Paul Finebaum reacts to idea Texas is 'running things' in SEC: 'It rankles the you-know-what out of us'

Since officially joining the SEC in July 2024, Texas put together quite a run. The Longhorns made it back to the College Football Playoff semifinals in football, reached the Final Four in women’s basketball, won the league baseball title and returned to the Women’s College World Series in softball.

That led Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle to joke with Paul Finebaum that Texas is “running things” less than a year into its SEC tenure. Finebaum responded and agreed with the idea that “rankles” the rest of the league.

“Yes, it does,” Finebaum said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “I asked [Chris Del Conte] that yesterday. He said, we’re just about to win the second Director’s Cup. I go, couldn’t you just [have] gone through orientation and acted like a normal – like South Carolina and Arkansas did, and Texas A&M and Missouri? Why do you have to act like Texas?”

Texas went 13-3 in its first football season in the SEC, advancing to the CFP semifinals once again, where the Longhorns fell to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. The women’s basketball team also had a banner year, finishing 35-4 and advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.

The Longhorns’ baseball program also made a run under first-year coach Jim Schlossnagle, winning the regular-season title with a 22-8 record and enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed. Texas Softball was also a No. 6 seed in the NCAA softball tournament and is heading back to Oklahoma City this week for the Women’s College World Series, where the Longhorns will take on Florida.

Finebaum joked he speaks for the whole league with his show on SEC Network. He also chided Bohls and Cedric Golden for “bragging” and “boasting” about Texas’ success through its first year in the conference.

“I speak for the SEC,” Finebaum said. “It rankles – and if I cursed, I would say it rankles the you-know-what out of us. And what rankles us even more are guys like you coming in and running your mouth, yapping, bragging, boasting.”

Texas Football will be squarely in the spotlight this season and will start things off on a big stage. Arch Manning is officially the starting quarterback, and he’ll face the defending champion Ohio State in the season opener on the road at The Horseshoe – one of the most anticipated games of the season. That game will be Aug. 30 at Noon ET on FOX.