The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns may soon be joining the SEC. The Sooners and Longhorns are traditional powerhouses in college football, but the landscape of the sport is rapidly changing.
A 12-team College Football Playoff has been proposed and would allow numerous teams from the SEC to play in the proposed format.
If those two schools join the SEC, there will likely be another major reshuffling of the college sports conferences. Many schools are less concerned about geographical proximity these days and are prioritizing money instead. There is no doubt SEC teams like Georgia would monetarily benefit from Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC.
If approved, then the SEC would become a 16-team conference. The SEC would certainly switch to a nine-game conference schedule.
The current eight-game format has benefited the SEC and helped the conference place multiple schools in the College Football Playoff. Interestingly, Georgia has played both Oklahoma and Texas more recently than conference foe Ole Miss, so the current format does not allow for frequent competition between cross-division schools.
Fans would benefit from the longer conference schedule. Fewer meaningless games would be a welcome sight for Georgia fans, but the Bulldogs already have an impressive future nonconference slate. Georgia would benefit from their conference foes having tougher schedules.
Georgia has a relatively easy path to the SEC Championship from the SEC East at the moment, but that could change if Texas and Oklahoma join the conference. How would the divisions be formatted if the Sooners and Longhorns join the SEC? That could determine if the move would be a net positive or negative for the Dawgs.
Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs have been narrowly missing the College Football Playoffs in recent seasons partially due to Oklahoma’s dominance in the Big 12. The Sooners have made four of the last six College Football Playoffs, but that would not have been the case if they played in the SEC West.
Overall, there remain too many unknowns to be convinced that Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC would benefit Georgia.
