John Williams
February 14, 2024 4:00 pm CT
The SEC is dealing with one of those good problems. As the conference prepares to expand to 16 schools with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas, SEC leadership is debating how to construct its schedule. In 2024 and most likely in 2025, the SEC will play eight conference games as they work out the details for what could come down the road.
Despite settling on eight games in the short term, the format that has received the most buzz has each team facing three permanent rivals each season as part of the nine-game conference schedule. The other six games would come from a rotation featuring the remaining 12 teams in the conference.
While there are some obvious permanent rivals for some teams, others aren’t so clear. It’s not an easy proposition, but it’s the one that would have each SEC team playing each other every two years.
This scheduling model is attractive because it sets up a school to play every other SEC program over a two-year cycle, with both home and away games against every other school over a four-year cycle. Year 1 will have a team’s three annual rivals plus six other SEC opponents. Those six are then rotated out for the rest of the conference in Year 2, allowing for games against all 15 conference foes. – Chip Patterson, CBS Sports
So, over a two-year span, Oklahoma will face every team in the conference. Over a four-year span, they will have hosted every team in the conference.
One of the complaints with the current format is the reality that an SEC may not play host to another for more than a decade. For example, Texas A&M hasn’t hosted Georgia despite being in the same conference for 10 seasons and only played the Bulldogs once in that time frame. The format getting the most consideration would fix that.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte spoke at a Longhorns town hall about the future of the SEC schedule. Del Conte mentioned that it’s a work in progress, but by 2026, the SEC could be at a nine-game conference schedule.
No format will leave everyone happy, but here’s a take on how the permanent rivals could align in the expanded SEC.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports
- Auburn Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- LSU Tigers
Iron Bowl? Check. Third Saturday in October? Check, check. Annual matchups with LSU? Let’s go!
This might be a bit daunting for the Crimson Tide, especially in the year they’d play Georgia, but with the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, the Tide can afford a couple of losses and still make the 12-team field.
LSU could get replaced with one of the Mississippi schools if this one didn’t fly with Bama administration.
Arkansas Razorbacks
AP Photo/L.G. Patterson
- Oklahoma Sooners
- LSU Tigers
- Texas Longhorns
The “Border Wars” between Arkansas and these three would be tremendous. Reunite with old Southwest Conference foe Texas and ignite a border rivalry with Oklahoma.
Auburn Tigers
John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
The Iron Bowl will be preserved for all time, regardless of the conference size. Auburn’s proximity to Athens makes that one a must-have matchup as well. Despite being in different divisions, the Tigers and the Bulldogs have met all but one year since 1919. The one year they missed was in 1943, during World War II. They’ve played 127 times in their history.
Florida Gators
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
- Georgia Bulldogs
- LSU Tigers
- South Carolina Gameco*cks
The “World’s Largest co*cktail Party” between Florida and Georgia isn’t going anywhere. The Swamp Bowl carries a fun moniker. Let’s keep that one together as well. Florida and LSU have played annually since 1953.
Georgia Bulldogs
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union
- Florida Gators
- Auburn Tigers
- South Carolina
The Georgia Bulldogs keep two marquee games and their border matchup with the Gameco*cks.
Kentucky Wildcats
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- South Carolina Gameco*cks
Tennessee-Kentucky is a game that should happen, and Vanderbilt makes a lot of sense as well. One wild-card opponent that could be an option for the Wildcats is Missouri, simply based on proximity.
LSU Tigers
Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun
- Florida Gators
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Alabama Crimson Tide
The Swamp Bowl, Alabama, and the Battle for the Golden Boot. Feels like a winner to me.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Auburn Tigers
Mississippi State is a difficult team to place beyond Ole Miss. You could go several different directions, but this is what we settled with and think it provides the opportunity for some good matchups and strong rivalries.
Missouri Tigers
Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Ole Miss Rebels
It was awfully tempting to give Missouri the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M to LSU, but ultimately opted to keep Arkansas and LSU together in the Battle for the Golden Boot. But it’s not all bad, pitting the Aggies and the Tigers against one another. They have Big 12 history to work with and were the two teams that left for the SEC in the last round of realignment.
Ole Miss Rebels
Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Missouri Tigers
- Vanderbilt Commodores
The Egg Bowl is a must-have annual matchup regardless of how the SEC structures the schedule. Ole Miss gets the proximity benefit with Vanderbilt but will have a bit of travel ahead of them with Missouri, though not as much as Texas A&M.
Oklahoma Sooners
Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman
- Texas Longhorns
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Missouri Tigers
The Red River Showdown will always be a marquee game and the SEC and ESPN can’t wait to get their hands on it. Missouri isn’t so much a rival as a team that the Sooners have a ton of history with dating to their Big 8 days. Arkansas just makes sense. Fayetteville is closer to Norman than Austin.
South Carolina Gameco*cks
Eakin Howard/Getty Images
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Florida Gators
- Kentucky Wildcats
Less than three hours separate the South Carolina Gameco*cks and the Georgia Bulldogs. The Gameco*cks and the Gators should create a Steve Spurrier Trophy and pass it back and forth each season after the legendary coach spent time at both spots.
Tennessee Volunteers
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Vanderbilt Commodores
Tennessee gets the in-state matchup with Vanderbilt and a border battle with Kentucky. And then you can’t take away the “Third Saturday in October.”
Texas A&M Aggies
RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports
- Texas Longhorns
- Missouri Tigers
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
Whether you like it or not, Texas A&M, here come the Longhorns. This will be their marquee game every year. And as much as we would have liked to keep the Aggies and LSU together, it made more sense to keep the Tigers with Arkansas.
As mentioned above, Missouri makes sense based on their history together in the Big 12 and in their exit from the Big 12.
Texas Longhorns
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Arkansas Razorbacks
These options for the Longhorns feel almost automatic. You can’t bring Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC and split them up. That game is going to happen every year. And as much as Aggies may not like it, they’re going to get Texas every year. The SEC isn’t going to let that matchup fall by the wayside.
Arkansas and Texas reunite from their Southwest Conference days.
Vanderbilt Commodores
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Ole Miss Rebels
We’re going to let the Commodores get the benefit of proximity with their permanent rivals. Each of their matchups is within a four-hour drive.
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