Texas Not Picked To Run SEC Yet, But Pretty Close At No. 2 To Georgia In Media Poll

DALLAS - The Southeastern Conference old guard tried to keep rookie members Texas and Oklahoma down a tad during the SEC Media Days this week in the heart of what used to be the Southwest Conference, then the Big 12.

It didn't work completely.

Media covering the four-day event voted SEC charter member Georgia to win the SEC regular season crown with 165 votes to finish No. 1, while Texas had just 27 for second. Georgia finished first in overall voting points with 3,330 , but Texas was right there with 3,041.

"What kind of tickles me is all these people asking questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in," rookie media member but 72-year-old SEC sage Nick Saban said on the SEC Network on Monday. "They're not gonna run the SEC."

Nick Saban (right) talks to Texas coach Steve Sarkisian before their game in the 2022 season in Austin, Texas. (Getty Images)

Well, neither are you, Mr. Saban or your former team. Alabama and first-year coach Kalen DeBoer finished third in first-place votes with 12 and in overall points with 2,891 behind the Longhorns. And Texas beat out 13 previous SEC members in all.

Texas beat the eventual SEC champion last year and Saban - 34-24 in Tuscaloosa and reached the College Football Playoff final four before losing to Washington and DeBoer. It was Saban's worst home loss in his 17 years as Alabama's coach. He had never lost by more than seven points at home. It also broke his 57-0 non-conference home winning streak going back to a 2007 loss to Louisiana-Monroe.

MUST-SEE TV: SEC Night Football Documentary Is Mesmerizing

The Crimson Tide recovered to beat 12-0 and 2022 and '23 national champion Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and also reach the CFP final four before losing to eventual national champion Michigan. But maybe he's still sore about that loss to Texas.

Saban did pick Texas to reach the next SEC Championship Game on Dec. 7 in Atlanta, but lose to Georgia there.

Georgia correctly did not make the CFP last season because of the play-in loss to Alabama. But coach Kirby Smart - who was Saban's defensive coordinator for four of Saban's six national titles at Alabama - is not using that to motivate his team in 2024.

Kirby Smart Not Using Revenge

"We don't have a chip on our shoulder in terms of people trying to use that as motivation," Smart said Tuesday. "I've never used a failure from the previous year as motivation and never used the success of a previous year as motivation. We won't do that this year. That's not who we are. We're dealing with new challenges this year."

OPINION: Kirby Smart Should Drive Georgia's Reckless Ship, Not A Collective

And some old ones. He has a team of reckless drivers on his roster with 23 arrests of the sort since offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy died in an auto accident as LeCroy was racing at speeds of 100 mph on Jan. 15, 2023.

Smart returns much of his 2023 team, including quarterback Carson Beck, who finished No. 8 in the nation last season in passing efficiency at 167.9 (302-of-417 passing, 3,941 yards, 24 TDs, 6 INTs).

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, a former offensive coordinator under Saban at Alabama, also returns an impressive array of talent from his 12-2 team of 2023, including quarterback Quinn Ewers. He finished No. 16 in efficiency at 158.6 (272 of 394, 3,479 yards, 22 TDs, 6 INTs). And Ewers has Arch Manning to handle interviews and the backup role.

Texas Longhorns Are A Team Possessed

"There's an idea of obsession going on in our locker room right now," he said Wednesday. "They got a taste of what it can taste like, of being a Big 12 champion, playing in a College Football Playoff, and we fell short. This idea of obsession that our players have is one that really came from them. They couldn't wait to get back to work. They couldn't wait to get back in the weight room."

Now, they want to get back to the CFP, which expands to 12 teams this season.

"We've got a team full of hungry players," Sarkisian said. "It's a competitive, competitive roster, and I love that about them."

RIVALRY STANDOFF: Red River Or Iron Bowl?

Texas will host Georgia on Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. one week after it plays Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout. Then they could meet again in the SEC Championship Game and possibly one more time in the CFP.

Texas will be going after its first national championship since the 2005 season under coach Mack Brown, who took the Longhorns back to the national title game in the 2009 season. But they lost to Saban and Alabama.

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is expected to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff this season. (Getty Images)

One of Ole Miss' most talented teams in its history under coach Lane Kiffin - yet another Saban pupil at Alabama as an offensive coordinator - came in fourth in the voting. LSU was fifth, followed by Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The bottom eight were Texas A&M, Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in 16th.

The voters from the SEC Media Days do not have an impressive track record, however. Only nine times since 1992 has the predicted champion won the SEC championship.

Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker did not take Saban's prediction to heart.

"He always said, 'Don't let some guy who lives in his mom's basement determine how you feel,'" Booker said. "So, I'm not going to let a guy who plays golf all day determine how I feel."