Re-ranking the SEC now that Oklahoma and Texas have joined

With the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns on the way to the SEC, where would the Big 12 power schools fit in the rankings for this year?

Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC is a gamechanger for college football at large.

For the SEC, it means adding two powerful brands to the mix of an already dominant league.

Where do the Sooners and Longhorns fit in terms of rankings?

The Big 12 pair won’t be joining the conference this year, but it’s still worth looking at where they might slot in the rankings for 2021.

SEC rankings with Oklahoma and Texas

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Texas A&M
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Texas
7. LSU
8. Ole Miss
9. Kentucky
10. Missouri
11. Auburn
12. Mississippi State
13. Arkansas
14. Tennessee
15. South Carolina
16. Vanderbilt

The tiers of the conference wouldn’t change all that drastically.

Alabama is still the cream of the crop. The question is where to slot in Oklahoma. The Sooners are college football playoff contenders, but their Big 12 schedule is much more conducive to putting together a playoff-worthy record than an SEC slate. In a head-to-head competition, Georgia and Texas A&M would have the edge.

Steve Sarkisian has some work to do with Texas. He could get them up ahead of Florida. However, they’re currently no better than sixth going into Year 1 with the new coaching staff.

The rest of the SEC remains unchanged with potential and uncertainty creating plenty of debate about how to rank the likes of Missouri, Kentucky, LSU and Ole Miss relative to each other.

The challenge for Oklahoma and Texas will be to make sure they’re in the upper echelon of the SEC consistently. Falling into the middle tier is the risk, even if that sweet SEC money is ultimately what drew them to the conference.

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