The NCAA's Southeastern Conference unanimously approved Thursday for University of Texas (UT) and University of Oklahoma (OU) to join the SEC, with the schools formally accepting the invite the following day, Longhorns Wire/USA Today Sports reported.
In light of UT’s impending move from the Big 12 Conference to the SEC, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Monday he has formed a new Select Committee on the Future of College Sports in Texas.
"I asked Sen. Jane Nelson [R-Flower Mound] to chair a new Select Committee on the Future of College Sports in Texas to study the athletic and economic impact to Texas schools and communities by UT’s exit. Hearing will be Aug. 2," Patrick tweeted Monday in anticipation of the SEC approval.
The University of Texas and longtime archival University of Oklahoma sent shockwaves throughout the college sports world Tuesday by sending a letter to the SEC requesting to join the powerhouse conference, which counts reigning national champion University of Alabama and the Longhorns’ erstwhile nemesis Texas A&M among its members.
What will follow for the Longhorns and the Sooners before their 2025 SEC debuts are lame duck seasons in the Big 12.
UT's exit leaves Texas Christian University, Baylor and Texas Tech as the remaining Lone Star schools in the Big 12 and shrouds the athletics future of all the Big 12 schools with a cloak of uncertainty, The Texas Tribune reported.
Patrick said in a statement issued by his office on Tuesday that it’s important the upper chamber of the Texas Legislature “understand the economic and athletic impact of the University of Texas leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.”
With Texas’s ticket to the SEC stamped, rumblings have emerged about a revival of the annual Thanksgiving game it used to play with A&M.
The Longhorns and the Aggies last faced each other on the gridiron on Thanksgiving Day 2011.
University of Texas kicker Justin Tucker punctuated the rivalry with a game-winning kick to seal the 27-25 victory.
Texas A&M moved to the SEC the following year.