Nick Saban dispels notion Texas will ‘run the SEC,’ gives 2024 SEC title matchup prediction
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Nick Saban knows the history associated with Texas football. However, he’s not expecting the Longhorns to all of a sudden make the jump to the SEC and begin dominating the conference.
During a Monday segment live from SEC Media Days, a discussion about the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas came up. Saban admitted it “tickles” him when people bring up the question about Texas running the Big 12 ahead of their transition.
“You know, what kind of tickles me is all these people asking me about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They’re not going to run the SEC,” claimed Saban. “There’s a lot of arrogant people in a lot of places in the SEC, so forget all about that. They’ll be a great team and a great program and Sark will do a great job, but that’s not going to be a problem.”
Saban pulling no punches.
“Texas ain’t gonna run the SEC” pic.twitter.com/crlgXcmoL7
— Griffin Smith (@BurnerGSmith) July 15, 2024
For what it’s worth, Saban does expect Texas to compete for the SEC title out of the gate in 2024. Asked for a SEC Championship Game prediction, the former head coach tabbed Georgia and Texas as the teams he expects to see in Atlanta.
However, he also mentioned Ole Miss as a team that will be much deeper and should be able to matchup against Georgia in the trenches.
Nick Saban predicts Texas vs. Georgia in the SEC title game but adds that this is the first year Ole Miss can really match up with Georgia up front. “They can this year. They’re gonna look more like an SEC team.”
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 15, 2024
Examining Saban’s assessment
While Texas may have developed a reputation as top dog in the Big 12, the Longhorns did not even “run” that league in recent history. The 2023 Big 12 title was Texas’ first since 2009. In fact, fellow SEC newcomer Oklahoma won 8 Big 12 titles between Texas’ 2 championships in 2009 and 2023.
It is true that the Longhorns have a different feel under head coach Steve Sarkisian, but they’re still unlikely to step into a stretch of dominance in the SEC, and it’s not hard to see why.
In fact, the SEC has seen 4 different programs capture the league championship since the 2010 season, and only Alabama can claim back-to-back league titles (2014-16 and 2020-21) in that time span.
As for Saban’s championship game prediction, he is not exactly splitting atoms with a Georgia vs. Texas matchup. The Bulldogs (+200) and Longhorns (+320) headline the latest SEC Championship odds at DraftKings, and Ole Miss (+600) is not far behind. Fans can find the latest odds and get in on the action with SDS’s real money betting apps.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
