College Football HQ

College football realignment: Big 12 deputy speculates why Texas is joining SEC

Texas will make the jump to the SEC in 2024, but why are the Longhorns moving?

James Parks

College football realignment: Big 12 deputy speculates why Texas is joining SEC
College football realignment: Big 12 deputy speculates why Texas is joining SEC /

Big 12 Deputy Commissioner Tom Weiser appeared to take a little shot in the direction of the Texas Longhorns as the program embarks on its final season in the conference before heading to the SEC in tandem with Oklahoma in the summer of 2024.

In conversation during Big 12 Media Days this week, Weiser wondered if the Longhorns are not changing over to the SEC in order to make more money before going on to throw shade at the football program and its struggles in recent years.

"I continue to maintain that the choice Texas made wasn't a financial one, because we all know what Texas resources are like," he said. "I think theirs was more about affiliating with a group of schools that, on a given Saturday, they would rather get beat by Alabama than they would Kansas State. Or Florida than Iowa State."

More: How Texas, Oklahoma would have voted in SEC football schedule debate

Related: Every road, home game for SEC teams in 2024 football season

Texas has posted just a single 10-win season dating back to 2010 and has finished the season in the AP top 25 football rankings only four times in that span, and the program is yet to qualify for the College Football Playoff a decade into the format, something which is inexcusable for a school of its stature and prestige.

And now looking forward, the path to the playoff, even an expanded one, will get harder as the Longhorns embark on life as a member of the SEC, the most dominant conference in college football from top to bottom, and one that has produced 13 of the last 17 national championships, and the last four in a row.

In addition to the annual Red River Shootout against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Longhorns will travel to Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and long-time rival Texas A&M, and will host Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and back-to-back national champion Georgia.

Texas and Steve Sarkisian have their work cut out moving forward.

More: Must-watch games in 2024 when Texas, Oklahoma join SEC

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | All Teams

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks

Published
James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.

Home/News