Texas 2025 Schedule Circling Internet Shows How Tough SEC Move Will Be

Schedule would have Longhorns open league with Arkansas, close with Texas A&M

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Oct 19, 2022 12:01 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A theoretical 2025 Texas football schedule posted by Kyle Umlang, co-host of the Statistically Speaking Podcast, not only features a road trip to Arkansas to kick off the Longhorns' SEC history, it gives Texas fans a clear idea what the conference move will mean for their team.

While it's theoretical, the first two games on the schedule are legitimate non-conference games that are already slated.

While this is a schedule similar to what SEC teams face each year minus dropping Vanderbilt to have room to schedule a weak non-conference opponent between Alabama and LSU to heal up before closing the season, it's jarring to think of Texas trying to make the run even for those of us who have covered the league for a long time.

I read off the schedule to another SEC reporter. He wasted no time responding.

"D@*n, Texas better be back," he exclaimed.

Obviously, it's difficult to determine how the schedule will shake out.

Should the SEC stick with divisions, it would likely be that either Auburn or Alabama would come off the schedule so Missouri could be added as a division opponent after geographical adjustments are made during realignment.

Kentucky would also have to be removed to allow for Ole Miss unless the number of required conference games is expanded. Either way, the Rebels would have to be added to the schedule.

However, if the league goes to pods, it's quite possible this could be the Longhorns' schedule. The idea of opening with Arkansas while ending against Texas A&M feels almost like a given for that first schedule.

The rest will depend upon how the pods are drawn. There are several options for Texas.

The easy one is to create a Big 12 pod featuring Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Missouri. However, that seems a little mean considering half that pod are teams who left for the SEC to not have to put up with the Longhorns anymore.

There's also a geographical pod. Texas, Texas A&M, LSU and Arkansas creates one geographic option, but again that sticks two schools that left for the SEC to get away from the Texas drama.

A geographical grouping of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas clinches the idea that geography can't be considered without grouping teams that grew tired of the Longhorns before joining the SEC.

The perceived self-serving arrogance of Texas during the Southwest Conference and most of the Big 12 years rubbing other schools the wrong way makes it impossible to conceive a geographic pod without this tension.

Thus, a "We despise Texas and not because of their performance in athletics" pod of Arkansas, Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M could be thrown together should the league decide to go all in on giving teams with a long-standing beef with the Longhorns a guaranteed yearly shot.

Don't worry Oklahoma. There's going to be a permanent non-pod opponent added in to appease Alabama, so you'll still get your yearly shot of fried butter and Longhorn football in the midst of the Texas state fair.

No matter which way it shakes out, the spirit of this theoretical schedule is in the right place. It's going to be quite the adjustment for the Longhorns when it comes time to switch conferences.