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Even though it’s a year away, Del Conte excited about Texas’ inaugural SEC schedule

Steve Habelby: Steve Habel07/14/23stevehabel
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Chris Del Conte, Steve Sarkisian (Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Texas and its fellow Big 12 Conference football programs wrapped up their annual two days of annual preseason media availabilities on Thursday with the specter of the Longhorns’ and Oklahoma’s last year in the league playing a big part in the proceedings.

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It seems that everyone is placing the upcoming season into two subsets: the final one in the Big 12 for Texas and OU before joining the Southeastern Conference, and the first in the conference for newcomers Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Central Florida.

But there is also plenty of looking ahead to 2024 for the powers that be for many of the programs. 

In an exclusive video interview with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte on Monday for On Texas Football, Inside Texas’ Bobby Burton asked the Longhorns’ top athletic administrator for his take on Texas’ announced opponents for its inaugural season in the SEC and the impact that schedule will have on the Longhorns and Texas fans.

“We weren’t supposed to go until 2025, but we made decisions needed to move forward because of a lot of other things,” Del Conte said. “But it has been fantastic.”

In 2024 (with dates and times still to be decided) Texas will host two-time defending national champion Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Florida, play a neutral site game against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and travel to Texas A&M, Arkansas and Vanderbilt.

“I saw that schedule and I’m like ‘yeah, baby!” Del Conte said. “We have to go to Arkansas again. And to A&M – I go, ‘guys, I get it.’ You know getting into the SEC, all the stuff all that has gone on there, I was like, ‘I don’t care who we play right now. Let’s just get in, get ourselves (and our) feet wet.

“We have Georgia we have Florida, Mississippi State and Kentucky, Kentucky, all great teams.”

Del Conte wasn’t to make sure his programs are focused on the first objective – the 2023 season.

“The SEC… that’s a year from now,” he said. “This year, with a nine game Big 12 schedule (is the task at hand). I think we only we only leave the state twice. We gotta go out with a bang.”

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Go check out the video in its entirety to hear a lot more from Texas’ athletic director.

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