A seismic move years in the making is finally here. How will the newest members fit in what has been CFB's best conference?
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables talks about Oklahoma joining the SEC with Texas and opens up about the college football landscape changing. coach three and a half years ago, Sarkisian laid out his vision of what it would take to make the Longhorns a national power again to the school's administration -- university president Jay Hartzell, board of regents chair Kevin Eltife and athletic director Chris Del Conte. Sarkisian cut straight to the point.
And when you throw in Oklahoma, which won it all in 2000, eight teams that will play in the SEC this fall have won national championships over the past three decades. "Everything matters. There's a very small margin for error," Venables said."There are so many things that decide games in this league, and you better be ready for all of them. How ready are we? We're going to find out. Until you're in the middle of it, you don't really truly know. So it would just be conjecture on my part. As I said, we'll find out.
"I think back to that offensive line we had at Alabama in 2020," Sarkisian said."We had great skill people, too, but having the guys we had up front, the number of them, was something you just don't see very often. I know that's where we have worked so diligently here. It wasn't so much the defensive line when I got here, but the offensive line. We had to do a complete makeover.
"The good thing for us is that the plan to build this roster really didn't have to change from what the initial plan was. We knew the road to winning a national championship was going to go through Alabama, Georgia and those teams.History suggests that championships could be few and far between for the two SEC newbies, although the playoff moving from four to 12 teams this season should make opportunities more plentiful.
"I've never been in a league where you've got to play the depth of the teams we will every single week. You don't concede anything, but in the same breath, you have tremendous respect for what it's going to take to be successful." On the field, Del Conte said he has consistently told his athletes that"whoever you play, it's their Super Bowl. It's the power of the brand."One of the many things about moving to the SEC that was so enticing to Texas, according to Del Conte, was being able to renew rivalries with Arkansas and Texas A&M. Plus, the Longhorns didn't lose their annual showdown with Oklahoma.for the foreseeable future.
Schiller said the SEC wasn't as interested in Texas A&M at the time and that A&M officials also had some issues with a move to the SEC. Of the two, Oklahoma looks to have the more perilous schedule within the league. The Sooners play six teams in ESPN's latest preseason Top 25 rankings, with four of those games away from home.
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