What Would a New SEC Scheduling Format Look Like?

With Texas and Oklahoma set to join the SEC, it’s time for the conference to look at a new way to schedule in-conference games. Nothing is really that close to being finalized, and we won’t see this format implemented in the 2022-2023 season, but it’s still worth thinking about how it will affect each team.

There are two formats the the conference is deciding between:

• 8 games: 1 annual opponent – 7 rotating opponents
• 9 games: 3 annual opponents – 6 rotating opponents

This article won’t get into what format would be better or which one makes more sense – I’m not brave enough for that – instead I want to talk about what each format could look like for the Gators, and how it would vary from what we do now.

Format #1

The first option, like said before, is an 8 game conference schedule where each team has 1 opponent they play every year, and the other 7 conference games alternate year by year. If this is the answer, it’s almost a guarantee that the Gators’ annual opponent will be Georgia. There is no logical reasoning to get rid of that game.

This would also mean that Florida would no longer play every other SEC East team every year, and lose their annual game against LSU.

This has its pros and cons, of course. Pros are that Florida fans get to see their team play against more opponents they don’t usually play, and will have the ability to travel to new stadiums for road games, which is always fun.

The cons are that UF’s traditional matchups will no longer be in play. No more beating up on Tennessee every fall. No more stressful LSU game every year. We won’t always have a frustrating game against Kentucky. It’ll be a big change, and if this is the route that the conference goes, only time will tell if it’s positive or negative.

Format #2

This is the option where there is a 9 game SEC schedule, and each school has 3 annual opponents and 6 rotating opponents.

Guessing, I would say UF’s 3 opponents would be UGA, LSU, and Tennessee. You could make the case for Kentucky over LSU, or even over the Vols, but I think the conference will want to keep the UF-LSU rivalry alive, and UF-UT has more appeal as an annual game than UF-UK does.

This format helps to preserve the traditional rivalries that help make SEC football so great. However, the 9 game conference schedule makes the season much more difficult for every team, as they get an extra game against a top tier program every year, as opposed to an FCS cupcake.

A 9 game conference schedule also limits a school’s ability to schedule out of conference games against other big schools (ie. UF v Utah).

While these two formats aren’t the only 2 options that the SEC could go with, they seem like the most likely candidates.

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