Oklahoma football: Aggies talk SEC

For the Tuesday Oklahoma, I wrote about Texas A&M’s euphoria over its first season in the SEC. You can read that column here.
Here is more from the Aggies about the SEC experience.

Offensive tackle Luke Joeckel:

“We played on the road at Alabama and Auburn, Ole Miss. Got to play at some pretty cool venues. Pretty hostile environments. Football’s huge there. Everywhere you go. Crazy environments. Mississippi State with those cowbells. They love football in every single one of those states.

“I grew up a Big 12 guy. My dad played at Texas Tech. It took awhile for things to change. I came to school to play for (coach Mike) Sherman, then things totally switched up. But I’m so happy with the team right now.

“A&M’s one of the best fan bases in the entire country. I thought no one even competed with them, because they’re so crazy about football. SEC football, everywhere you go, crazy fan bases. Playing in front of some of those crowds, it’s pretty loud. Can’t really hear anything. Alabama, I can remember just one thing. Don’t remember a noise, just remember a buzz, ringing in my ear the entire time, because it was so loud.

“Growing up a Big 12 guy, it’s just different now. Going to A&M, I thought I was going to be playing Big 12 football. We’ve got (coach Kevin) Sumlin now. Playing in the SEC, things are better. I miss a lot of things about the Big 12. It’s more of a pass happy league. We kind of brought that to the SEC.”

Defensive end Damontre Moore:

“The talent level and just the size (of SEC players), seeing how powerful everybody was. It was more downhill football. It was pretty exciting.

“I like the SEC, because everybody’s talented. Not like just one powerhouse. Every week, you’re going up against someone really good. To be the best, you gotta go up against the best.”

Flanker Ryan Swope:

The difference is “just the speed. And the size, really. And the defenses, how they run around. There’s kind of a difference there. I don’t know. It’s college football. Everyone has athletes. Oklahoma has athletes. They’ve got speed. There’s not a whole lot of difference, other than those defenses are bigger.