The time has finally come.
After a two-year wait, the Texas Longhorns will make their SEC debut on Saturday at home against Mississippi State. The No. 1 ranked Longhorns have shown plenty of promise in non-conference play this season, but now it’s time to prove why they belong in the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State may be an unranked team, but they could still pose a threat to Texas.
“(I) have a lot of respect for Coach Jeff Levy,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said Monday, “he played in the Big 12 so he knows Texas football really well. He’s a very aggressive, innovative guy and they have really good wideouts and they’re a dangerous team in that regard.”
All eyes will be on Texas and Longhorns fans for the 3:15 p.m. kickoff, but the preparation will be no different than what the team is accustomed to.
“It’s business as usual,” Sarkisian said. “We believe in the secret to success and how to do it. We respect that this is our first SEC game at home and we’re going to embrace that aspect, but it’s not going to affect how we prepare for the game.”
Sarkisian is familiar with the conference, having previously worked under Nick Saban at Alabama, and knows it’s tough, physical and in many ways different from Texas’ former Big 12.
“There’s definitely some big-time players in this conference,” Sarkisian said. “The conference puts a strain on teams over a long period of time and we have eight conference games, so we’ll just have to see what happens week to week and whether our team is healthy enough to perform at a high level.”
So far, Texas has met what most fans expect from an SEC team: depth at multiple positions.
As the conference slogan goes, it means much more, and Texas is trying to be part of something bigger than its program.
