Three big myths about competing in the SEC

On3 imageby:Ian Boyd02/14/23

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We know now Texas will be competing within the SEC during the 2024 football season, making 2023 their last chance to win the Big 12 and prepare for the higher level of competition.

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Everyone knows the SEC is a higher level of competition than the Big 12. SEC teams do routinely pad their schedules with non-conference creampuffs to help them find six wins for bowl eligibility by picking off a few of their weakest conference mates. However, the grind of the SEC conference season is real and on a different level than even the formidable Big 12 round robin slate where every week is a real game these days.

What exactly will it take for Texas to be able to seriously contend in a league with Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Florida, and all the rest? There’s a lot of ideas floating around about the nature of the SEC but which ones are really true?

I’ve compiled the biggest myths about what it will take for Texas to win in the SEC.

Myth No. 1: Texas needs to play bigger personnel

You’ll often hear this with regards to issues such as the deployment of jumbo athlete Jelani McDonald, a 6-foot-3 “linebacker” who’s currently around 195 but may be 230 in no time. The reasoning would go something like, “Texas needs a bigger nickel for defending SEC teams.”

Meanwhile, Georgia won the league utilizing 5-foot-11, 180 pound sophomore Javon Bullard in their nickel position. Their starting inside linebackers Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon were 6-foot-1, 245 pounds and 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. Their interior three defenders in the 4-2-5 were essentially the same size as Texas’ trio of Jahdae Barron, Jaylan Ford, and DeMarvion Overshown.

The Dawgs are known for being the biggest, baddest team around but if you look at their personnel you won’t see a lot of extra big sets. The closest you’ll get is their heavy usage of 12 personnel and Brock Bowers, but even their star tight end is “only” 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. He’s not some monster unless you judge him as a slot receiver.

Truth No. 1: Texas’ needs NFL linemen

The SEC is known for featuring more big people and the biggest of the big people in the sport but they play at the traditional “big people” positions. The Georgia linemen on either side of the ball are all either freakishly large or normally sized with freakish athleticism. Their interior tight end Darnell Washington was insanely large at 6-foot-7, 270 pounds.

You will struggle to compete at the highest levels of the SEC without future NFL players in the trenches. The top programs will wear you out there and control the game and the gap you will need to overcome with your skill positions will become massive. Is it possible to win in the SEC without the best players along the lines? Of course, but you have to be able to draw close there, you can’t get blown away.

It’s not about playing more big people on the field at the same time — you can’t win without fielding elite skill athletes. It’s about having a higher quality of big man on the field.

Myth No. 2: You win in the SEC by running the ball

You’re not going to win in today’s SEC without being able to throw the football. Nick Saban figured out midway through the 2010s he needed a more advanced passing game.

Here were the quarterbacks for the last five SEC Champions:

  • 2018: Alabama with Tua Tagovailoa throwing for 3,966 yards.
  • 2019: LSU with Joe Burrow throwing for 5,671 yards.
  • 2020: Alabama with Mac Jones throwing for 4,500 yards.
  • 2021: Alabama with Bryce Young throwing for 4,872 yards.
  • 2022: Georgia with Stetson Bennett throwing for 4,127 yards.

Each team leaned on their quarterback quite a bit and could fling the ball around the yard as needed.

The SEC has become a spread-heavy league. Ole Miss runs an RPO spread with Lane Kiffin, LSU runs a spread-option under Brian Kelly, Hugh Freeze is back and in charge at Auburn, even 12 personnel Georgia was coordinated last year by former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken (2011 Big 12 championship team).

Truth No. 2: You win in the SEC by being Texas

The Longhorns’ big advantage in the game of college football comes from the chance to recruit the highly skilled athletes and quarterbacks to come out of the state of Texas. We all just witnessed a Super Bowl featuring a former Texas high school quarterback on either side and it wasn’t an accident of history. This state develops skilled football players and you don’t maximize the advantage by trying to win bully-ball contests.

That’s not to say Texas is wrong to prioritize recruiting at an elite level in the trenches. It’s simply a less unique advantage in the SEC than in the Big 12 where Texas routinely failed to press the advantage. Fielding elite players in the trenches is not how to stand out relative to Georgia or Alabama. Texas stands out by building fierce pass offenses and pass defenses.

When Texas A&M was at their best in the SEC it was running opponents off the grass with Johnny Manziel in an Air Raid paired with future pros at offensive tackle and receiver and a veteran defense lead by Edge Damontre Moore. The Longhorns nearly stopped the Alabama machine before it started with a spread run by Colt McCoy back in 2009 matched with an elite secondary.

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Myth No. 3: Texas can’t compete with the big boys in the SEC

This is a popular misconception driven by a generation of people who either enjoy dissing Texas for attention or else lack adult memories from before the year 2010. Texas’ aimless wandering across the desert over the last 13 seasons has damaged popular perception of the program and what it’s capable of, but there’s zero reason the right leadership can’t steer Texas to the top of the new league.

The more Texas wins and proves they can be a top destination, the more they can recruit at a monstrous level in the most talent-rich state in the nation.

Truth No. 3: There are a lot of blue blood programs in the SEC

It’s awfully hard to win a National Championship without big time resources. The number of schools in the conference who have shown the ability to assemble winning teams in this century alone includes Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, and Auburn. Go back to the previous decade and you can add Tennessee to the list. When Texas joins they’ll bring Oklahoma with them, who won in 2000, were runner-ups in 2003, 2004, and 2008, made the playoffs in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and have mostly thrashed the Longhorns over this period.

They’ll also draw the annual ire of strong if not championship-capable programs at Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Texas’ best squads since Colt McCoy left would wither under that level of competition. What’s going to be required from Texas to reach their goals is going to be closer to what was required to achieve what Mack did in the early 2000’s when Bob Stoops had Oklahoma rolling, the league was still stacked, and Nebraska hadn’t fallen off yet. It may very well be even more difficult than those years.

Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns need to have his system rolling by 2024 to enter the league ready to compete. Rebuilt with competitive big men in the trenches, high level Texas athletes at receiver and defensive back, and skilled play at quarterback. The 2023 season should reveal how close they are to arriving at that level.

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