Geography lessons, anyone? Texas is now in the SEC conference — and that feels wrong

College football has begun, and as always, I approach this time of year with trepidation. This is because my husband is a super fan of UT football. The Texas alum has been a die-hard fan for almost 50 years.

This means his emotional investment in every game is equal parts momentous and ridiculous. He’s had times of immense joy and also heartbreaking sorrow. As someone who primarily watches football for the snacks (specifically, pigs in a blanket), I can’t understand this level of passion. I came for the food and stayed for the game.

Upping the football drama this year is that Texas is now in the SEC conference. Even I, a mediocre football fan, have conflicted feelings about this. Heck, I’m still pining for the Southwest Conference.

Yes, I realize that the SWC was disbanded in 1996 so I really should have moved on, but to me it was a perfect conference. All the schools were geographical linked and most of the schools were in Texas so winner, winner barbecue dinner.

Even the Big 12 (pre-2023) made sense — kind of. The only “huh?” was West Virginia University, and I would consistently forget they were even in the conference.

I’m not embarrassed to share that when I saw Texas play for the first time in their brand-new conference with their helmets and jerseys emblazoned with the SEC logo, it just felt wrong. Just ugh on Alabama, Florida, Georgia and all the rest.

Seriously, what was a team with Texas in their name doing in the Southeast Conference? Is it any wonder U.S. students are perennial cellar dwellers in geography tests? Because for the love of Dr. Pepper (founded in 1880 in Waco), the state of Texas is not in the Southeastern United States.

When I was bemoaning all of this to my husband he said, “Well, imagine how Sanford fans feel. They went from the Pac 12 to the Atlantic Coast Conference.”

I had to concede that this was really messed up, but it in no way made me feel better. My husband suggested I just needed to ignore all the conferences. “Pretend they don’t exist because they no longer make any sense. Instead, just focus on each individual game.”

He then pointed out that the one amazing thing about Texas being in the SEC was that its rivalry with A&M is back on. This immediately brought a surge of happiness.

I’ve spent a lot of Thanksgivings watching UT play A&M. In fact, any good Texan’s Thanksgiving dinner was planned around the game. At my parent’s house if you weren’t stuffing your face you were trash talking A&M. It was pure bliss.

Then in 2012, A&M ran away to the SEC (UT lore says it’s because they were sick of losing to Texas), and Thanksgiving has never really felt the same.

Now I find out that the game is back on. Not on Thanksgiving Day (sadly) but on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Right now, I’m thinking my family might need to do a Thursday Thanksgiving and perhaps a Saturday Thanksgiving just so we can get all the feels back — because those feels were epic.

I’ll admit that might be way too much turkey and require a whole lot of cooking, but it just might be worth it to celebrate the revival of the rivalry. Hmm, it even has me considering getting some new UT swag.

Sure, if I get a T-shirt it will probably have the SEC logo on it, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. After all, I’ll need something burnt orange to wear when Texas beats A&M.

Reach Sherry Kuehl at snarkyinthesuburbs@gmail.com, on Facebook at Snarky in the Suburbs @snarkynsuburbs, on Instagram @snarky.in.the.suburbs, and on TikTok @snarkyinthesuburbs and snarkyinthesuburbs.com .