With the 2024 football season quickly approaching, all eyes are on Texas and Oklahoma as they enter the SEC.
Many questions surround these programs, but there is no bigger question than how each program will fare in the country’s best conference. The Longhorns will have high expectations for the upcoming season, but I believe that the Sooners have more to prove next season.
Expectations for Texas are high, and they should be. They are coming off their best season under Sarkisian, going 12-1 and qualifying for the college football playoff. Of the four playoff teams, Texas is the only one to return their head coach and starting QB.
Don’t get me wrong, Texas still has a lot to prove. After all they accomplished a season ago, many are still asking “Is Texas Back?”. It’s a fair question, but given their success last season, including a win against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, combined with all that they return as well as a favorable schedule, Texas looks poised for another strong season.
The Sooners, on the other hand, are a bit of an enigma as they enter the conference. They have yet to play an SEC team under Venables and have a challenging schedule ahead of them as their schedule features matchups against Tennessee, Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama, and LSU, with 4 of these 6 games being on the road.
Not to mention, they lost starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel to the transfer portal.
I believe that the Sooners are heading in the right direction under Venables, but this feels like a significant juncture in his tenure at Oklahoma. The level of competition is increasing massively as they jump from the Big 12 to the SEC. While there is plenty to be excited about, the case for the Sooners asserting themselves as a top tier SEC program is rooted entirely in the hypothetical.
What if the Sooners take another step forward under Venables? What if they can endure their gauntlet of a schedule? What if they don’t lose a beat with a new QB? What if their defense continues to improve? What if they can compete along the line of scrimmage against physical SEC teams?
The answers to these questions will determine if the Sooners are a top SEC program or a middle-tier team at best, and only time will tell.