Texas Longhorns Carve Path to Title in First SEC Season

© Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The No. 2 Texas Longhorns (11-1, 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference) entered the SEC in 2024 with great expectations—at least from an internal point of view—following a Big 12 Conference Championship and an appearance in the College Football Playoff and have now reached the SEC Championship game, earning the chance to become the first new SEC team to win the league since Alabama in 1933.

The Longhorns fought through the adversity of conference play after a relatively easy nonconference schedule and came up with some important late-season wins to finish the regular season with the SEC's best record and the No. 2 spot in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

"The experience of last year has helped us this year kind of recreate that and do it again," head coach Steve Sarkisian told the media during a Dec. 2 news conference. "The secret sauce for us is literally, 'What's in front of us?' Focusing on what's right in front of us has allowed us to perform pretty well. That's going to be key again this week, and then after Saturday, we'll figure out what the future holds and what that looks like."

Early Ease

The season started with a bang as the Longhorns dominated the early portion of their schedule. They easily looked like one of the top teams in the country, putting up at least 50 points three times in their first four games and completely annihilating defending national champion Michigan (7-5, 5-4 Big Ten Conference) on the road.

The offense clicked on all cylinders, even with injuries in the running back room and several new wide receivers taking the field, and the defense quickly became an elite unit. Texas rose to the No. 1 ranking, which it held for four weeks before its only loss of the season.

Still, it was in a great position to duplicate its success from last year after a 2-0 start in SEC play, a 6-0 start overall and only allowing 38 points over its first 6 games.

SEC Challenges

Texas met its greatest challenge in a top-5 matchup with the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (10-2, 6-2) in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 19. The Longhorns entered as the No.1 team and had a chance to disprove all critics against a perennial powerhouse. However, Georgia looked like the top team on that night, jumping out to a 23-0 lead as it dominated in the trenches on both sides of the ball and took advantage of costly Texas turnovers.

The Longhorn defense battled to get Texas within 8 points, forcing some critical turnovers of its own before Georgia went on a long game-sealing drive.

Texas faced some challenges in conference play over the following weeks, mainly with narrow victories over Vanderbilt (6-6, 3-5) and Arkansas (6-6, 3-5), but finished with convincing wins to find itself in a position to win the conference.

"We see it all over this conference every Saturday," Sarkisian remarked. "If you're not prepared in this conference, you will get beat. It doesn't matter what you think of an opponent. There's too many talented players on every roster. The coaching is too good. The environments are too tough when you go on the road that if you're not prepared you'll get beat."

Finishing Strong

Oddly enough, Texas avoided the road letdowns this season with its only loss coming at home. It even passed a crucial road test against rival Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3) to clinch a spot in the SEC title game. The final score appears closer than the game actually was as Texas A&M fought its way back with some turnovers and the Texas offense missed some chances to increase its lead and really put the game away.

Still, the Texas defense kept the Aggies' offense out of the end zone and did not fold, which is something that might not have happened in other recent seasons. Because of the improvement across the board, but from the defense especially, the Longhorns now have a shot to win the SEC, return to the College Football Playoff and contend for a national championship

Texas has taken a game-by-game approach all season, but now it truly becomes a one-game season each week.

"I think the key for us is to get reset and refocused on one game," Sarkisian said on a conference call with the SEC media on Dec. 1. "That's what we've been doing over the last month or so. Not getting caught up on what's down the road, but what do we need to do this week to play our best football whether that's physical, that's mental, emotional. I'd like to think we still have better football ahead of us, quite frankly."