By Henry Palmore

Football in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has been a tradition for over 100 years. Ever since the College Football Playoffs (CFP) system began in 2014, an SEC team has won six out of the nine years. College football news usually revolves around the powerhouses in the SEC, as well as Ohio State, the University of Southern California (USC), and Texas. The current talk of college football is Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 Conference and joining the SEC. They paid $50 million each to the Big 12 as an exit fee.

Arch Manning. Photo credit: Scott Wachter- USA TODAY Sports.

This move will make the SEC a 16-school conference instead of a 14-school conference, changing the outlook of all college sports in the future. Colleges switching conferences is relatively rare, but it has become very popular in the past year. On September 1, Cal, Southern Methodist University (SMU), and Stanford joined the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC). Obviously, none of these teams is actually near the Atlantic Coast. These three schools will be joining the ACC next year in 2024. 

College football news has focused more on the new NIL (Name Image Likeness) deals with athletes and recruiting. Recruiting violations have always been a crucial topic of college football news, and the new NIL rules have changed the way colleges recruit out of high school. 

The SEC has had a network connection with CBS Sports for many years. ESPN and the SEC have made a deal where ESPN will cover all SEC sports for $3 billion. This new TV deal is a factor in why Texas and Oklahoma are joining the SEC. The SEC will be receiving a payment of $300 million, which is five times greater than the yearly payment they received from CBS, which was $55 million. Revenue is guiding the move for the conference flip, and the move will also add value to the SEC and college football games. 

When quarterback Arch Manning committed to Texas, the college football world was shocked. Arch went to the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana. This highly rated 5-star quarterback’s family has made a name for themselves. Manning’s father Cooper, Uncle Eli, and grandfather Archie Manning all played football at The University of Mississippi, and his other uncle, Peyton, played football at the University of Tennessee. Archie, Peyton, and Eli all went on to have successful NFL careers. There was hype surrounding Arch’s commitment, because of the new NIL money involved with college football. Manning was paid $3.2 million, the third highest of any college athlete in America. Under the new NIL rules, athletes can receive money from sponsorships and endorsement deals with companies.

Manning had offers from schools like Alabama and Georgia, so why would he commit to Texas, when sophomore Quinn Ewers started last year as quarterback and was named the starter this year? According to Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian, Arch chose Texas because “it is exactly where he wanted to play.” 

The Oklahoma Sooners have been very dominant in the past, but recently their dominance and high-powered offense have been declining. The Sooners made the CFP four years in a row starting in the 2015-2016 season. The Sooners had back-to-back Heisman winners, Baker Mayfield in 2017 and Kyler Murray in 2018. Alabama transfer and now NFL star Jalen Hurts was also a Heisman finalist in 2019, leading Oklahoma to the CFP. Spencer Rattler came in after Hurts but got replaced in a game against Texas by freshman Caleb Williams, who is now the starter at USC. It will be exciting to see how the Sooners’ season turns out after a disappointing season last year. 

Last year in Austin, the Alabama Crimson Tide faced off against the UT Longhorns in an early season battle. The Tide ended up winning this game 20-19 because of a late field goal that Will Reichard drilled from 33 yards. Ewers was injured and exited early in the game, but he is now back for his sophomore year at Texas. The Tide is losing their Heisman-winning quarterback Bryce Young to the NFL which is detrimental to their dominant offense, as is the loss of the electric Jahmyr Gibbs. They also no longer have many key pieces on defense, including edge rusher Will Anderson and the versatile defensive back Brian Branch. 

College Gameday was at Tuscaloosa on September 9 for this season’s rematch between the two powerhouses. Sarkisian worked under Alabama head coach Nick Saban as an offensive coordinator for the 2019 and 2020 seasons and helped get them to the CFP. Sarkisian also worked as an analyst for the Tide in 2016. Saban was 28-2 against his former assistant coaches, with his two losses coming against Kirby Smart who is now the head coach at the University of Georgia, and Jimbo Fisher who is the head coach of Texas A&M University. 

The Tide lost to Texas at home 34-24, and it is the first time Saban has lost to one of his assistants at home. After that weekend, Alabama dropped to number 13 in the country, and Texas moved up to number 3. In the current rankings, is 11th, and Texas is 9th. 

Featured image: Gary Cosby, Jr. via USA TODAY Sports.