Texas has a favorable first SEC schedule. It’s part of reason we are so optimistic about the team’s chances in 2024.
Many believe the Longhorns can’t stand up to the SEC gantlet. Perhaps they are right, but only time will tell.
But Texas will not have to face several of the league’s best teams this season. Texas doesn’t face Alabama (12-2), Ole Miss (11-2), Missouri (11-2), LSU (10-3) or Tennessee (9-4). A true SEC crucible would include at least two of the above teams.
Instead, the Longhorns face this SEC slate outside of Georgia at home and Oklahoma in Dallas: Vanderbilt (2-10), Mississippi State (5-7), Arkansas (4-8), Kentucky (7-6), Texas A&M (7-6) and Florida (5-7).
The Longhorns will have only three SEC road games: Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Texas A&M. The neutral site game against Oklahoma will count as a road game for Texas.
Excluding Georgia and Oklahoma. Texas’ SEC opponents had a combined overall record of 30-44 last season and a 12-36 record in SEC play. The Longhorns will face the bottom two teams in the SEC West and the bottom three teams in the SEC East.
Georgia is the only team Texas faces who finished in the top three of the SEC East or West. We predict the Longhorns will lose that game.
The SEC gantlet is real. Texas just isn’t facing it in 2024. The following season will be the true test of the Longhorns’ mettle as they face a more competitive slate.