The Texas Longhorns are deep in the middle of summer workouts. The Horns are sweating it out in the Texas heat to get themselves mentally and physically ready for the 2025 football season.
The kickoff to the new season will be here before you know it. In fact, we’re just over two weeks away from the SEC Media Days in Atlanta (July 14th-17th).
The Media Days is a time that the coaches and players in the conference get in front of the media and tell the world they expect to make it back to Atlanta in December for the SEC Championship game.
Obviously, some of them will be full of crap. There is no way Jeff Lebby, in his heart of hearts, believes he will lead Mississippi State to the SEC title.
But as Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will tell you, in the SEC, even the lowly Bulldogs can beat the best of the conference if they don’t come to play.
“It's a very physical conference,” Sarkisian told the 3rd & Longhorn podcast this week. “I think the one thing that people underestimate from the outside is how mentally grueling it is to play in this conference. The coaching is incredible. The idea is that you have to get up for every game, and if you don't, you will get beat.”
Sark said he was proud of how his team was ready to compete each and every week (outside of the first half of the Georgia game in which he said the problem was that his team was TOO prepared, too keyed up).
“We weren't perfect,” Sarkisian admitted. “We were in some nail biters and games that people probably thought we shouldn't have been in going into the second half. But I sure would much rather be that than some of the teams that lost some games they probably shouldn't have lost either. That might have cost a couple teams an opportunity to get into the playoffs, quite frankly.
“But that's what's so challenging about the SEC that it's every single week, you've got to be mentally prepared to play as much as you have to be physically prepared to play. And I thought our guys did that.”
Texas came within a whisker of winning the conference title in its first season of competition.
Getting back into the game and winning it will not be easy. While the Horns had the advantage of playing most of its toughest conference games at home last season, the reverse of that will be true this season.
Beyond the opening week road trip to Columbus, Ohio, Texas has conference road games this year at Florida and at Georgia.
“We have new challenges this year that we didn't have a year ago,” said Sarkisian. “We're going to be the most traveled team in the SEC this year. We're going to travel almost 10,000 miles this year where, I think, you know, Georgia, Ole Miss, those guys are traveling like, 1,200 miles.
“So the idea that we're going to Ohio State, we're going to Georgia, we're going to Florida, you could argue three of the top five most hostile environments in the country that we're going to get to play in. And I say get to and I mean that because this team has got to form its own identity. We've been a very good road team now for the past three years or so, and those moments are what are going to help us in December and January. When you get into those environments, having the ability to play in those arenas against those teams and perform well is going to infuse a ton of confidence in this team.
The road back to Atlanta this year will not be easy, but I’m predicting Texas WILL be back in the SEC Championship game again in 2025.
Without further adieu, here is my predicted order of finish in the SEC this season.
