CFP-bound Longhorns' 2024 schedule will be Texas-tough and SEC-ready | Golden

ESPN's 2024 SEC football schedule release show Wednesday night was audacious, over the top and overblown.

And I'm here for it. More, please.

The arrogance and pomposity of the most braggadocios conference in college football knows no bounds, but the SEC makes no apologies for not only bearing its pecs in front of a national television audience but also interrupting my catching up on recorded "Dateline" episodes.

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Texas football is about to enter a brave new world with this SEC. Each year is bound to include a national title contender.

The Horns will also get to play Texas A&M, for what that's worth.

I had to watch that show. Even people who hate the SEC had to watch. So Keith Morrison and those cool white sneaks had to take a back seat to the revealing of the new-look SEC that just brought in two more blue bloods in Texas and Oklahoma.

The SEC marketing folks realized more than a decade ago that they were at the social media/television controls of the premier league in college football, so it made sense to use the start of bowl season to roll out the new schedule. After all, there was bound to be an SEC team playing for a natty.

This year’s release is even better with league standard bearer Alabama in the running for a seventh national title under Saint Nick Saban — the dude is more popular than Santa Claus and in much better shape — and Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns having broken into national relevancy after a road win over the Tide and a conference title in their Big 12 swan song.

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Give Texas its props. The Longhorns are entering the biggest minefield in the country and will walk in there at minimum with College Football Playoff credentials. Of the 14 teams that make up the SEC, 11 have never made the CFP. Texas is making its debut while fellow newcomer Oklahoma has been there four times since the format was installed in 2014.

The 2024 schedule is Texas-tough

Over the years, the Longhorns had heard all the chatter, particularly from their friends in College Station: You wouldn't win in the SEC. The Big 12 is inferior. Plan an SEC schedule and you'll find out how tough it is.

Well, you will get no argument that it’s a tough slate. But make no mistake about it, Texas’ 2024 schedule can stand up to any of the other 15 in its new league.

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The Horns will travel to the Big House to play Michigan in Week 2 and it could well be the Horns visiting the defending national champions for all we know. Or a national title game rematch. Shoot, it also could be the Horns rolling into Ann Arbor to defend their national title.

Texas will keep its annual Red River dance with Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 12, then entertain Georgia on Oct. 19 and then yes, renew its century-old rivalry with Texas A&M in College Station on Nov. 30.

Sarkisian, an SEC coaching alum, has no problems flexing his Texas muscle with the Horns, especially after Texas ventured to Tuscaloosa to hand Alabama a 34-24 loss, disrupting a 52-1 run at Bryant-Denny.

“I hear so much about how tough the SEC is, but I haven't seen any of those teams go into Alabama and win either,” Sarkisian said weeks after the September win. He added that beating Bama wouldn’t define the season, and while it played the ultimate role in getting Texas into the CFP, he’s right.

The Horns didn’t back down from the first or second meetings with the Tide and I don’t expect them to take a step back if we see a third meeting on Jan. 8 in Houston.

Mismatches abound around the SEC, but not for Texas

No matter what happens during the College Football Playoff, the Horns are not only SEC-ready, but FBS-ready.

They don’t appear interested in beating up on FCS opponents to fatten up their schedule. Now, season-opening opponent Colorado State won’t have the coaches up late in the film room, but Michigan is a national power and Jeff Traylor’s UTSA team (Sept. 14) has won a pair of Conference USA titles and is preparing to play in its fourth straight bowl game.

A quick glance at the schedules of the other SEC schools reveals Texas and Auburn are the only schools that will play a 2024 slate without a meatball opponent. As for the rest, forgive me for dipping my head into a boiling pot of Visine to rid my eyes of that burning sensation.

If you thought death by a thousand stabs was bad, how about death by 14 FCS visits to SEC schools?

Among the classics we’ll witness next fall. Alabama-Mercer is intriguing. The Tide whipped up on the Bears 48-14 in 2021, which must have been revenge for Mercer taking them down 20-0. Back in 1940.

Arkansas and Arkansas-Pine Bluff will have state bragging rights on the line and little else. How about Florida-Samford? Georgia-Tennessee Tech may get you there. Or maybe that highly anticipated Ole Miss-Furman showdown. The Aggies host McNeese State — what, Prairie View wasn't available? — after the season opener against Notre Dame.

If not, hitch your trailer to the Murray State Racers, who will visit Kentucky and Missouri. LSU’s third stringers will start the third quarter against Nicholls State. We can only guess that Oklahoma must be missing its annual meeting with Baylor because the Sooners will keep it grizzly with a Nov. 2 home tussle with the Maine Black Bears.

Texas is at least playing teams in the FBS.

Props to athletic director Chris Del Conte for not bringing in a patsy to take a $2 million check for a 65-0 visit out behind the old woodshed. The Horns are playing against the big boys for the most part. They’re at Ohio State in 2025 and the Buckeyes will visit here in 2026. The Wolverines will play at DKR in 2027.

No one is saying the Horns won’t one day decide to schedule an FCS punching bag, but the hope here is they won’t. With the 12-team playoff format starting in 2024, SEC teams will hopefully no longer find it necessary to play non-competitive games before conference play. Better yet, they should add a ninth conference game to get a true measure of the best team in the league.

The Horns are leaving the Big 12, but don’t expect them to go away on a national level just because they’re in the SEC. They have established themselves as a tough team and have the schedules — past, present and future — to match.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas football's SEC schedule is a strong example for others to follow