Texas entered the SEC, went 10-2 in the regular season, and beat Oklahoma 34-3 in the Red River's first SEC-conference edition. The scheduling change did not slow the program — the talent did the translation.
2024 — SEC Debut — CFP Quarterfinal at Year One
Texas went 13-3 in its first SEC season, earned a CFP quarterfinal berth, and lost a CFP semifinal to Ohio State — the first program ever to reach consecutive CFP semifinals in a conference move.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- Quinn EwersQB3,472 passing yards
- Arch ManningQB938 passing yards
- Tre WisnerRB1,064 rushing yards
- Jaydon BlueRB730 rushing yards
- Jerrick GibsonRB377 rushing yards
- Matthew GoldenWR987 receiving yards
- Gunnar HelmTE786 receiving yards
- Isaiah BondWR540 receiving yards
- Anthony Hill Jr.LB113 tackles
- Michael TaaffeDB78 tackles
- Andrew MukubaDB69 tackles
- Colin SimmonsLB9 sacks
- Trey MooreLB6.5 sacks
- Barryn SorrellLB5.5 sacks
Season leaders, 2024.
CFP Quarterfinal, Peach Bowl, January 1, 2025. Texas 39, Arizona State 31 (2OT). The Arch Manning freshman year's first big-stage appearance; the longest game of the bracket. Texas survived into the semifinals.
CFP Semifinal, Cotton Bowl, January 10, 2025. Ohio State 28, Texas 14. Quinn Ewers's last game in burnt orange — Ohio State's defensive front dominated the first half. Jeremiah Smith's game-defining performance. One game short of the title game, again.
"The Longhorns don't apologize for the league change. The roster was built for it."
2024 is the chapter where Texas made the SEC move look easy and still lost to Ohio State in a semifinal — a combination that reads differently from both the inside and the outside. Inside: the program reached consecutive semifinals across two conferences. Outside: the Ohio State matchup proved the ceiling is not the Big-12-to-SEC translation; it is the final four. Arch Manning's freshman moments (Peach Bowl double-overtime drive) set up the 2025 starter assumption. Ewers departed. The chapter closes with the program competing for titles from a new league on the schedule's hardest slate — which is the scale of ambition the profile's 'confident-texan' register demands, and which the 2024 season delivered.