On July 1, the landscape of the Southeastern Conference forever changed.
Two of college sports’ premier schools, Oklahoma and Texas, officially jumped ship from the Big 12 and joined what’s considered by many as the nation’s dominant athletic conference in a partnership that had been in place since three years ago in July of 2021.
Whatever your stance on the move – whether you think it opens the door to a lot of fun or that it’s a dangerous step toward collegiate sport elitism and super conferences – there’s no denying that things have completely transformed.
For LSU, the now-16-team SEC is slightly more crowded and a chance at winning a conference title in each sport will be slightly more difficult.
Both the Sooners and Longhorns bring an impressive resume in athletics, and both programs have incredible strengths.
Where exactly will LSU most feel the brunt of the new schools’ presence? In what sports will Oklahoma and Texas most threaten to take over in the SEC?
Here’s a look at the five SEC sports that could be the most changed by the two schools.
Football
This one is obvious: Texas and Oklahoma are two of the blue bloods of college football.
Both schools have had powerful dynasties in their history, and you couldn’t tell the story of college softball without them.
Last season, Texas was one of four teams that qualified for the College Football Playoff and lost in the national championship to Michigan.
Under fourth-year head coach Steve Sarkisian, an innovative offensive mind who captained Alabama’s offense to a national championship in 2020, the Longhorns will be relevant for the foreseeable future.
In the short term, Texas has one of college football’s top quarterbacks in Quinn Ewers, one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy.
Oklahoma has seen better days on the football field, as it hasn’t truly been a top contender since former head coach Lincoln Riley left for the University of Southern California.
Still, the Sooners were a 10-win team that was ranked No. 15 in the AP poll at the end of this past season. In addition, they consistently recruit at a top-10 level.
Third-year head coach Brent Venables has the program improving and is more focused on developing a competitive defense than Riley was. Oklahoma will be relevant, even in a tough SEC.
Men’s basketball
Oklahoma and Texas are both basketball schools with good history that figure to immediately settle into the upper class of the SEC.
Coming from a Big 12 that’s considered the best basketball conference in the nation, both schools are battle-tested.
In each of the last three years, Texas has qualified for and won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament. In 2023, the Longhorns made it all the way to the Elite Eight.
Oklahoma was considered a bubble team for this year’s NCAA Tournament, while Texas was a seven-seed.
Both teams are on the rise with relatively new head coaches, as Porter Moser is in his fourth year with Oklahoma after leaving Loyola-Chicago and Rodney Terry is in his second full year with Texas after taking over in the interim for Chris Beard, now with Ole Miss.
With the SEC as unsettled as it is (longtime Kentucky head coach John Calipari left for Arkansas this offseason, leaving one of the sport’s perennial contenders vulnerable), both teams could contend with LSU to jump to the top of the conference.
A mention is warranted to the women’s basketball programs for both these schools, which have been consistent tournament teams in recent years and have combined to win the Big 12 in both of the last two seasons.
However, due to Texas’ recent status as a national title contender, I gave the edge to the men’s programs.
Gymnastics
Including this sport is not so much about Texas as it is about Oklahoma: in fact, Texas doesn’t sponsor a gymnastics program.
However, the Sooners have won six national championships in the past 11 years, and they were the favorite this year before an unexpected and uncharacteristic off day in the NCAA semifinals knocked them out of the tournament.
If Oklahoma didn’t fail to qualify for the finals, LSU would likely never have won its first national championship this season.
Next season, it’ll be another tense title bout between two conference foes.
The Tigers will be compared side-by-side with Oklahoma all season, and the SEC championships will offer a potential preview at the national championships.
Softball
Although Texas and Oklahoma are both consistent tournament teams in baseball, and Texas recently made a big move that could make them into a national power with the hiring of head coach Jim Schlossnagle, the two schools are actually much better in a different sport that takes place on the diamond.
The two teams are absolutely dominant in softball and practically played hot potato with the No. 1 spot in the national rankings during all of this past season.
Oklahoma is the crown jewel of the sport: under head coach Patty Gasso, who’s been with the program for 31 years, the Sooners have won eight national championships, including the last four in a row.
Of course, for two of those consecutive championships, Oklahoma’s opponent was none other than Texas, including in this year’s Women’s College World Series finals.
Texas has never won a championship in softball, but it’s been right there with Oklahoma at the pinnacle of the sport.
That dominance won’t be ending any time soon, especially for Oklahoma, who’s been simply untouchable: in 2023, Oklahoma lost just one game all season.
As deep and strong as the SEC has been in softball, it seems likely that Oklahoma and Texas will immediately insert themselves at the top of the conference’s hierarchy.
Volleyball
Just like gymnastics, one of these two schools is absolutely dominant in volleyball, while the other’s success is not quite as pronounced.
Texas is a volleyball powerhouse. The Longhorns have competed in three of the last four national championship games and have won the last two.
In a sport that’s often dominated by the Midwest and Big 10 schools, Texas is the South’s heavyweight in volleyball and a huge get for the SEC.
LSU even drew from Texas’ success with its head coaching hire: third-year head coach Tonya Johnson was a longtime Texas assistant before returning to Baton Rouge, where she played and once coached.
By contrast, Oklahoma hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2019, its only time doing so in the past nine years.
Still, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a two-time reigning national champion joining the SEC.
LSU will have a hard time contending with the Longhorns, as will the rest of the conference. Even with Kentucky and Florida being storied programs and many others in the SEC growing in stature, it could be Texas and everyone else.
