The Southeastern Conference is shaking things up in the 2024 season with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

In the larger scheme of things, the information of Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC set in motion an earthquake that shook the College Football world. The Big 10 and the ACC quickly followed suit, adding new teams and when the dust settled, we were left with 4 major conferences, the PAC-12 seemingly being picked clean of teams.

The SEC is now sitting at 16 teams and the question is: will they keep expanding or should they keep expanding?

It should be no surprise as to why Texas and Oklahoma were added. Money.

By adding Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC added two major programs who have huge followings and bring a significant revenue stream. Hell, Texas has its own television network. It seems as if the other conferences saw the writing on the wall and added other big programs while they could before the SEC could come in and pick them up.

We’ve seen UCLA, Southern Cal, Oregon, and Washington to name a few make moves after the SEC picked up Texas and Oklahoma.  On its face, it appears as if other conferences believed the SEC would not stop with Texas and Oklahoma.  While the Big-12 still exists, and the ACC has good teams going into the 2024 season, Clemson, Florida State, and Miami will be competitive, it is clear that the SEC and the Big-10 are the top two conferences.

So, what is the SEC’s endgame? Of course, adding revenue is great but was there something more the Commissioner was looking to achieve with these moves?  Looking ahead to the 2024 season, CBS had 3 SEC teams in the top 5 and 8 teams in the top 14. The talent that will be in the SEC this year will be unmatched.

The SEC is now maybe 6-8 teams away from having every major team that draws national attention these would be teams like Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Oregon, and a few others. Were the SEC to add these teams, they would be able to exercise control over the NCAA. If the SEC took every team of national significance, which as stated above isn’t that many teams, would be able to do whatever they damn well please regardless of what the NCAA says.

At that point, the SEC could hold their own playoffs and have their own championship because they would control all of the money coming into the sport.  

So, was the ultimate goal of the SEC to keep expanding to engulf the NCAA and be able to set its own rules for the sport? Seems as if it was or still is a possibility. Obviously, we do not know what happens behind the scenes at the SEC and what they really wanted. But it seems that with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC has inched closer to being able to claim the role of the governing body of division 1 college sports.

Only time will tell but the coming years will be very telling for the SEC’s plans moving forward.