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Texas' 8 SEC opponents have been named for the 2024 season, and there are going to be some awesome games. It's almost enough to make you forget that we still do have a 2023 season on deck in the dusty old Big 12 before we get to jump to the big(ger) leagues. I simply can't get over how much different it looks to see a schedule with teams like Georgia and Florida coming to Austin with "real" rivalry games (not of the Texas Tech variety) left intact and/or restored with the Aggies and with OU. To a lesser degree, even Arkansas. The intrinsic (and market) value of your season tickets is about to go through the roof. If you've held onto them for years and years, through home slates featuring second-tier programs like Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, etc., then your loyalty (and patience) is about to get paid off. For any home game you don't/can't attend, most all of them are so good that you'll be able to sell those tickets on the secondary market for quadruple what you have been able to get for them during Texas' entire time in the Big 12.
And some of the away games look great as well, giving fans the chance to travel to see the Horns play in great cities and new and interesting campuses. Here, we'll rank the games one by one for the 2024 season, based on a few different factors: projected importance of the game, historical level of competition, locale, fun factor, nearby dining and amenities and other characteristics that may come up as we go through the exercise:
8. vs. Mississippi State (at DKR)
Incredible. This is the worst game on the 2024 SEC schedule, and it represents what will likely be a better on-field product than any game on the 2023 schedule where Texas isn't facing OU, Alabama, Oklahoma State or TCU. But, while it is certainly a lot more fun to play Mississippi State than it is to play Baylor, BYU or University of Houston, it's still the worst game on the 2024 schedule as far as SEC opponents go. We all know that Mike Leach died unexpectedly last season after getting MSU back on track to one of its best seasons in recent memory (9 wins in 2022). He was replaced by DC Zach Arnett, who seems like enough of a no-nonsense bossman to get some things done for the program, but we'll see how he does in recruiting and more importantly, on the football field post-Leach. You'll have to excuse me for not getting too hyped up for a DC from an air-raid team who was hired as a "stabilizing factor" following such a sudden loss to the program with a guy like Leach. And let's face it: playing Mississippi State is always better when you can play them at home, because, well ...
7. vs. Kentucky (at DKR)
It was tough to choose which game to rank higher between Mississippi State and Kentucky because they are clearly the two games with the least intrigue of this particular slate. I sided with Kentucky over Mississippi State for two main reasons: 1) stability of the head coach and the fact that the head coach is a known nemesis to the program in Mark Stoops; and 2) At least Kentucky is the preeminent university in its own state unlike MSU. This should be the same level of game as Texas should expect in 2023 out of the Oklahoma States and TCUs of the world, and the only two games better than this 7th-best game ON THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE, MIND YOU (not even counting Michigan) are going to be Alabama and Oklahoma.
6. at Arkansas (Fayetteville)
I'm different from a lot of you and I know exactly why: I didn't grow up a Texas fan. An observer? -- yeah kinda. Yes, I grew up in the Austin area, but my Dad, his dad, and all his friends went to Rice so the only games I went to growing up at DKR were the ones where Texas would pummel the Owls. In this sort of household, it's easy to see why I grew up with my life revolving around the NFL. Rice Football is not going to scratch the itch for someone like me who loved the game so much. I'm sure there are a few out there like me who had Longhorn fandom hit them right in the face the minute they stepped foot on the Texas campus ... and for me, that moment when Texas joined the Big 12 was entirely (and has basically been the ENTIRETY) of my observation of the program. I have never thought of Arkansas as a "rival" to Texas, because I simply didn't watch Texas play much during its SWC days. Also, Fayetteville -- while not at the Starkville-level -- feels like one of the lower-end destinations to travel to watch an SEC football game/enjoy a weekend. I do understand that many here will harken back to the old SWC rivalry days, though, and for that reason, I've elevated it at least above the two least-appealing home games.
5. at Vanderbilt (Nashville)
The coolest location for an away game this season, and by far. I've attended the last 5 NFL drafts and Nashville was the best town for a big sporting event, hands down. I liked it so much, I've been back twice since with my wife just to visit for quick weekend trips. Broadway, the bars, the type of music scene (albeit with more of a country flair) that Austin USED to pride itself on. Hot Chicken at Hattie B's, baby back ribs at Peg Leg Porker -- heck, maybe it will be on a weekend where you can hang around after Saturday to catch a Titans game .... and don't forget the bachelorette parties. All of this without mentioning the Vandy football team, which probably should be mentioned last, anyway, as the main draw of this spot on the schedule is the locale and atmosphere.
4. vs. Florida (at DKR)
Oh man this is where it gets good. I wouldn’t have TOO many problems with anyone changing the order here or there on these final four games. They are the meat of the 2024 conference schedule, and two of these games are at home versus big-time, and until now, pretty uncommon opponents. The preeminent states in the area that comprises the SEC are clearly Texas, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee and UF has a wonderful tradition in athletics and absolutely maniacal fans. They will be in Austin in force for their first road game versus Texas in the SEC and the tailgating and night-before and after partying around campus and downtown are going to make for the type of game that would have been the out-of-conference gem of the schedule during the days of the Big 12.
3. vs. Georgia (at DKR)
See everything written above, except add in the fact that Georgia is currently a program in its stride while Florida is currently in the "sleeping" stage of a sleeping giant type of cycle. If Texas and Georgia are both in the hunt for an SEC title at the time this game takes place, you could probably sell your tickets to the game and it would pay for your season ticket costs in total.
2. at Oklahoma (State Fair)
With as cool as it is to have all these new opponents, new fanbases we're going to learn to love to hate, new places to travel, no more LHN, no more Baylor, no more snooze-fest schedules, and on and on and on and on ... with everything that a move to the SEC brings, one of the most special aspects of the move is that it keeps one thing intact: the Red River Rivalry. This and one other game were the ones that made me truly fall in love with Texas football as a student in the late 1990s and early 2000s (even though there were some truly miserable outcomes for Texas through those years). My kids love the state fair, my family meets there every year, it's a tradition that I'm so happy isn't going to be getting messed with.
1. at Texas A&M (Kyle Field)
Into the damn lion's den. Texas fans, rightfully, see Aggies as the weirdest sons of bitches on the planet and through all the fake soldiering and yell practices and horse claps, dog celebrations, nut-grabbing and poppycock, it really does need to be remembered that the level of pure, unadulterated HATE running through the blood of everyone at that stadium toward their opponent is palpable. You can almost take a knife and cut through it. I said OU at the Cotton Bowl was one of the games that cemented my fanaticism for Texas Football as a student, but the ones that really radicalized me were the A&M games. As a fan of the program, I was happy to see A&M leave to go to another conference, simply because I was so sick of dealing with Aggie friends who would pester like gnats, but as I've gotten older and as I tend to view things more now as an observer than an outright fan, I've really begun to realize how much of the college football experience is left on the table if these sorts of absolute hate fests are absent from the schedule. Bring back the hate. Bring on 2024.
