There are no more divisions in the SEC — at least until it grows to around 28 teams, the conference decides divisions are necessary again and people say, “Wait a minute, why don’t we just go back to having the Southwest Conference, the 1990s-era SEC, the ACC … ?”
What were we saying? Oh yeah, there are no more divisions in the SEC, but old habits die hard sometimes, and you might have noticed that last week’s mailbag had more of an SEC East feel to it. Well, this week, we’ll go West a bit more, then stay there for another question and then get to some conference-wide questions.
Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What are the honest expectations for Oklahoma? Is Brent Venables creating something sustainable in Norman? — Asa M.
Oklahoma is a fascinating new entrant in the SEC in that it’s a blueblood program few are talking about. The Sooners are being overshadowed by Texas, which appears to have a loaded roster to hit the conference running. Oklahoma, meanwhile, almost limps in with Venables at 16-10 in his two years, plus two new coordinators and a new quarterback. The jury is very much out on Venables as a head coach, and naysayers can wonder whether the Sooners are about to turn into Nebraska after joining the Big Ten. (As one naysayer did in response to this question.)
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Still, this is Oklahoma, a program with much more recent success than Nebraska. The Cornhuskers’ last Big 12 championship was in 1999, and the Sooners won four straight from 2017 to 2020. A strong administration is in place, notably longtime athletic director Joe Castiglione, and it just feels like the leadership won’t let the program slip. Venables is also trending in the right direction, going from six wins to 10.
The SEC, of course, will be a different animal, and this year’s schedule looks brutal. When I did my game-by-game predictions a few months ago, I had Oklahoma finishing 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the conference. But my colleague Stewart Mandel is among those a bit more bullish on the Sooners, putting them at No. 15, sixth among SEC teams, in his way-too-early top 25 after the winter portal period (behind Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama and Missouri).
GO DEEPER
The new-look SEC: A prediction on how the 2024 season might play out
A lot will depend on how Jackson Arnold fares at quarterback, but the schedule and new coordinators have me pessimistic about Oklahoma being a College Football Playoff contender. Long term, I would bet on the prowess of this program to make it consistently competitive in the SEC. This isn’t Nebraska in a recruiting sense, more isolated geographically and relying on its name. Oklahoma still has close access to Texas and now can carry its name into other areas. The Sooners finished No. 8 in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports Composite, and though it’s early, they’re sixth for the 2025 class.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers during spring practice at the Frank Denius practice fields in Austin on March 19. (Brazziell /American-Statesman)
Does the elite speed and athleticism of Texas’ wide receivers leading up to draft day discount your opinion of Quinn Ewers? How should a quarterback’s success (or lack thereof) be judged based on the weapons around him, especially at wide receiver? — George G.
It’s something to take into account, but I’d point out that Joe Burrow had Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase on the 2019 LSU offense, and all three are doing quite well in the NFL. (Burrow and Chase continue to work together, of course.) Sometimes it’s a matter of having good weapons around a quarterback, and sometimes it’s that all the weapons are really good.
The good thing for talent evaluators when it comes to Ewers is they now get to see him without Xavier Worthy and AD Mitchell, much like Georgia’s Carson Beck can be judged without Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey. But both quarterbacks should still have plenty of good receivers, so the expectation is they’ll continue to put up good numbers.
Still, how quarterbacks translate to the NFL has become much more random. I lean on how they looked in college and how they did when I saw them play, which was why I thought C.J. Stroud was the best quarterback in last year’s draft and Michael Penix Jr. was the best one in this year’s draft. (I’m a bit leery on Caleb Williams for teammate reasons, but that easily could be wrong.) And just because it looks like I was right about Stroud doesn’t mean I’ll be right about Penix. So much of it is about the system the quarterback is in, the players around him, the coaching and just pure luck. It’s the most important position, which is why teams over-draft for it, and the most difficult to predict.
Given Sam Pittman’s record the past two seasons at Arkansas and a challenging season ahead, could he be one of the first coaches to be let go if the record doesn’t improve? If so, how does Arkansas look as a landing spot for coaches compared to how it looked when Pittman replaced Chad Morris? — Marshall J.
Pittman is a professional, and I’m sure he realizes, just as everyone else does, that his job is on the line this year. When an athletic director has to release a statement saying the coach is coming back, everyone realizes that’s the deal. Pittman deserves credit for making the program respectable again after the Morris debacle, but the final record has gone in the wrong direction the past two years.
The upshot for Pittman, however, is that by going 4-8 and surviving that, he could argue bowl eligibility shows things are going back in the right direction. I’m not sure Arkansas fans and administrators would see it that way, but there’s a path to six wins: Three guarantee home games, then win three of the SEC games plus at Oklahoma State. Of course, one of the guarantee games is in November, so will Pittman make it that far?
He probably has to be comfortably bowl-eligible by then or Arkansas will want a head start on the hiring cycle. Given Pittman’s hot-seat status, he might need a strong start to avoid things becoming a fait accompli. Here’s the opening half of the schedule: Arkansas-Pine Bluff, at Oklahoma State, UAB, at Auburn, at Texas A&M, Tennessee. If the Razorbacks come out of that 4-2, there’s some momentum. If it’s 3-3 or worse, it’s dicey. If it’s worse, you can probably forget about it.
How can the SEC’s prohibition on intra-conference transfers during the spring transfer window remain as a rule (and a seemingly unquestioned one) given the court rulings on transfers in the last few years? — Alex R.
It’s hard to tell. If we’ve learned anything in the past few years, it’s that if the NCAA is in court, it’s about to lose. But this wouldn’t be the NCAA, it would be the SEC, which would argue it is not prohibiting absolute freedom of movement — and thus name, image and likeness earning power — only freedom of movement within its conference. It might depend on the sympathies of the judge.
It also depends on whether anybody challenges it. Tom Mars, who made his name suing Ole Miss on behalf of Houston Nutt, then going after the NCAA on transfers, has been distracted lately by defending Jim Harbaugh. When he’s free, maybe he’ll pursue it.
But there doesn’t seem to be a groundswell of opposition to the rule, as there has been to other rules. This is only about the spring window, not the ability to transfer within the SEC at all. It probably will take a specific case that galvanizes a lawyer somewhere.
GO DEEPER
SEC mailbag: How big of a deal is Missouri’s push? It’s talkin’ season
Will any reporter ever mention a university education and degree when they talk about what student-athletes consider when making their school choice, or are we forever going to be stuck on the NFL/NIL treadmill? — Joe A.
From what I gather, the academic side of it matters as much as it did in the pre-NIL days, it’s just that (1) it might not have mattered as much as you thought back then, and (2) NIL is the new thing so it gets more attention.
And look, many of these athletes are going to college for one main reason: to play football. And for many, it’s to prepare for the NFL. Only a small percentage of them will make it there, but when they go to college, it’s reasonable for them to dream about it and make it a priority. It’s also smart for them to have a backup plan, and many do. But how many of you reading this knew what you were going to do when you went to college? I did, and I’ve been doing it for the past 30 years, but I’m an exception. More people figure it out while they’re in college, and a lot of football players probably do that too.
Many programs fail their players by not preparing them for post-football life. Some try, but many players fail to take advantage. That’s an evergreen issue. As for NIL, this is peak earning time for many of these athletes, especially the ones who won’t go to the NFL, so I can’t sit in judgment for the ones who do make it a priority.
If the SEC acquired a program strictly based on the merits of the town in which it resides (e.g., Athens, Oxford, Knoxville, etc.), which towns might fit into SEC culture best? — Alston B.
There are too many to whittle it down. This is coming from someone who lives in a college town, loves it and has visited plenty of other college towns. Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Lubbock, Eugene, Ann Arbor … just off the top of my head, those are names you say, and instantly people realize you’re talking about a college town (plus Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Gainesville, etc.).
But you can’t strictly categorize what’s an “SEC culture” town, especially with Austin in the mix now. There are a few buckets:
Small town that’s first about the university: Athens, Auburn, College Station, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, Norman, Oxford, Starkville, Columbia (Missouri)
Mid-sized city that is mainly about the university: Knoxville, Baton Rouge
Mid-sized town that’s about the university but also other things: Columbia, S.C. (state capital); Lexington, Ky. (Keeneland); Fayetteville, Ark. (Walmart)
Pretty big city that has a university as a big part of it: Austin
Big city that happens to have a university: Nashville
You could take a lot of other schools and throw them into each of these buckets. And before you say, “Well, is it an SEC town?” a lot of the traits overlap in college sports fandom. Each campus might have its own culture, and each sports team its tradition, but having sports traditions attached to a campus is unique and therefore gives different fan bases a lot in common.
And that’s what makes college sports great. And it’s what we should try to keep about them. I know the criticism of where things are going is that college football is turning into minor league football, professional but on a smaller scale. Where I hope it’s going is more like English Premier League soccer: professional but with fans still feeling that attachment, tradition and emotion. The NFL can be the highest level of football in major cities. College football (and basketball) can be the feeder system while paying players but retaining the history and emotion and all the things that make college football great.
How we thread that needle is the trick.
(Top photo of Brent Venables: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
2024-04-30 15:04:41
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