The Southeastern Conference is entering a new era, with Texas and Oklahoma joining the fray this fall. Expansion isn’t the only change the conference will see in 2024, as the SEC abandoned divisions that had been in place since 1992. With the SEC East and West going by the wayside, the conference’s scheduling structure was bound to change. 

For years, every team would play everyone else in their division, a protected rival from the other division, and a rotating opponent for their eighth conference game. This scheduling model wouldn’t work anymore for obvious reasons. 

So what’s the long term solution? Well we don’t have the answer to that question yet, but the SEC has a plan in the short term. Every team will still play eight conference games in 2024 and 2025 against the same eight teams. Games will rotate from home and away(essentially, every team you play at home in 2024, you will play on the road in 2025 and vice versa). The 14 pre-existing members will play one of the two newbies.

While I don’t hate this plan in the interim, it’s not sustainable for more than a couple years. My humble scheduling proposal protects rivalries while also fixing a problem the conference has had for years.

I’m proposing that the SEC expands to nine conference games in what is called a 3-6-6 model. In this format, every team will have three protected games they play every year, while playing games against the remaining 12 every other year. The six teams you don’t play one season, you’ll play the next. 

This solves a major flaw the old schedule had, outside of your protected rival, cross-division games occurred once in a blue moon. The most egregious example of this is the fact that Georgia has never traveled to College Station for a matchup against its conference “rival”, Texas A&M. My proposal makes the conference feel smaller even though it’s grown in size.

Everybody plays everybody in a two-year span which gives fans more opportunities to plan road trips to places they haven’t been able to see nearly as often. This also gives players the chance to play at every SEC stadium over a four-year career.

Preserving the conference’s most iconic rivalries was a priority of mine, which is why every team gets three permanent opponents. You might be wondering who your favorite team’s protected rivals would be? 

So I went through and gave my picks for every team’s three annual rivalries. Admittedly, some teams have stronger rivalries than others, but every team needs three. 

There were a few rivalries that didn’t make the cut such as Georgia-Tennessee and LSU-Auburn. This was because one of them already had three opponents that took priority. But it’s not like these matchups will go extinct, they will still be played every other year.

Primary rivalries

Alabama vs. Auburn

Florida vs. Georgia

Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss

Texas vs. Texas A&M

Mizzou vs. Oklahoma

Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt

Arkansas vs. LSU

Kentucky vs. South Carolina

For the first batch of rivalry games, starting anywhere but the “Iron Bowl” would be malpractice. It’s the best rivalry in college football and doesn’t need any justification for why it is here. The “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”, otherwise known as the Florida-Georgia game(or the Georgia-Florida game depending on which fanbase you ask) is another historic showdown that easily makes the cut. Whether the game stays in Jacksonville or moves on campus, it’s a mainstay on the schedule. 

The “Egg Bowl” may not have the national appeal of the last two rivalries, however it’s just as heated and you can’t have a season without Ole Miss and Mississippi State squaring off over Thanksgiving weekend.  

Texas and Texas A&M hate each other so much that they wouldn’t even play one another since the Aggies’ departure from the Big 12 after 2011. Well now they have to play, which is a win for everyone who cares about this sport. Mizzou-Oklahoma is the next big rivalry in the making, with each fanbase engaging in a Twitter war leading up to the Sooners’ inaugural SEC season. Ten years down the line, we will view this matchup as one of the more intense displays of hatred for the other in the conference.

Tennessee and Vandy maintain their in-state rivalry, while Arkansas and LSU will still play every fall. A side note, I’m changing the schedule so LSU-Arkansas returns to its rightful place on Black Friday to close out the regular season. Missouri will play Oklahoma this weekend and Texas A&M will play Texas.

Kentucky and South Carolina were challenging, as each team’s biggest rival is out of conference. Regardless, the Wildcats and Gamecocks have been SEC East foes for over 30 years, so it makes sense to keep it on the calendar.

Secondary rivalries

Alabama vs. Tennessee

Auburn vs. Georgia

Florida vs. LSU

Oklahoma vs. Texas

Arkansas vs. Mizzou

Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt

South Carolina vs. Texas A&M

Kentucky vs. Mississippi State

The “Third Saturday in October” isn’t going anywhere, while younger fans may not see this as a rivalry due to the lack of competition, older fans know this game ranks right up there with any when it comes to hatred and tradition. The “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry”  was another easy choice for me to preserve considering these two go all the way back to 1892. Florida-LSU is the last of the big three cross-divisional matchups that has really heated up over the past 20 years. 

I know I will get tons of criticism for not putting the “Red River Rivalry” in my primary rivalries. It’s really semantics as this rivalry has just as much prestige as the “Iron Bowl”. This was another layup for me as the SEC’s newest members are more than familiar with each other. Arkansas and Missouri was somewhat forced by the conference, however it’s still a good enough rivalry and I like having it on the schedule for both teams. Ole Miss-Vanderbilt, South Carolina-Texas A&M, and Kentucky-Mississippi State, were all protected rivalries back in the days of divisions and make sense to retain.

Tertiary rivalries

Alabama vs. LSU

Florida vs. Tennessee

Georgia vs. South Carolina

Arkansas vs. Texas

Auburn vs. Vanderbilt

Mississippi State vs. Texas A&M

Kentucky vs. Mizzou

Oklahoma vs. Ole Miss

Alabama vs. LSU is always a sight to behold, with both rosters being littered with future NFL players. This rivalry gave us the “Game of the Century” in 2011 when the Tigers won 9-6 in a game that resembled the medieval days of college football. Fast forward eight years and the Tigers escaped Bryant-Denny Stadium with another win, although this one was a 46-41 firework show that helped cement Joe Burrow as a legend in the Bayou.

Florida and Tennessee gained national traction in the 90s with iconic battles between Steve Spurrier’s and Phillip Fulmer’s squads. While both programs have had their ups and downs since, it’s still a game that should be preserved in any scheduling model. I wanted to protect Georgia vs. Tennessee, however the Vols’ already have three protected games. My replacement isn’t too shabby, Georgia and South Carolina have plenty of history and this is a fun one when both teams are good. Arkansas and Texas also have history, dating back to their time in the now defunct Southwest Conference. 

The most bizarre choice I made was having Auburn vs. Vanderbilt be a mainstay on the conference slate. While this isn’t exactly a rivalry, my reasoning for this is pretty simple. Auburn is the only team that has to play Alabama and Georgia every year. So to be fair, I gave the Tigers a more manageable third opponent and think it’s well deserved for a program whose two biggest rivals just happen to be the two best in the conference.

I had to do some advanced trigonometry with these final few games, but I think I made it work(although I still don’t have a clue how to use pythagorean theorem). Mississippi State and Texas A&M have been SEC West foes for over a decade and have split the last six matchups with six wins apiece. Kentucky-Mizzou has been just as competitive, with the Wildcats holding a narrow 7-5 advantage since 2012. Oklahoma and Ole Miss have only faced off once, back in 1999. However, both appear to be legitimate contenders for the conference and playoff which makes this an intriguing addition to the schedule.