Fireworks. The UT Tower lit up in a burnt orange that makes the scorching hot sun on the 40 Acres blush and retreat. Mr. Worldwide blasting a crowded Texas campus with international hits. The scene was a coronation of sorts. A merging between superpowers in a sport that’s as much about brand identity and potential earnings than touchdowns and championships. 

And while we’ve known Texas was joining the SEC alongside Oklahoma for nearly two years now, attending the party crystalized the optics of modern college football. There are haves and have nots, and both parties are firmly in the haves category. 

The merchandise for sale on the Forty Acres said it all: “It just means more.” 

Texas officially joined the Southeastern Conference on Monday but let itself party the night before. All the burnt orange stars were out – Sark, Chris Del Conte, Bevo. As were college football royalty like Paul Finebaum and Greg Sankey. Pitbull performed and fireworks were popped. Everything is bigger in Texas, as the saying goes, and the Longhorn faithful played to the part with a large turnout on a Sunday night for an all-day event that created four hours of programming for the SEC Network. 

The Longhorns played their first season in 1893. They were independent until the Southwest Conference formed ahead of the 1915 season and remained loyal until the changing sands in college football created an opportunity for a bigger national identity – and more money – as members of the Big 12. 

Texas is tied with Notre Dame for fourth all-time in wins at the Division I level with 948. The Longhorns have won four national championships, produced two Heisman Trophy winners, and routinely created more revenue than any football program in America. They didn’t need the SEC bump, but the crowd in Austin on Sunday and the excitement within the fan base – and SEC brass – was palpable. 

The last time the Texas campus saw this type of celebration was in 2005 after Mack Brown coached Vince Young and the Horns to a national championship win over USC. Fittingly, the Longhorn Network went dark on the same day of the SEC welcoming celebration and the last program it aired was the Rose Bowl win over the Trojans. LHN began in August of 2011, and it nearly helped play a role in the unraveling of the Big 12. Texas and Oklahoma were nearly Pac-12 members in 2012 and Texas A&M, Nebraska, Colorado, and Missouri left for different conferences that same year. 

The Longhorn Network and Big 12 reshuffle coincided with a dip for Texas on the football field. The Longhorns won at least 10 games in every season from 2001-2009. The team suffered its first losing season since 1997 – the year before Brown took over as head coach – in a five-win 2010 campaign. The program didn’t win 10 games in a season again until 2018 under Tom Herman, who was fired two seasons later. Charlie Strong was 16-21 in three seasons between Brown and Herman. 

Texas was in a rut for an extended period for the first time since 1984-1994. That too included a one-off 10-win season in 1990 and a rotating door of coaches attempting to replicate the success of Darryl K Royal without consistent success doing so. Texas did right the ship under John Mackovic in 1995 to win 10 games and the last SWC championship. The Longhorns upset Nebraska to win the first Big 12 championship the next year – a double that Sarkisian’s club hopes to replicate after winning the crown in their final foray as Big 12 members. 

Texas won five games the season after the SEC news broke – Sark’s first in charge. The headlines hinted that the Longhorns weren’t SEC ready and the “we’re back” slogan uttered by Sam Ehlinger after the 2019 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia was an internet punchline. Texas was soft. And underachieving. And overrated. Until the Longhorns weren’t. The 2022 season included hard-fought road wins against the likes of future Big 12 champion Kansas State. Last year, Texas won its conference title since 2009 and made the College Football Playoff for the first time. 

From the summer of 2021 when the Houston Chronicle broke the news that Texas and Oklahoma were leaving the Big 12 for greener pastures, pundits and posters poked fun at the unready Longhorns. If they couldn’t tame the Big 12, the SEC was sure to pick their bones dry. The narrative changed last year with a win at Alabama and did a 180 after Texas bucked recent trends to reach the College Football Playoff with a team built from the inside out. 

No longer are outsiders wondering if Texas is SEC ready. The new question, even if it’s a bit of an exaggeration, is if the SEC is ready for the Longhorns. Expectations are higher in Austin than they’ve been since the golden age of Mack Brown, which ended with a shoulder injury to Colt McCoy in a Rose Bowl national championship game against Alabama. It is fitting that the new potential Golden Age began, in hindsight, with a win over the Crimson Tide.

And why not Texas in 2024? Sarkisian's Longhorns enters Year 4 with the three ingredients required for high-level success – a great offensive and defensive line paired with an experienced and talented quarterback. Quinn Ewers is arguably the second-best quarterback in college football entering the season. Kelvin Banks and DJ Campbell lead an experienced group of offensive linemen. The loss of NFL draft picks at defensive tackle, including the Outland Trophy winner should be mitigated through transfer additions, returners such as Alfred Collins, and an improved edge presence with Trey Moore’s addition. 

The schedule also lines up well for Texas. The team doesn’t play Alabama, LSU, or Ole Miss in conference play. A trip to Michigan in Week 2 looms large but the defending champions are breaking in a new staff and roster. Trips to Texas A&M and Arkansas are tricky because those crowds will be rabid. The Longhorns don’t need to be perfect, however. An 11-1 regular season record earns a ticket into the SEC title game. A 10-2 record as an SEC team likely means a first-round home game in the 12-team CFP. 

Texas was a program that couldn’t stay out of its own way for a variety of reasons during the 12-year slide of mediocrity. From bad recruiting decisions to poor management at head coach and in the administration to a sense of entitlement that kept the powers that be from burning it down and starting over. Chris Del Conte and his hiring of Sarkisian laid the groundwork for a rebirth. 

The work behind the scenes positions Texas to handle any changes on the horizon for college football. The Longhorns have the money, the brand, and the conference affiliation to help carry the sport into a new age.