The college football world has its eyes set on the Southeastern Conference, stationed this week in Destin, Fla. for the conference's annual spring coaches meeting.
The dominant item on the docket this week: whether the SEC will revamp its longstanding conference schedule format. The SEC has used its current model to dominate college football over the last decade-plus, but the impending additions of Texas and Oklahoma will make the SEC a 16-team superconference, outdating its schedule format.
As with all things, the debate isn't cut and dried: Several schools propose — or oppose — a revamped model, using any one of several talking points. Those include preservation of traditional rivalries, bowl eligibility, ease of access to the College Football Playoff, revenues generated by both home games and TV contracts, nonconference scheduling and more.
Of course, the opinions of Alabama's Nick Saban and Georgia's Kirby Smart will drive headlines. But they represent only one-seventh of the voting members this week (the Longhorns and Sooners do not have a vote yet).
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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey hasn't said which option he prefers, but did intimate he wants the conference to remain at the "forefront of college athletics." He has confirmed it will take a simple majority — eight of 14 votes — to enact a rule change. But he will not serve as a tie-breaking vote if the member schools end up in a 7-7 tie.
"I've allowed, intentionally, the conversation to play out without taking a position," Sankey said (via The Athletic). "I have made clear what I think should happen eventually inside the room."
Here's everything you need to know about the SEC's football schedule vote, which will take place on Friday:
SEC football schedule changes, explained
The SEC will vote this week whether to change its eight-game format, which it has used since the 1991 season. Here is the current format, which it has used since Texas A&M and Missouri's 2012 additions made the SEC a 14-team conference:
- Six permanent divisional opponents
- One permanent cross-division opponent
- One rotating cross-division opponent
The conference has considered a schedule format change since before Texas and Oklahoma were announced to the SEC, though their incoming additions have ramped up debates, including a potential switch to a nine-game model. Moreover, the conference is mulling the idea of dropping divisions altogether, getting rid of divisional champions and instead putting the teams with the top two conference records into the championship game.
On the table are two options:
- Eight-game model: One permanent rival, seven rotating opponents
- Nine-game model: Three permanent rivals, six rotating opponents
Either model would represent a massive change in the current format, with the biggest difference being the frequency teams play each other: Every team would meet at least once every two to three years. The current model makes it so that some players never play against a cross-division opponent, even if they stay four or five years.
Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reports that it's more likely the SEC votes for a stopgap model in 2024 before a more permanent solution is voted on later:
Eight-game model
An eight-game model would give the SEC an advantage over the Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten in that it gives the conference more flexibility to schedule more meaningful nonconference games. (Though teams could still insist on scheduling "cupcake" games. That's why Alabama and LSU were able to play Austin Peay and UAB, respectively, late in the 2022 season as opposed to a more difficult conference opponent.)
The SEC has used this model to its tremendous advantage over the past decade-plus: The conference has 13 of the last 17 national championships. In the four years the conference didn't win, it at least had a team in the championship game of College Football Playoff.
However, the eight-game model as presented would destroy annual secondary rivalries. Alabama and Tennessee would no longer play every year, nor would Georgia and Auburn, because the Tide's permanent rival would be Auburn and the Bulldogs' would be Florida. Texas would not be able to play Texas A&M and Oklahoma every season. The product would suffer from a fan perspective.
Nine-game model
The nine-game model would expand the conference schedule by one game, righting a longstanding knock on the SEC's current format. It would also provide more uniformity among college football's conferences as the CFP expands to 12 teams, though it's unlikely the SEC considers other conferences in regard to its own internal debates.
One con of the nine-game model is a more difficult schedule: An additional conference opponent would make it harder for teams to challenge for a top position in the CFP, though that is mitigated somewhat by impending expansion. However, bottom-tier teams could find it more difficult to achieve bowl eligibility.
Another issue would be a 4-5 and 5-4 split of road and home games in conference. The schedule would even out every other year, but some schools would be hard-pressed to sacrifice a home game — and the money it generates — every two years.
The biggest hang-up for the nine-game model is the disparity in difficulty. Saban, for example, was displeased with Alabama's proposed permanent opponents in Auburn, Tennessee and LSU. The nine-game model will, by default, make some teams' schedules more difficult.
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Which model did the SEC choose?
Ultimately, the SEC went with the eight-game format for 2024 only with a vote on Thursday, which will not include divisions.
BREAKING: The SEC will play an 8-game league schedule in 2024 with no divisions, commissioner Greg Sankey announced👀
— On3 (@On3sports) June 1, 2023
(H/T @Brett_McMurphy)
Story: https://t.co/8xG75JV4Kc pic.twitter.com/kFMmpaqRlS
This is not a permanent change and applies only to 2024 for now, according to Brandon Marcello.
When are Texas, Oklahoma joining SEC?
A driving force for a revamped model is the incoming addition of Texas and Oklahoma. Together, they will make the SEC one of two 16-team superconferences (the other being the Big Ten, which is adding USC and UCLA).
The Longhorns and Sooners will officially join the SEC in 2024.
Which schools oppose SEC schedule expansion?
According to a May 25 report by The Athletic, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Ole Miss all oppose a nine-game schedule. In the case of the Wildcats, their opposition is based on the fact they already have an annual nonconference rivalry game in Louisville. The Mississippi schools' opposition is based on bowl eligibility and the loss of one home game every year.
However, one long-term proponent of a nine-game model — Saban — has reportedly wavered on the vote. The issue at hand, as he has said before, is the disparity in difficulty in regard to permanent opponents: namely, Alabama's.
"I've always been an advocate for playing more (conference) games," he told Sports Illustrated in March. "But if you play more games, I think you have to get the three fixed (opponents) right. They're giving us Tennessee, Auburn and LSU. I don't know how they come to that (decision)."
Another issue Saban mentioned is the fact the Crimson Tide have already scheduled several notable nonconference opponents through the 2030s.
“If we go to nine games, we’ll have to unwind that,” Saban said (via The Athletic). “My deal has always been to play more SEC games because we couldn’t get more people to schedule. So now I think there are more people who are willing to schedule. So having a balance is probably most important.”
Saban this week declined to say which way he's leaning, saying, "Whatever happens, happens."
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Which schools prefer SEC schedule expansion?
According to the same report by The Athletic, six teams — Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M — prefer a nine-game schedule. Where the Crimson Tide fall in that debate remains to be seen.
Smart has debated whether it would be disadvantageous to play in the SEC championship game if more teams will be able to play in it regardless of whether they win their conference. He also called the debate "overrated."
"Four years you’ll play everybody, home and away," Smart said. "I get it, traditional rivalries, you have three, you have two, you have one, you’ve got this, you’ve got that. You guys need something to write about bad when you start talking about this. It’s just not that big of a deal. You have to win your games to advance."
Another vocal proponent of the nine-game model is Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz, who this week said he doesn't know if "it's the best look" for the SEC to be one of only two Power 5 conferences without a nine-game schedule.
What schools are undecided?
The Athletic reports multiple schools have not publicly proposed one option over the other: They are Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Oklahoma and Texas are non-official voting members, though they can weigh in in an unofficial capacity.