Ten quick takeaways from the 2024 Southeastern Conference football schedule, which was revealed Wednesday night:
1. This should have been a nine-game schedule with a 16-team league. But the league nailed the eight-game slate as best it could.
As previously stated here, the big, bad SEC has no business only playing eight league games with a league of this size and caliber. That was decided a couple of weeks ago, though, and the direction was set for an eight-team schedule that will essentially be a one-off creation. (The league may well go to nine in 2025, stay tuned.)
Given that, the SEC set up a slate that is balanced, fair, intriguing and still tradition-based. Without publicizing a specific breakdown, the league is operating on an eight-team “A” list of more successful teams and an eight-team “B” list. The SEC neatly divided every team’s schedule into four “A” games and four “B” games, two apiece at home and two apiece on the road. It’s airtight (though still subject to debate, of course).
The As: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M.
The Bs: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
The must-play rivalry games all will be played (including the resumption of Texas-Texas A&M). The secondary rivalry games will be played. Even the third tier is largely intact. And in a move to accelerate full integration of the new members, all of the current 14 members will make a trip to either Austin or Norman—but not both.
Coming up with a model that is (on paper) this balanced and this deferential to tradition was assuredly not easy. But the SEC got it as right as could be done with an eight-game schedule.
2. The A-B schedule fulcrum tips considerably if Tennessee continues its resurgence.
Do the math over the past decade and the Volunteers deserve their “B” status. But the return to the program’s traditional stature has begun in earnest, with Tennessee going 11–2 and finishing the 2022 season No. 6 in Josh Heupel’s second year on the job. Keep that up, and by ’24 that could upset the balance of schedules.
Examples: Alabama is playing “A” games at home against Georgia and Auburn, and “A” games on the road against Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Throw in a road game against the Vols (who beat the Crimson Tide last season) and that looks like five “As.”
Of course, this is a zero-sum game and someone from the “A” list probably will be a “B” by then. Among the candidates: Auburn is 11–14 over the last two seasons, Florida is 12–14, Texas A&M is 13–11. It probably will all work out fairly equitably, but for the moment Tennessee looms as one hell of a tough “B” in ’24.
3. As of the moment, Georgia at Alabama is the Game of the Year nationally in 2024.
The two super powers haven’t played a lot in the regular season, but they’ve clashed repeatedly in the postseason and have combined to win five of the past eight national championships. Pairing them up in Tuscaloosa will draw a lot of eyeballs and help both teams’ strength of schedule in jockeying for position in what will be a 12-team playoff by then.
Jenna Watson/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK
When that game is played will be of great curiosity (the league did not release dates, just opponents and sites). If the SEC is going to honor traditional calendar placements, Alabama has the Iron Bowl at season’s end and LSU in early November, with Tennessee the third Saturday in October when possible. Georgia has Florida in Jacksonville at the end of October/beginning of November.
Could the 2024 ‘Dawgs-Tide game be a September matchup? Or early October?
4. The league gave Texas and Oklahoma each a marquee home game.
The Sooners will host Alabama. The Longhorns will host Georgia. Whether the Big 12 emigres are good enough to win those games won’t be known for quite some time, but the SEC is sending its best to the West to baptize the newcomers.
5. As expected, the SEC did what it could to appease Texas A&M for adding Texas.
If you recall in the summer of 2021, the bombshell news of Texas and Oklahoma matriculating from the Big 12 was not received with great joy by the Aggies. Among the biggest reasons they left the Big 12 was the opportunity to stick it to the Longhorns, ancient rivals but difficult league partners, and to grow into something that would overshadow the monolithic program in Austin. Then the SEC brought Texas aboard without so much as a serious consultation with A&M.
As part of the payback for A&M only pitching a minor fit instead of a major one, it was inevitable that the resumption of this ancient rivalry would begin in College Station. Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork has been saying that would be the case for more than a year, and the SEC made it official Wednesday night.
6. Texas-Arkansas is also back, which is a good thing.
The Longhorns and Razorbacks played annually from 1932 to ’91, with the ’69 meeting essentially deciding the national championship in one of the sport’s more famous games. After Arkansas left the Southwest Conference for the SEC in ’92, they’ve played just six times, once in a bowl game.
The first conference matchup of the two in 33 years will be played in Fayetteville. In addition to taking on the hostile crowd in College Station, the Horns will have to deal with a similarly charged atmosphere in Fayetteville.
7. Oklahoma-Missouri doesn’t have the same cache as Texas-Arkansas, but it’s another rivalry resumed.
From 1919 to ’95, the Sooners and Tigers played every season. When the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences merged in ’96, the two were put in different divisions and played 10 times over the next 15 years. They haven’t played since 2011. The resumption will come in Columbia, Mo.
8. Congrats to Mississippi, Mississippi State and Arkansas. Alabama is off the schedule.
With divisions wiped out, some SEC West schools can celebrate finally getting away from the Crimson Tide. The records haven’t been pretty.
Mississippi State has played Alabama every year from 1948 onward. The Bulldogs’ record in those games: 10-64-1. Record against Nick Saban: 1–15.
Arkansas has played Bama 31 straight years. The Razorbacks’ record in those games: 5–26. Record against Saban: 0–16.
Mississippi also has played the Tide 31 straight years. The Rebels’ record in those games: 4–27. Record against Saban: 2–14.
9. Shed no tears for Oklahoma playing only three league home games.
ESPN analyst (and former Sooner) Dusty Dvoracek noted on the SEC Network that Oklahoma fans won’t be happy about having only three home contests. Well, sorry. With the annual Texas neutral-field game in Dallas designated as an Oklahoma home game, that’s the way it goes.
This is what happens when you schedule a neutral-site league game. Georgia has just three in Athens with the Jacksonville game against Florida designated as a Bulldogs home contest. Texas A&M has three in College Station with the Arlington game against Arkansas designated as an Aggies home game. There’s nothing to complain about.
The Razorbacks play neither Georgia nor Alabama. They get old/new/current rivals Texas and LSU in Fayetteville. Their four road opponents (Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Missouri) went a combined 25–25 in 2022. I think the Pig People will happily take the hand they were dealt.
