'We have been engaged in planning for the entry of Oklahoma and Texas into the SEC since the summer of 2021, but the change of the membership date from 2025 to 2024 creates scheduling complexities that can better be managed with a one-year schedule,' Sankey said. The SEC will announce the full 2024 schedule June 14. because your traditionalists want those rivalries and others want to see you play the teams they never get to see you play. I think that it's not going to be just Georgia- Auburn, it's going to be somebody else vs. 'It's one of the costs of scheduling, getting more balance in terms of you're going to play everybody. 'But I think it's one of the costs of progress bringing two more teams in,' he said. A former Georgia football player, he counts himself among the fans who want to see it continue every year. Smart said it would be difficult potentially losing the Auburn rivalry. Is somebody going to get an advantage by not going to the SEC championship but making the playoff?' Because you have to win your games to advance, right? You need to be in the SEC championship, possibly, with expanded playoff. 'You guys need something to write about bad when you start talking about this. You have two, you have three, you have one,' Smart said. When Georgia traveled to Mississippi State last season, it was its first trip to Starkville since 2010. In the past, cross-divisional teams could go long stretches without playing each other. He pointed out that, regardless of eight or nine conference games, by moving to a division-less format each team would play every opponent in the SEC twice - home and away - during a four-year period. nine conference games 'the most overrated conversation there ever was.' Georgia coach Kirby Smart took a different approach, calling the entire debate over eight vs. How strength of schedule is viewed would be a 'critical factor' in the decision, he said.

So having a balance is probably the most important thing.'įlorida coach Billy Napier said he wondered about the impact scheduling would have on at-large bids in an expanded 12-team playoff in 2024 and beyond. So now I think there's more people in tune to scheduling. 'My deal was always to play more SEC games because we couldn't get other people to schedule. And if we go to nine games, we'll have to unwind that,' he said. 'I think one of the more difficult things with going to nine games is we've tried to schedule two out-of-conference Power 5 games to try to improve our strength of schedule over the next seven, eight, nine, 10 years. But his position appeared to change recently, focusing instead on the need to play only Power 5 teams, which he said would be better for fans and improve teams' strength of schedules. It doesn't lead.'Ĭoaches focused on the impact a ninth conference game would have on bowl eligibility and the ability to make the College Football Playoff.Īlabama coach Nick Saban had been an advocate for playing nine conference games in the past. Asked about the possibility of being compensated for an extra conference game, Sankey said he believes, 'Money follows.

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