Texas Longhorns Coach Explains Biggest Reason For SEC Excitement

The Texas Longhorns have officially joined the SEC, ending a 28-year run as members of the Big 12.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is pumped to begin life in the new conference, and he has two big reasons why: Texas A&M and Arkansas.

The Longhorns forged fierce rivalries with the Aggies and the Razorbacks years ago, but things cooled off once Texas A&M and Arkansas moved to different conferences.

In the case of Arkansas, it left the Southwest Conference to join the SEC in 1991 (Texas would join the Big 12 in ’96). Meanwhile, Texas A&M departed the Big 12 to link up with the SEC in 2012.

Now, Texas will get to renew two old-school rivalries.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Sarkisian said, via Matt Galatzan of Sports Illustrated. “We’re looking forward to renewing rivalries with Texas A&M and with Arkansas. We’re one of the few schools with realignment that has benefitted from realignment that we’ve gotten some rivalries back, and so we’re looking forward to those things, as well.”

Texas is looking to re-establish itself as a national power

The University of Texas a storied history in college football, but there is no doubt that the Longhorns’ influence has waned in recent years.

Texas has not won a bowl game since 2020, when it defeated Colorado in the Alamo Bowl. It didn’t even qualify for a bowl game in Sarkisian’s debut campaign in 2021, and it lost in the Alamo Bowl and Sugar Bowl, respectively, each of the last two seasons.

Not only that, but the Longhorns have not played in a national championship game since January 2006, when Vince Young led them to a win over USC in the Rose Bowl.

Since 2012, Texas has logged double-digit victories just twice, most recently doing so last season when it went 12-2 and saw its season end with a 37-31 loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl.

Heading into 2024, however, the Longhorns boast one of the most talented rosters in the country and may very well reintroduce themselves as a national power in college football.

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