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O’Gara: Oklahoma and Texas are now officially in the SEC, so here are 10 things to know about that

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

It’s official. Oklahoma and Texas are in the SEC.

That July 1, 2024 date that’s been circled on calendars for years is finally here. It’s a new era in the SEC, and really, it’s a new era in college sports.

In the history of the SEC realignment, you could argue that this one is the loudest. With all due respect to the likes of Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Mizzou, Oklahoma and Texas bring more athletic tradition than anybody that the SEC has added since the conference took shape back in 1932.

So what does that mean? And what should the non-Oklahoma/Texas fan be aware of as the conference expands to 16?

These 10 things:

1. ESPN will be funding revenue-sharing money for Oklahoma and Texas in 2024-25, not the SEC

This is how USA Today described that arrangement:

Oklahoma and Texas will be getting no money from the SEC’s primary revenue-sharing pool in 2024-25, according to the schools’ entry agreements. However, they stand to collect millions through football- and men’s-basketball-specific distributions that already existed under the SEC’s bylaws. They could receive additional money through other specially negotiated terms. And they will get what their agreements describe as “transition” payments being funded by ESPN.

That’s a nice little way of Oklahoma and Texas not having to be at a disadvantage from the jump and essentially having a third party smooth that transition from the Big 12 to the SEC.

2. Longhorn Network still exists, but in a different way

It’s a streaming service now. Instead of being able to watch Texas live events on LHN, those will now all shift to SEC Network or ESPN+. It’ll still have original programming and live programming like press conferences, highlights, behind-the-scenes looks at Texas Athletics, etc. It’ll be available on a free app for smartphones, tablets, computers and TVs with streaming service capabilities. But the original lynchpin in realignment in 2010, which had a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN is pivoting in a significant way.

3. Why I won’t judge Texas and Oklahoma football in the same way in 2024

For starters, Steve Sarkisian took over a year before Brent Venables. It shows. While Oklahoma won the head-to-head matchup last year, Texas won the Big 12 and got to the Playoff while the Sooners failed to earn a New Year’s 6 bowl bid for the third consecutive year. But I won’t judge Texas and Oklahoma in the same way because their schedules are wildly different. Texas got a significantly better draw than Oklahoma. How? Both are facing 8 different SEC opponents to make sure that every one of the SEC’s 14 original members will face Texas or Oklahoma. But Texas has just 2 matchups against SEC teams that won 8 games last year, one of which is Oklahoma. On the flip side, Oklahoma will face 6 SEC teams that won 9 games last year. The timing of the Sooners’ trips to Ole Miss and Mizzou was brutal while the timing of the Longhorns’ trips to Arkansas and Texas A&M (first-year coach) was ideal. Hence, a different standard in Year 1.

4. Brent Venables just signed that new extension

It’s essentially a $400K bump in annual pay with 2 years added to the original 6-year deal. I’ll disagree that it was a “significant” raise — he won’t even max out at $8 million at the end of the deal in 2029 — but it’s significant for Venables’ future because of the buyout terms. Any outside notion that Venables could be coaching for his job in 2024 should now be out the window with this new contract, which has the buyout at:

  • If he’s fired after 2024, he’s owed $38.8 million
  • If he’s fired after 2025, he’s owed $31.2 million
  • If he’s fired after 2026, he’s owed $23.475 million

Oklahoma has deep pockets, but it gave Venables this new deal after a 4-win improvement as a way to show the outside world that he has all the support in the world entering this Year 1 in the SEC.

5. “Horns Down” won’t be flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct unless it’s done so in a taunting manner

What’s a “taunting manner,” you ask? Standing over a ball-carrier after a big hit. Doing so after a touchdown will probably get the attention of the officials, too. They’re not going to be watching the sidelines and policing “Horns Down” on every opposing player. And for what it’s worth, Texas fans are much more tolerant of that than what some might think. It’s a badge of honor that others have Texas on their minds. Call it “rent free” if you will, but understand that a “Horns Down” is not a middle finger to Texas. Also understand that someone will likely get flagged for it at some point. If even Tim Tebow can get flagged for a post-touchdown Gator chomp at Oklahoma in the 2008 BCS National Championship, anybody is fair game.

6. Texas AD Chris Del Conte isn’t going to be afraid to shake things up

And I don’t mean that because he just pulled off the Jim Schlossnagle heist after hiding out at a College Station cemetery. Del Conte doesn’t really care about being as buttoned up as other athletic directors. He’ll speak from the chest with that Texas bravado. Case in point, when he went on with Paul Finebaum at the SEC Meetings and spoke about how great Florida-Georgia and the Iron Bowl were, but that there was nothing like the Red River Rivalry:

Del Conte is going to ruffle some feathers in his new surroundings, which is exactly how I’d expect someone in his position to act.

7. The SEC’s best new flex? Oklahoma softball

A record 4 consecutive national titles and 5 consecutive appearances in the title game is absurd. What Patty Gasso built in Norman is every bit as impressive as those peak UConn women’s basketball teams with Geno Auriemma, though he never reached the title game in 5 consecutive years. Dynasties in college sports usually don’t exist in the traditional sense, but whatever standard a “dynasty” is these days, Oklahoma softball has it in spades.

8. Why we shouldn’t be surprised if Arch Manning starts his first game in 2024

That’s not some hot take that Quinn Ewers is going to struggle and lose his job. Nah. I won’t bet on that. What I would bet on is Ewers missing at least 1 game due to injury. He missed multiple games to injury in each of his first 2 seasons as a starter. Maalik Murphy filled in admirably last year with Manning locked in as the third-stringer. But now, he’s 1 Ewers rolled ankle away from getting his first real opportunity to spin it at the college level. Something tells me that’ll make some headlines if that happens.

9. SEC football divisions are dead

You know, just in case you forgot. The arrival of Oklahoma and Texas means that the 2 teams with the best record in conference play will meet in Atlanta for the SEC Championship. We still don’t have a tiebreaker, but we do at least have a division-less SEC that’ll actually have the 2 best teams in the conference playing for an SEC title.

10. Texas-Texas A&M football returning is epic, but the Jim Schlossnagle reunion might be even more epic

As much as I’m fired up for Texas and Texas A&M to stop just battling on social media and to actually play football against one another for the first time since 2011, this baseball rivalry just reached peak levels with the Schlossnagle saga. Him leaving A&M for Texas would’ve always been high drama, but the fact that he left the Aggies just a day after taking them to their first College World Series final ever — when he denied that he was leaving — was gasoline on the fire. We need a great college baseball rivalry that draws national eyeballs. The Iowa-LSU drama was massive for women’s college basketball and dare I say, Texas-Texas A&M might do just that for college baseball. We need these teams facing as many times as humanly possible on an annual basis.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.

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