Down at SEC Media Days, there is one clear theme emerging already, even through only one day: the Texas Longhorns are playing the part of media darling this year, and there isn’t really a close second. Behind quarterback Arch Manning and coach Steve Sarkisian, not to mention some star transfers, there is quite a bit of talk already about Texas having a shot to be the best in the league.
Of course, this is a notion that most who actually follow the league closest are pretty dubious of. Despite Texas’s top-of-roster star power, they lack depth about as badly as anyone in the SEC— and that’s a really bad recipe when you play in a conference that is this physical, especially for a new nine-game slate.
So it’s safe to say that despite how gaga the media has gone over the Longhorns (for the second straight year, mind you— Texas started off last season as the AP no. 1 team before falling out of the rankings more quickly than any other team in history), there are plenty who remain unconvinced. All of this, of course, could have been avoided had the SEC just heeded the warning that Texas A&M gave.
Media’s excessive Longhorn love shows SEC fans that Aggies were right from the jump
Texas A&M fans tried to warn other SEC schools: if you let these guys in, you’ll regret it. From the very first season, they’ve been proven right: when the Texas fans whined enough to get a unreviewable call overturned in their game against Georgia, SEC fans got a shock to the system of just how bad things really get with this bunch.
It’s continued with all of the unwarranted hype around Arch Manning (though, in fairness, the last name is doing quite a bit of work there as well). Now that we are seeing a second straight year where the Longhorns are as good as being crowned the champs in the preseason, there’s a distinct pattern beginning to form in SEC fans’ minds, summarized by legendary Georgia insider Rusty Mansell:
Sounds like it is Texas and everyone else is playing for 2nd place this year in the SEC.. Figured that would be the theme this week, but man it started early and strong down in Tampa..
— Rusty Mansell (@RustyMansell_) July 20, 2026
This is just the way things go with the Longhorns. It’s just like the Cowboys or the Lakers: this is a place where media figures start with the assumption that they are going to be contenders and have to be talked out of it rather than the other way around.
Go ahead and crown Texas. Might as well not play the season. https://t.co/S3ekFtjxYm
— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) July 20, 2026
Of course, SEC schools who are sick of this have only themselves to blame. The Aggies tried to let everyone know that it was a bad idea to let the Longhorns into the league, but now all fifteen other schools are forced to deal with the consequences.
There’s no use crying over spilt milk, of course— the Longhorns are in now and are going to continue wafting their particular stench across the conference for as long as they’re allowed to. But every time an SEC fan shakes their head and says, “I didn’t have any idea it was this bad,” Aggie fans have the right to respond, “well, we tried to tell you.”
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