The big off-field news heading into the 2021 SEC football season was the conference’s impending additions of Texas and Oklahoma.

When the 2 programs will join the league as full-time members remains up in the air, but the Longhorns got a taste of SEC play on Saturday night.

It did not go well.

Steve Sarkisian’s team traveled to Fayetteville ranked 15th in the AP Poll and as 7-point favorites, but it was dispatched with relative ease by the Razorbacks, who cruised to a 40-21 victory.

Texas, obviously, remains one of the biggest brands in college football, but its move to the best conference in football has many wondering how long it will take for the Longhorns to be competitive with the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Texas A&M, among others.

On ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Sunday morning, SEC analyst and renowned radio personality Paul Finebaum was asked about whether or not Texas would be SEC-ready when it makes the move.

“That’s a good question,” said Finebaum, who had picked Arkansas to win Saturday’s game. “I’ll tell you what I learned over the weekend in Fayetteville. We were doing our SEC Nation show, and the crowd was large outside the stadium. People were pulling me — pick Arkansas, pick Texas. … I couldn’t really make up my mind. The crowd was cheering, and yeah, I had to do it.

“Back to the real question — I think Texas will be ready. I know last night would not convince anyone of that argument, but they are recruiting better because of being in the SEC in a couple years and 3 or 4 years down the road, I think they’ll be ready for the challenge.”