Two Big College Programs Reportedly Reach out to SEC About Joining Conference

The SEC could be getting bigger very soon. According to a report for the Houston Chronicle, Texas and Oklahoma have reached out to the SEC about joining the conference. The outlet said that "an announcement could come within a couple of weeks concerning the potential addition of UT and OU to the league." If a deal is done, the SEC would expand to 16 teams, making it the first super conference in college sports.

This report came out right in the middle of SEC Media Days. Greg Sankey SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was asked about the report and didn't give a clear answer. He told Dennis Dood of CBS Sports: "No comment on that speculation. We are only worried about the 2021 season. Somebody dropped a report from unnamed people." Another interesting thing about this report is it was nine years ago that Texas A&M and Missouri left the Big 12 and joined the SEC. Texas A&M athletics director Ross Bjork was asked about the report and wasn't too happy.

"We want to be the only SEC team from the state of Texas," he told reporters at SEC media days, per Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, per 247Sports. "There's a reason why Texas A&M left the Big 12 — to be stand alone and have our own identity. That's our feeling." Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher laughed when he first heard the news.

"I bet they would (like to join the SEC)," he said. "... Listen, we've got the greatest league in ball. That's the choices they make or what they do, I don't know, but I don't know how I feel about it. I'm just worried about A&M. I control what I want to control here."

The question is why would Texas and Oklahoma want to join the SEC? Football likely plays a big role in the decision as the SEC is known for being a very strong conference, if not the strongest conference in all of college football. With Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU and Auburn, SEC football is must-see-TV nearly every week, which gives the conference a chance to be in the playoffs every year. Since 2009, an SEC team has won the national title eight times. And of those eight times, six of them have been won by Alabama.