Big 12 soccer news popped up at SEC media days on Wednesday, revolving around a possible expansion of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC to form a mega-conference of 16 teams.
This happened the day Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M coach, spoke on behalf of the Aggies at media day in Birmingham, Alabama.
Texas A&M was a member of the Big 12 along with Oklahoma and Texas from 1996 to 2012 when the Aggies joined the SEC with Missouri, a former Big 12 school. Texas and Texas A&M haven’t played since the end of the 2011 regular season, won by the Longhorns, 27-25, on a last-second field goal from Justin Tucker.
The news that Texas might be inquiring about joining the SEC wasn’t the only time the Longhorns disrupted a day of Texas A&M football this year.
On January 2, Texas announced that it had been discontinued [now former] Alabama Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian will be the new head coach. On the same day, the Texas A&M Aggies played the Orange Bowl against North Carolina, which is coached by Mack Brown, the former Texas coach.
Needless to say, Texas got a 2 to 1 that day.
The news was first released on Wednesday in Birmingham by the Houston-Chronik. The news came from an internal, anonymous source. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey downplayed the news, calling it speculation from “unnamed people”.
“I’m not going to comment on speculation,” said Sankey.
In the same timeline Report, a Texas spokesman said, “Speculation is always swirling around college athletics. We will not deal with rumors or speculations. “
Meanwhile, officials from Texas A&M and Oklahoma State University have responded, saying they want to protect their own programs. For Texas A&M, it could maintain its status as the only SEC school in the Lone Star State’s fertile recruiting area.
“We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas,” said A&M sporting director Ross Bjork. “There’s a reason Texas A&M left the Big 12 – to be independent, to have our own identity.”
For the state of Oklahoma, it’s about keeping the two state schools together and making sure the annual Bedlam streak stays intact. The school issued a statement on the rumors on Wednesday afternoon.
“We have heard unconfirmed reports that the OU and UT have reached out to representatives from the Southeastern Conference to join the SEC,” the statement said. “We are collecting information and will be watching closely. If that is true, we would be very disappointed. History, loyalty, and trust are very important to us, but rest assured that we will aggressively defend and advance what is best for the state of Oklahoma and our strong sports program that continues to excel in the Big 12 and nationally. “
The SEC is the premier conference in college football and has won 12 national titles in the century. To put it in context, Oklahoma last won a national championship in 2000, and Texas last won it in 2005. Since the Longhorns’ title, the SEC has won seven straight national titles and 11 of the last 15, including the last two ( LSU 2019, Alabama 2020).
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