Any thrill seekers hoping to see instant bloodshed with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma into the Southeastern Conference apparently are going to have wait for something less structured than SEC Media Days.

The Longhorns’ and Sooners’ first formal introduction to the SEC came to an end at the Omni Dallas on Thursday with everybody — the newbies and old hands alike —playing nice, somewhat cautiously, but still seemingly feeling each other out and keeping their hands on their wallets.

Every school — even Texas A&M — has expressed nothing but delight to have two such prestigious programs joining what was already the toughest league in America. Meanwhile, the two incoming members mostly tip-toe softly, seemingly not wanting to make waves or offend anybody.

Maybe when they all get to know each other better, some SEC-style taunting and trash talking will commence.

For now … not so much.

Deep down, you figure most of the veteran members, fandoms and school officials alike, hope they both fall on their faces.

You don’t just barge in and start rearranging the furniture. You have to pay some dues before you can commence taunt-chanting “SEC-SEC” while beating up on non-conference opponents.

Oklahoma last won a national championship in 2000, Texas in 2005, the only two in that span by the Big 12.

This century the SEC has 14 by five different schools.

Maybe Nick Saban established the ground rules early in the week when he famously discounted the fear that Texas might try to run their new league like the Longhorns supposedly did in the Big 12.

“They’re not going to run the SEC,” Saban said on the SEC Network. “There’s a whole lot of arrogant people all over the SEC. You can forget about that.”

Maybe Saban carries enough weight to settle the matter.

But Texas does seem to be the talk of the week, hogging most of the headlines at the Sooners’ expense.

The Longhorns will likely be picked to finish second in the SEC behind only Georgia, which would put them in the conference championship game.

One of the sillier central themes of the week has been if opponents’ use of the “horns down” signal will be deemed unsportsmanlike conduct as it often was in the Big 12.

Short answer: Only if it’s really egregious, SEC coordinator of officials John McDaid said.

Texas was not permitted to bring The Longhorn Network with it to the SEC. A Texas A&M official once told me that Texas’ own network was the final straw for the Aggies fleeing the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012.

It’s been disposed of.

But, still, it’s Longhorns this, Longhorns that.

“Oklahoma isn’t intimidated as a football program,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said. “We’re running towards the SEC. We’ve looked forward the last several years for this.”

So, not to stir up anything, but why isn’t Oklahoma crying foul? Where are the Sooner out cries for “What about us?”

It’s probably because the Longhorns do seem to be peaking at the right time for such a move.

What have you done for me lately?

For one thing, they beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year, far better street cred than bringing a marble rye to impress your new relations.

“That shows what we are capable of as a whole,” Texas quarterback Quinn Evers said. “Now we have to do it on a much more consistent level.”

Never mind that last year’s Big 12 championship was the Longhorns’ first since 2009 — and Oklahoma won eight in that span, including six in a row.

The Longhorns made their first appearance in the College Football Playoff last year — whereas Oklahoma has been four times (admittedly, more memorable for falling in the semifinals of each, three times at the hands of SEC teams — remember the 63 points that the 2019 LSU team hung on them).

But the perceived Texas “arrogance” was fashioned off the field more than on it — specifically behind closed doors, where the Longhorns were often accused of pulling the strings on the Big 12 to their own advantage.

That was probably more what Saban was talking about.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said “Both are now part of a conference with peer athletic programs, so they’ll fit, and we’ll fit together, the 16.”

He seemed to emphasize the “peer” part. That’s always been one of the strengths of the SEC, the occasional accusations of Alabama control nothing more than urban legend.

But, for now, the two old Red River Rivals figure to be lumped together in the “new” SEC.

“A partnership of elite with elite,” Venables said.

He was even asked if his Sooners and the Longhorns might be sharing information and experiences in their journey and …

Venable interrupted the guy as soon as figured out where the question was headed.

“Probably not,” he said — emphatically.

Bevo won’t be pulling the Sooner Schooner.

Now, that’s the spirit. It should serve both well in the cut-throat world of their new SEC digs.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at

scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com