The Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns are officially members of the Southeastern Conference. After nearly three years of waiting, Monday marked the official move of OU and UT from the Big 12 to the SEC.
With both football programs making the move at the exact same time, naturally the question is posed by fans and analysts alike: Which team is ahead of the other heading to the SEC?
Most national analysts believe that Texas is ahead of Oklahoma going into 2024. After all, the Longhorns are entering Year 4 under head coach Steve Sarkisian, while the Sooners are only in Year 3 of the Brent Venables era. Both coaches inherited programs that weren’t trending in the right direction, but Sarkisian has had a year longer to build his team. Both got contract extensions this offseason.
Texas won the Big 12 conference and made the College Football Playoff in 2023, finishing 12-2. Oklahoma went 10-3, narrowly missing the conference title game and settled for a berth in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
One national analyst, however, doesn’t think there’s a gap between the SEC’s newest teams. 247Sports’ Josh Pate outlined both programs’ standing going into 2024 on his show “The Late Kick With Josh Pate.”
“Oklahoma is 7-3 in the last ten against Texas. They are 11-4 in their last fifteen against Texas,” Pate said. “Oklahoma’s got a 14-4 lead in conference titles since 1996, that was in the Big 12, now they’re coming to the SEC … The last five years, Texas has averaged a (Recruiting) class ranked 7.4, Oklahoma’s has averaged being ranked ninth. Not a huge gap in recruiting. What about the portal, Texas has done good there, Oklahoma has done better. So they’ve got the head-to-head, they’ve got history on their side, both recently and more long-term. Recruiting has been pretty comparable, portal has been edge…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/247sports-josh-pate-doesn-t-212718998.html
Author : Sooners Wire
Publish date : 2024-07-01 21:27:18
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
