We all know by now, that beginning in 2025, Texas and Oklahoma will join the Southeastern Conference. Not everyone agrees, not everyone is happy and that’s to be understood. Moving on from the Big 12 to the SEC will not go without reproach from fans, remaining schools stuck in the Big 12 (without arguably their biggest competitors, i.e. their $$$) and in this case, even the legislatures are holding nothing back when it comes to the upcoming move.
The real kicker here is that Texas’ own senate came straight for the throat of Texas’ existence. Senator Lois Kolkhurst took all opportunities to shame UT President Jay Hartzell with no reserve. Koklhurst began by asking Hartzell how much the athletic budget is, Hartzell replied that it was around $225 million, and without hesitation, Kolkhurst commented, “And that’s without a winning football team”.
Ouch. But the fun didn’t end there.
Hartzell attempted to defend the Longhorns honor by stating “We’ve been winning, just not like we like to win,” to which Kolkhurst burned what we thought was the last of Hatzell’s dignity by snapping back, “3-7 against the Horned Frogs”, a nod to her alma mater, TCU. The icing on the cake was Kolkhurst’s quote that will never be forgotten.
“Maybe your fanbase would rather lose to Alabama than TCU.”
texas Senator lois Kolkhurst
Senator Lois Kolkhorst (a TCU alum): “What’s your athletic budget?”
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) August 3, 2021
UT President Jay Hartzell: “Probably $220-225.”
…Kolkhorst: “And that’s without a winning football team… 3-7 against the Horned Frogs.” pic.twitter.com/rcJawSpr06
Now that Texas’ own senate has pulled the rug right out from under them, SEC fans now have to deal with newfound heckling from Texas and Oklahoma diehards. So what’s the argument here really? These teams barely see each other until playoffs and bowl games, and recently, those games have gone in the SEC team’s favor. So where does the cockiness come from? What pedestal are Texas and Oklahoma standing on that makes them believe they’ll come to the SEC and dominate?
In comes the social media sports experts who post things like this and roll with it with zero research that gives an entire fan base false hopes.
Wait… What?
First things first, let’s look at where all of these wins came from.
76 of Texas’ “SEC wins” come from their in-house rival Texas A&M, 18 against Missouri, and 6 against Ole Miss. A&M and Missouri, as well all know, didn’t enter the SEC until 2012. Not to mention the last time Texas played Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt… they lost.
Oklahoma isn’t looking much better on this front as Missouri counts for 67 of their wins and A&M at 19.
So CAN Texas and Oklahoma really handle SEC competition? I guess we’ll see in 2025.
