If you’re still telling yourself that Oklahoma and Texas are a year away from getting humbled on an annual basis, do me a favor.

On Saturday, turn on ABC at noon ET, and tell me what you see. Do you see a pair of teams that lack physicality in the trenches and are void of elite weapons at the skill positions? Or do you see a couple of teams that look like they might actually be ready for the SEC?

If you can allow yourself to think the latter is a real possibility, you’ll be better off for it.

The final year of the Red River Rivalry in the Big 12 should convert at least some of those SEC skeptics. No matter how it plays out Saturday, this year should serve as a message that Oklahoma and Texas are indeed ready for their new conference.

One would think that Texas answered that question in Tuscaloosa in Week 2. That wasn’t a “Texas is back” game. It was a “Texas is gonna be just fine in the SEC” game. If you don’t believe that because you think Alabama is about to go 8-4, answer me this: How many teams will win in Tuscaloosa this year? As it stands, 2023 Texas and 2019 LSU, AKA one of the best teams in college football history, are the only teams that beat Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium since the start of the 2016 season.

With all due respect to 2-time defending champion Georgia, which lost to an unranked South Carolina team at home in 2019, beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa is still the ultimate trump card.

(No, Georgia fans. I’m not disrespecting your program, which is now the gold standard in college football. I’m just saying that there’s no better statement than winning in Tuscaloosa because the only non-top 5 finisher to do so since 2008 was a 10-win Ole Miss squad.)

If you’re still telling yourself that Texas isn’t ready for the SEC because it was tied going into the 4th quarter against Wyoming, answer me this: Forget just the SEC. Who in college football hasn’t had a rough half this season?

Oregon came back with a minute to play against Texas Tech. Florida State played a 60-minute game at Boston College. Michigan held a 7-point lead in the middle of the third quarter against Rutgers. Ohio State had a 13-3 lead late in the 3rd quarter against Indiana. Penn State was tied at the half against Northwestern. Georgia overcame double-digit deficits in the only 2 Power 5 games it played so far.

Through Week 5, that list of teams that haven’t had a bad half is short. It might only be 2-deep among the Power 5 contenders. Depending on how you feel about Washington’s second-half showing at Arizona, you could probably put the Huskies on that list.

Who’s the other team then? Depending on how you feel about the first 3 quarters against SMU — a game that the Sooners still won by 3 scores — Oklahoma is that other team.

While the Sooners haven’t necessarily had a marquee nonconference game like some of those other teams, they’re the only team in America that ranks in the top 5 in scoring offense and scoring defense. The average scoring margin is +37. The Brent Venables defense looks like one of the most improved units, not just in the Big 12, but in the entire country. It’s early, but you can see the turnaround.

Oklahoma defense
2022 (13 games)
2023 (5 games)
Points/game allowed
30.0
10.8
Yards/rush allowed
4.5
3.2
Yards/pass allowed
7.1
6.0
Yards/play allowed
5.8
4.6
20-yard plays/game allowed
5.4
3.8

If Texas steamrolls Oklahoma, some of that 2022 Oklahoma defense doubt will creep back into the conversation. Still, though. Even if Oklahoma is only a top-25 defense at season’s end, it would still be better than any Sooners defense since 2013.

That’s the other thing. If these teams play in a shootout (get it?), there are SEC purists who’ll call them soft while pretending that LSU-Ole Miss and the 1,300 yards of offense we saw on Saturday night were totally different.

And here’s something else for the SEC purist to remember. Texas and Oklahoma rank No. 6 and No. 9, respectively, in the 247sports talent composite. Texas has more 5-star talent than all but 4 teams (Texas A&M, Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama). The Longhorns have 6 former 5-star recruits who start on offense, and that doesn’t include former Georgia Playoff hero AD Mitchell, who was considered a 5-star transfer. Oklahoma has 9 more former blue-chip recruits than LSU. As in, the LSU team that lost the 2 toughest games on its schedule after winning the West and earning a preseason No. 5 ranking.

Speaking of LSU, which decided it didn’t deserve to be considered one of the SEC’s top 2 teams by missing 34 tackles at Ole Miss, where would Texas and Oklahoma fit in that pecking order this season? You’re not getting past 4, especially not when Ole Miss had a chance to repeat Texas’ performance at Alabama and it didn’t come close to doing that.

If we’re power-ranking ranking current and future SEC teams based on 2023 performance, it probably goes in this order:

  1. Georgia
  2. Texas
  3. Alabama
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Everyone else

(You could say Oklahoma has looked better than Alabama. I just didn’t want to have that be the sticking point when my argument is that the Sooners are cracking the SEC’s current top 4.)

Disagree? Why? Because of nonconference play? Sorry, but when the debate over “best SEC nonconference win” is between Mizzou beating Kansas State at home on a walk-off field goal and Ole Miss winning on the road against a Group of 5 team with a backup quarterback, I don’t want to hear jabs about what Oklahoma did in nonconference play.

All of that could go away Saturday. If Oklahoma overcomes that 6.5-point spread and beats Texas outright for the 5th time in 6 years, many on the outside will shift their attention to what’s wrong with the Longhorns instead of what’s being overlooked with the Sooners. That’s the world we live in.

Soon, the world that Oklahoma and Texas have known for nearly 3 decades in the Big 12 will become new. New rivals, new recruiting wars and new opposing fanbases to impress will all come with the new, SEC territory.

Perhaps they can get to work on that last item this Saturday.