SEC looks to unveil new schedule format ahead of Texas, Oklahoma additions
The college football landscape was rocked last summer when the Houston Chronicle reported the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners had reached out to the Southeastern Conference about joining the prestigious athletic organization.
Now that the deal is set in stone, the two Big 12 programs are expected to join the juggernaut that is the SEC in 2025, when their current conference deals expire.
One of the biggest questions surrounding this move is how the SEC will accommodate the addition of two more teams, inflating the total number of member schools to a plump 16 campuses stretching across a quarter of the country. While 16 is a much more easily divisible number than 14, the change still presents a number of logistical issues that need to be answered.
Among the suggestions made thus far is reducing the number of nonconference matchups and instituting a nine-game intraconference schedule — a bump from the eight currently played. There is even the possibility of eliminating the divisional structure altogether, creating a hodge-podge super conference, which is further enforced by the goal of having each school play each other at least once every four years.
So what can the Gator Nation expect when this plan is ultimately unveiled?
According to The Athletic’s Aaron Suttles and Seth Emerson, the idea of a nine-game SEC schedule is far more realistic now than before the expansion talks began, though the idea had already been floated. Commissioner Greg Sankey offered the following insight on where the conference was heading schedule-wise even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What probably is not understood as we were in the beginning of a scheduling review in 2019. We actually we’re bringing a report to our presidents in March of 2020. … We were bringing in analysis to that meeting to think about what a future 14-team schedule looks like. And then, you know, the pandemic was so full-time plus, just trying to sustain competition, that we had just put that aside. And then we came back to 16. So this is almost a natural conversation. The impact of new rivalries on existing rivalries, those things are real. What I’m really encouraged about is the opportunity in different models to see everybody with some level of frequency. And we’ll move toward a decision-making point sooner rather than later.”
Supporting the plan for an expanded conference schedule are Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs head coaches Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, who have long been proponents of increased SEC play. Their peers have been reluctant for fear of jeopardizing their bowl eligibility with such a rigorous roster of teams to face.
On the topic of how to organize the teams within the conference, the authors admit the dissolution of divisions is the most likely outcome, but with that comes further issues with scheduling. Various alternative scenarios include four divisions with four teams, unofficial divisions that would serve only for scheduling purposes but still ranking teams from 1-16, pods — which is essentially a hybrid of the first two items on this list — or a fixed-flex scheduling arrangement.
The latter format involves a fixed number of schools that are permanently etched onto the schedule while the other games are used in a flexible fashion so that opponents can be appropriately rotated. This proposed proportion is set at 3-6 but could be adjusted by a game to a 2-7 or 4-5 format if deemed necessary. It is clear the conference has plenty of options at its disposal but just as many hurdles.
SEC fans will hopefully get their answers at the conclusion of the SEC meetings next month.
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