The running joke we hear year in and year out surrounds whether or not Texas is ‘back’. Following the victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2018 Red River Rivalry and the win over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl, then quarterback Sam Ehlinger proclaimed “we’re back.” It didn’t go well following that game as they never lived up to the expectation and Tom Herman was given his walking papers.
Fast forward to 2021 and former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian was handed the keys to the Texas Longhorns. Can he finally get them over the hump and challenge Oklahoma once again for Big 12 supremacy? According to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, you might want to slam on the brakes. They have a long way to go to catch the Sooners.
While making an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up, Finebaum stated, “this is not a relevant program anymore.” He went on to talk about how the Longhorns showed Mack Brown his walking papers and now has North Carolina as a top 10 program in the country.
“Texas can’t even win its own state anymore, lost two of its best players to Alabama. It’s pathetically behind Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M and its way, way behind its biggest rival in Norman, Oklahoma. Texas is fighting for third at best in its own league.”
While Texas has fallen back some in the Big 12 Conference, teams like Oklahoma State and Iowa State has climbed the ranks to challenge the Sooners for the Big 12 Championship. No team has shown to consistently challenge Oklahoma each season in the title game. Since the title game returned to the conference in 2017. The only consistency has been Oklahoma as they have faced four different contenders.
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https://youtu.be/Hc7cPxkADiE
Until Steve Sarkisian can consistently challenge the Oklahoma Sooners, the conference will continue to belong to the Crimson and Cream.