The Southeastern Conference is dangerous, it’s littered with Gators, Bulldogs, Tigers, Wildcats and Gamecocks and, well, you get what I’m trying to get here.
This conference is home to some of the best teams in the country, with plenty of talent at its disposal. In the AP Top 25 alone, 10 out of the 16 teams in the conference occupy spots in the poll, The next best is the Big 10 with five and Big 12 with four.
As it stands, three teams are undefeated in SEC play at 3-0, seven have one loss, three have two and with another three having three.
The point is, Longhorns, nobody is truly safe here in the SEC.
“You guys are seeing the records in our conference,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “There’s a lot that’s going to happen. A lot of people are going to eat each other here as we go.”
In week seven, two conference games were decided by a field goal. In week five, four of them were decided by a touchdown or less. As Sarkisian mentioned, this conference is dangerous.
So, this week’s message to the Longhorn family is to take it week-by-week, to not focus on what’s ahead or what happened before.
That’s what Sarkisian is doing, at least. This is a survival conference, the only one that still has over half its programs still eyeing playoff berths. For Texas, they must live in a one-game-at-a-time mode.
“We’re one-and-one in conference play and moving on and moving forward like this is an SEC championship game for us,” Sarkisian said.
Kentucky is in the basement of the conference, still in search of that coveted first conference win. For a Texas team that is likely one loss away from being outside an SEC championship appearance and a playoff spot, every game is important.
As Texas moves forward, half the teams in the conference have to lose each week.
Fortunately for the Longhorns, No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 10 LSU will play this week, both teams with one loss in conference, one will have two after Saturday. No. 9 Georgia and No. 5 Ole Miss play this week, one loss between the two of them. Then No. 11 Tennessee and No. 5 Alabama, a combined 5-1 record in conference, one will fall in Tuscaloosa.
The following week, No. 4 Texas A&M travels to Baton Rouge to play No. 10 LSU. No. 5 Ole Miss will play No. 14 Oklahoma in Norman. And No. 17 Vanderbilt will host No. 16 Missouri.
There are two more ranked SEC matchups scheduled for the following week, two more the next and two more follow suit.
The only way to survive is to win and as Longhorns take on the Wildcats on the road, that is what they must do, or else Texas football will find itself too far down the standings, perhaps too far to hold a future in the postseason.
Just one game at a time, remember that.
