Tennessee vs Texas: It looks like the SEC has officially made the call on who is 'the real UT'

When news initially broke that the Texas Longhorns were going to join the SEC, one of the first questions that was asked was whether or not the Tennessee Vols or Texas is "the real UT".

Vols head coach Josh Heupel went viral at SEC Media Days last summer when he gave his opinion on the topic.

"There's only one real UT and only one real right shade of orange," said a grinning Heupel last July.

Well, it looks like the SEC agrees with Heupel.

In the SEC's release detailing the media's preseason All-SEC teams, Tennessee is referred to as "UT" while Texas is referred to as "Tex" (H/T Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel).

That only seems right.

Tennessee, after all, has been a state for nearly 50 years longer than Texas.

And as Vols offensive lineman Cooper Mays noted this week, the state of Tennessee had to help Texas out of a jam during the Mexican-American War.

"Oh man, all I know is we were going 50 years strong before Texas was a thing," said Mays at SEC Media Days. "Then we had to go down there and save them a little bit, so that's what I got to say about it."

Unfortunately for SEC fans, Tennessee and Texas aren't expected to play each other until 2026 -- unless the two teams meet in a College Football Playoff game before then (which is certainly possible).

Related: Tennessee Vols football officially has its main bulletin board material for the 2024 season