In July 2021, Texas announced it would join the Southeastern Conference. At the time, it felt like a lifetime away, but the week is finally here.
Texas football will take on its first SEC opponent, Mississippi State, this Saturday. This past weekend, Texas was ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for the second week in a row. But is Texas ready to finally compete in such a high-performing conference?
Head coach Steve Sarkisian believes so and knows that Texas, while not always specifically preparing for the SEC, has always been preparing to win a national title, making the switch over a bit easier.
“It wasn’t that big of a shift from what we thought we needed to do to be a championship team here at Texas,” Sarkisian said. “Because if you just looked at the history of the College Football Playoff, the SEC is competing or winning the national championship year in and year out.”
The SEC is home to some of the biggest dynasties in college football, such as Alabama, Georgia and LSU. In this week’s AP Poll, five of the top six teams belong to the conference.
Facing daunting competitors, Sarkisian believes that having “mental intensity” is crucial for over the next eight games. However, Sarkisian and the entire Texas team have preached this season about taking it one week at a time and treating each game the same.
“Business as usual,” Sarkisian said about Texas’ SEC debut game. “Like I said, we believe in our formula for success and what that looks like. We respect that this is our first SEC game at home, and we’re going to embrace that side of it, but it’s not going to affect the way we prepare for the game and go about our business.”
As for the players, many are excited to start the SEC journey, some having grown up admiring the style of play that the conference was known for.
Senior edge Barryn Sorrell is from New Orleans and always watched LSU play, while fifth-year center Jake Majors watched Alabama every Saturday with his dad, a Crimson Tide fan.
“I’m just really excited to be a part of a conference that I grew up watching,” Majors said. “I grew up watching the SEC. I was always fond of the SEC and now I get to be a part of it. Back then, like you said, it seemed like it was so far away, and now it’s here, and I’m really excited.”
Sarkisian believes Texas is ready, based on his formula for success and a culture that can be seen across all of his athletes.
“The belief in our culture, the belief in the way we speak, in the way we talk and the way we act, I think, is real. It’s true to them” Sarkisian said. “I kind of get goosebumps when I hear what I say to them – and I’ve been saying to them for over three years – come out of their mouth, and they’re not thinking about it. It just flows naturally for them. And so now it’s not coach talk. That’s our team talk. That’s the way we’ve kind of been structured, and that just means that not only have they bought into what we’re saying, they’re living it.”
