For years it’s been echoed throughout college football that the Southeastern Conference boasts the most challenging competition a team can face. Nine out of the now-16 schools in the conference have won a national championship title, with three of those teams landing in the top five of the latest AP Poll.
The difficulty of competing in the SEC is about to set in for the Texas Longhorns — or might be avoided, in the eyes of rivaling fans and sports analysts.
Back in July, CBS Sports college football writer Will Backus ranked each team’s schedule difficulty, putting Texas at No. 14. He claimed it has a clear pathway to the playoffs.
The Longhorns have already put away their first ranked win over a non-conference opponent in Michigan. Skimming through the rest of Texas’ schedule as it enters SEC play, there are currently three ranked teams: No. 21 Oklahoma, No. 2 Georgia and No. 24 Texas A&M. The rest include Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky, who all combine for a record of 10–10 through four games.
However, now that things have been underway for nearly a month, there have been plenty of moments where even the best in the country have revealed weaknesses while playing seemingly mediocre programs. Beginning in week one, then-No. 10 Florida State was shocked by an unranked Georgia Tech team in a 24-21 dogfight.
In week two, Northern Illinois handed then-No. 5 Notre Dame a brutal two-point loss on its own turf, a matchup that supplied head coach Steve Sarkisian with ample motivation for his players.
“I walked them through the Notre Dame scenario, of them going into College Station a week ago and winning that game and being anointed a top-five team and in the college football playoff, and a week later, losing to Northern Illinois,” Sarkisian said during a media availability on Sept. 9. “I showed the clip of Northern Illinois storming the field this morning as a good reminder that we are entitled to nothing.”
Within the SEC, week three delivered a scare to former-AP Poll leader Georgia, who scraped by with a one-point win over Kentucky, allowing Texas to take over the No. 1 spot. Week four saw then-No. 6 Tennessee hold on to a 25-15 victory over then-No. 15 Oklahoma in what was expected to be a cake walk for the Volunteers, and Vanderbilt nearly caught up to then-No. 7 Missouri in overtime.
When it comes to college football, there’s no such thing as an easy opponent or a guaranteed win. Ahead of the team’s first conference matchup against Mississippi State on Saturday, Sarkisian reiterated the importance of looking at every game as one step closer to becoming conference champions and that one mistake can hinder that progress.
“The way we look at it, this is an SEC championship game. And just like we used to when we were in the Big 12, like every week in this conference, especially with the amount of teams and no divisions, you better try to finish at the top if you want to get into the SEC championship game,” Sarkisian said.
Perhaps the toughness of a team’s schedule isn’t the deciding factor in who will survive to see a championship, but rather the consistent determination and preparation that goes into each week, regardless of the rival.
Sarkisian makes sure to instill that perspective into his players daily. “Our guys believe in our formula for success. I think they believe in preparation, this group, most importantly,” Sarkisian said. “The preparation, the practice that creates the confidence to just go play … I think they’re so focused on what we need to do that we stay really consistent in our approach throughout the week.”
