SEC football schedule will be eight games in 2024 after adding Oklahoma, Texas
The SEC will continue to play eight league games with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma for the 2024 season, commissioner Greg Sankey said Thursday.
The decision to retain the eight-game model comes amid a larger debate within the SEC over moving to nine conference games, which would mirror the scheduling model used by the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12. Like the Big 12 and Pac-12, the SEC will do away with division beginning in 2024. The Big Ten discussed eliminating its divisional split for 2024 at the league's winter meetings in February.
Even with strong support Sankey, who said two days ago that a "league at the forefront of college athletics does not stand still," the nine-game system met with resistance from coaches and administrators.
"Nobody's shying away from anything, we just didn't add another game in a time of transition," Sankey said. “If you’re that impatient, I’m glad you’re not leading a conference.”
As a stopgap solution for the 2024 season, SEC teams will face a conference schedule that takes into account "fairness and balance," said Sankey, while serving as the bridge to a long-term scheduling plan for 2025 and beyond. Teams will also continue to be required to face at least one opponent from another Power Five league in non-conference play.
The 2024 schedules will differ in one other respect: SEC teams will not automatically face an automatic rival, as has annually been the case, but every effort will be made by the league offices to "honor our traditional rivalries," Sankey said. The matchups will be announced on June 14.
For months, the SEC was expected to unveil a nine-game model in time for the expanded College Football Playoff, which will move to 12 teams in 2024. The wider bracket assures at least one, very likely two and possibly even three SEC teams can reach the playoff in a given year.
Playing one fewer league game than the Big Ten, for example, will only help the SEC put multiple teams in the playoff hunt. In 2023, for example, just two SEC teams will play 10 Power Five opponents, compared to 13 of 14 teams in the Big Ten.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC football schedule staying at eight games for 2024 season
