5 SEC schools most likely to vote against Texas football, OU joining

Arkansas

We could get a sneak peek at what it will be like for Texas to play in the SEC West this fall when the Longhorns and new head coach Steve Sarkisian travel to face the Razorbacks in Fayetteville on Sep. 11. Texas and Arkansas are longtime rivals that were also conference foes at one time. And the geographic proximity is definitely there for these two.

Moreover, for many of the same reasons that South Carolina would not want Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC, it seems like the Razorbacks would vote to block them. There’s no guarantee that this happens, but Arkansas already had a major uphill battle to move this football program forward under new head coach Sam Pittman.

Now, Pittman and the Razorbacks could have some really stiff competition to find postseason prominence once again for this program. You could argue that Arkansas has a more resourceful athletic program across the board than some of the other schools in the lower-tier of the SEC. But that won’t help if Arkansas is not even close to the top half in terms of resources and brand power after Texas and Oklahoma are brought into the mix.

It will be interesting to see what type of reaction the Longhorns draw when Texas faces Arkansas in Week 2 of the non-conference slate this fall. Texas surely made an enemy out of Arkansas in the past, and that looks to become true once again.

Arkansas could lose ground in recruiting in multiple sports and will run into a much more difficult road to contend in the SEC and on a national basis in more sports than just football. Baseball (a pride and joy of the Razorbacks) and men’s basketball will get tougher too.