Fact or Fiction: The SEC is the answer for Texas
In today’s Fact or Fiction National Columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. The SEC is the answer for Texas.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. I just don’t see this as being the move that revitalizes the Texas Longhorns brand. Will it help recruiting? Yes. But recruiting at a school like Texas shouldn’t be that big of an issue, and the Longhorns would be adding many, many more teams in their way for a national title instead of just Oklahoma.
Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M – and heck, even Ole Miss, Auburn and others – are going to be tough to beat on a week-to-week basis, and Texas couldn’t win consistently in the weaker Big 12. Some think this is the magic pill for the Longhorns but I think it could be poison.
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2. Oklahoma in the SEC would be bad news for Georgia and Florida.
Farrell’s take: FACT. The SEC likely won’t stay two divisions if Oklahoma and Texas are added, but that’s a long way ahead. And imagine if it did. OU would join Missouri in the SEC East, while Texas would join Texas A&M in the West. And that’s not good news for Georgia and Florida.
The SEC East isn’t strong right now, but with OU added it becomes quite formidable and the Sooners can do some serious damage to the title chances of Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen if they are still at their respective schools. It’s a long way off, but right now it’s bad for a few teams aside from the focus of all of this: Texas A&M.
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3. A “gentleman’s agreement” only goes so far.
Farrell’s take: FACT. Former Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said there was a gentleman’s agreement among SEC teams back in 2010-2011 and that remained in place when he was the chancellor at Missouri. He said if a team like Texas wanted to enter the SEC, Texas A&M could veto it. But we all know verbal agreements like this don’t stand a chance when money is involved, and there is no way a gentleman’s agreement is stopping this train that is rolling down the track.
Missouri and Texas A&M will vote "no" to expansion, but good luck finding two other teams.