Texas Enters SEC Loud, but Numbers Say Horns Might Want to Quiet Down
FRISCO, Texas – Texas has come into the SEC this morning making a lot of noise. The bravado is thick.
However, anyone who has ever had to spend time in a conference with the Longhorns or live in the same state knows all that puffery and posturing is usually just a lot of hot air, including Arkansas Razorbacks fans. It's the quiet one, Oklahoma, that's typically dangerous, not Texas.
The expectation is that each team in the SEC will excel as a national championship contender in at least one sport that receives primary focus in the league. That means bringing home titles in football, basketball, baseball, softball or one of the track adjacent sports.
There are other sports the SEC prides itself in, gymnastics becoming one as of late, but not all schools compete. There are other sports in which the SEC also does well, but either no one can name which teams won a championship or not all schools have that athletics program, so the intense focus isn't as strong.
So, how does Texas stand up to the SEC expectation of being a national champion in these key sports? Well, the current make-up of the conference has 50 national titles, of which, the Longhorns have only contributed one.
That lone championship came in women's track. As a result, Texas trails nine SEC schools and is tied with three more for the amount of national championships in these key sports over the past decade.
The following is a list of SEC schools in order of national championships. Beside that number is the amount of conference championships won by the men and women of those programs.
Florida ...12 ...14
Arkansas ...10 ...49
Oklahoma ... 6 ...18
LSU ... 4 ... 6
Georgia ... 4 ... 2
Alabama ... 3 ...13
South Carolina ... 3 ... 8
Texas A&M ... 2 ... 3
Vanderbilt ... 2 ... 1
Texas ...1... 25
Tennessee ...1... 6
Mississippi State ...1 ... 3
Ole Miss ...1 ... 1
Kentucky ... 0 ...4
Auburn ... 0 ... 2
Missouri ... 0 ... 0
In terms of prestige, Texas finds itself one national championship away from being tied with Missouri, by far the worst athletics program in the SEC. That's not exactly chest thumping material.
The Longhorns like to point toward conference championships, but those don't carry a lot of weight in the SEC, especially since they're Big 12 titles and most came in women's track, which is heavily stacked on the SEC side of things.
It will take the Longhorns time to adjust to the standard of the SEC. Their football program has a ton of money, which is about all that matters in that sport these days, and one of the weaker schedules in the conference, so perhaps Texas can get into the playoffs and catch a lucky bounce.
Basketball is pretty much out of the question for both the men and the women and Oklahoma will continue to field a softball team, so those are likely off the table as options. It will be difficult for Texas baseball to make the tournament with the number of losses the Longhorns will take in conference play until Jim Schlossnagle can stabilize things.
That leaves track, which is a brutal proposition in the SEC. The talent is so deep that if a team made up of only athletes from the conference went to the Olympics, it wouldn't be surprising to see it win the vast majority of the medals.
The Texas women's track team is really good, but this is a different animal. It's almost harder to make it out of the SEC to nationals than it is to do well once there.
Defending national champion Arkansas and national runner-up Florida head up a deep well of nationally ranked teams with which Texas must now contend. Still, that looks like it will be the Longhorns' best bet to keep up with the standard.
National championships are expected here/ Oklahoma certainly brings something to the table in that regard, however, Texas has a long way to go.
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KENT SMITH
Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.