: 'They’re not gonna run the SEC'

It's a whole new world for the Texas Longhorns.

They were the cream of the crop in the Big 12. Alongside Oklahoma, the Longhorns were the most respected program in the conference.

The Longhorns — and Sooners for that matter — are now part of the SEC, though. The conference "where it just means more" has always boasted elite football programs, so the sight of Texas running out of the tunnel may not be as intimidating for opposing teams as it once was.

That's, at least, what Nick Saban thinks, and he knows a thing or two about SEC football.

“What kind of tickles me is all these people asking questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They’re not gonna run the SEC," Saban said at SEC media days, per On3 . "There’s a whole lot of arrogant people in a lot of places in the SEC. 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.”

Saban is right that Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has the Longhorns in a great place. They were a College Football Playoff team last season and should be a championship contender this season.

In terms of long-term dominance, though? Outside of what Saban did at Alabama, that's just hard to pull off.

In the Big 12, the Longhorns usually just had to worry about Oklahoma and sometimes Oklahoma State. In the SEC? There's Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Auburn which have been tough lately, but that's not even mentioning historically great programs like Florida, Tennessee and Ole Miss.

Oh, and Oklahoma is still there as well.

The SEC is going to be a gauntlet, and Texas is going to have to learn that the hard way.