I don't disagree with the basic idea, but it doesn't really matter whether it's a "good idea" or not. In 2025 the idea of "conference fit" is archaic and anachronistic.
The fact is that the B12's TV contracts just weren't good enough anymore, to keep Texas and OU media money even roughly close to the teams in the B1G and SEC. There were only two choices available to Texas, and the SEC was the more logical one because of simple geography.
And for the SEC, it was a no-brainer to add two more blue blood brands, especially given the consolidation moves expected from the B1G at the time. Rutgers and Maryland and USC and UCLA and Washington and Oregon being in the B1G, make even less sense, but it's a new world order we're living with now in college football.
I agree with FF, the SWC was the ideal conference for Texas to be in. Short of Supermanning the world backwards 40 years, that's not gonna happen, so the SEC is the logical choice based on regional proximity.
I was late to the college football party, my fandom started after the SWC had dissolved. That being said, looking back, the SWC struck me as very weak, especially on the national scale. A bunch of Texas school, and Arkansas. Sure, Texas was a true blue blood, and Arkansas was very close to being a blue blood 40-50 years ago ( or at least it seemed to me that Arkansas was once a very prestigious program until the 1990's). A&M was good in the 80's/early 90's, but were atrocious from the late 1950's to the early 80's. We did have a few good seasons in the 70's.
I know that at one time Baylor was much better, but they were so bad in the first dozen or so years of the Big 12 it's hard for me to ever imagine them as anything other than perennial losers, even though their football program is much improved the last 10-15 years.
SMU was worse than Baylor for the same time period, only program ever to get the death penalty.
Texas Tech-never won the SWC, they're so bad over the last 50 years they make A&M look good.
UH....just as likely to go 0-12 any given year as they are to go 11-1 or whatever. Very jeckyl and hyde.
TCU.....just about the only program to come out better from the post-SWC than anybody else. I always felt they were imposters, a good team that benefitted from a weak schedule. After they joined the Big 12, I checked a few times and they had a losing record in the Big 12 despite playing a much weaker conference than the one that existed from 1996-2011.
Again, the only way I have to judge the old SWC is by the perception of their teams 20-30 years after it folded. And by those standards it was a terrible conference.
