Welcome to the show, Texas.
After years of using their historic success to exert influence on the Big 12 — often to the chagrin of their fellow conference teams — the Longhorns are set to join the SEC, winners of 13 national championships since Texas' last title in 2005.
Of course, the conference is more than happy to accept the program, one of the top blue-bloods in the history of college football. The Longhorns also appear to be on the cusp of a resurgence in the program, with heralded recruit Arch Manning already tabbed as the quarterback of the future following Quinn Ewers.
Texas undoubtedly will become a valuable team in the SEC, and could even become one of its top programs in the coming years: It's more a matter of when, than if. But is it too much to expect that to occur as soon as 2024, its first year as a member of the conference?
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That remains to be seen. The Longhorns have already had a taste of the SEC in recent years, beating Georgia in the 2019 Sugar Bowl before losing to eventual national champion LSU in 2019, Arkansas in 2021 and Alabama in 2022. (Texas will also take on Nick Saban's Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa in 2023.)
But those have all been nonconference games: What will its first conference schedule look like in 2024? Here's a look at Texas' first SEC conference slate, with a breakdown of the Longhorns' home, away and neutral-site games.
Texas football schedule 2024
Home
- Georgia
- Florida
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
The Longhorns get a chance to put their Southern hospitality to the test when they take on Georgia, winner of the 2021 and 2022 CFP national championships — and a favorite to challenge for a third straight in 2023. They'll also take on Florida, giving them another tough SEC opponent. Kentucky and Mississippi State are the other two SEC home opponents for the Longhorns.
Away
- Arkansas
- Texas A&M
- Vanderbilt
Texas' first slate of away games in the SEC is the best of both worlds, starting with the fact it forces the newcomer Longhorns to go on the road to face two of their most more historic rivals.
The first of those is former Southwest Conference foe Arkansas, which has only played Texas in consecutive years once (in 2003-04) after leaving the SWC following the 1991 season. The headliner, of course, is the long-awaited reunion with Texas A&M, which hasn't had the opportunity to play its hated rival since 2011, the last year in an unbroken series dating to 1915. Finally, Vanderbilt rounds out the road slate.
Neutral
- vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas)
At least one thing will remain constant for the Longhorns in 2024: Much like Georgia and Florida's game in Jacksonville, the Red River Rivalry will remain a neutral affair in Dallas at the Texas State Fair.
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SEC football schedule format 2024
The SEC did not approve a nine-game schedule format for the 2024 season, either with one permanent opponent or three. Instead, the conference approved a one-year model for 2024 — likely the last in the conference's history to feature just an eight-game conference slate — before revisiting a long-term solution for 2025 and beyond.
Here is how the SEC's scheduling format will work for 2024, the year Texas and Oklahoma join the conference:
In the one-year schedule, SEC teams will play eight conference games plus one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or major independent during the 2024 season when the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas join the league.
In addition, the SEC will eliminate divisional standings beginning in 2024. The SEC championship game will feature the two top teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season. The single-standings format will allow every school to play every other school a minimum of two times in a four-year period, regardless of whether the SEC utilizes an eight-game or nine-game format for future conference competition.
Texas' non-SEC Power 5 opponent for 2024 is Michigan. The Longhorns will travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines on Sept. 7, 2024.