The SEC is stronger by getting Texas and Oklahoma a yr early

The 14-team Southeastern Conference has yet one more yr on the open circuit. The baker’s dozen plus one variety of full-time members lasted 12 years, when Texas A&M and Missouri departed the Big 12 for the SEC. Old habits are onerous to interrupt and as an alternative of poaching colleges that already felt like outsiders in their very own convention, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey oversaw the inclusion of the Big 12’s two strongest manufacturers, Texas and Oklahoma, to convey his league to 16 groups beginning in 2024.

That’s proper, as an alternative of ready 4 years like initially agreed upon two summers in the past, the Sooners and Longhorns will come to the SEC subsequent yr. That’s so fast, however actually, who anticipated them to remain in a league with secondary firepower? These strikes are all about soccer and have a look at the nationwide championship sport for proof should you doubt how a lot additional forward of the Big 12 the SEC at present is. And that distance is probably going solely to develop. Nothing says the long-term well being of a convention in its largest sport to have 4 additions and none come from different Power Five Conferences. Do you know the way badly you have to need out of a convention to forego $50 million every? With the SEC’s anticipated yearly payouts to colleges anticipated to boost to shut to $70 million with its new tv deal, that price ticket is oddly chump change to these colleges and a needed expense.

A 16-team FBS convention is uncharted territory, particularly with the possible nationwide champion amongst them. Imagine in the event that they’re in a position to safe Clemson and Florida State within the coming years. The SEC may separate and begin its personal playoff. How the convention can be cut up into divisions, what number of convention video games every staff will play, and what assured matchups we’ll see yearly are nonetheless unknown. Let’s be actual, there’s no interplay of the long run SEC the place the Iron Bowl and Red River Showdown don’t happen yearly. When the addition of Texas and Oklahoma was initially reported, instantly in the course of SEC Media Days, the place it went from bullshit rumor dismissed by Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork, to accepted truth later that night time, hypothesis ran rampant as to how the convention would reshuffle. Whether it’s 4 pods of 4, including Oklahoma and Texas individually to the SEC East and West, or an entire reimagining of the two-eight staff divisions, every has its execs and cons to how the long run finest convention in soccer, and most sports activities, is formed.

Geography be damned in new look conferences

The energy shift that comes together with Texas and Oklahoma transferring to the SEC, alongside USC and UCLA transferring to the Big Ten, offers a transparent high two within the Power Five Conference system. Geography is about to be damned in school athletics. The Big 12’s addition of West Virginia signaled {that a} decade in the past, however that’s going to look tame in comparison with a midweek volleyball journey from Los Angeles to New Brunswick, New Jersey. The closest journey for UCLA and USC, past one another, can be to Lincoln, Nebraska. I assume a number of airline miles can be utilized by somebody in these athletic departments.

Oklahoma and Texas switching conferences one yr earlier don’t appear to be it ought to change a bunch in school athletics by having completely different affiliations for 12 months. That pondering can be unsuitable. For instance, the SEC would declare any championship the duo wins. Jocelyn Alo would’ve been hitting dwelling runs on the Women’s College World Series for an SEC college, not one from the Big 12. That thrilling September Alabama-Texas soccer sport would’ve had added drama as a result of it will’ve been a convention matchup. And whereas Texas and Oklahoma didn’t come near successful a convention championship this season, which doesn’t bode nicely for successful one in a greater, deeper league, Big 12 sports activities with out video games in Austin and Norman can be odd in a method Columbia, Missouri and College Station, Texas don’t examine. Losing these manufacturers was robust, however not irreplaceable. The departure of Oklahoma and Texas will both be the start of the top of the Big 12, or an enormous blessing in disguise. We simply get to look at the primary a part of no matter that journey is twelve months sooner. And I’m keen to guess the Sooners and Longhorns gained’t be the final to leap ship.