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Kentucky
LSU
Missouri

Helluva home slate.

At first glance, it seems brutal. But when you consider that we're trading Georgia, Florida, and Ole Miss away for Alabama, LSU, and Texas, it doesn't seem QUITE as brutal...

Let's face it... ALL SEC schedules will be brutal starting next year.

As a reminder, these are the non-conference opponents for 2024:

Virginia Tech
Norfolk State
SMU
at Georgia State

2024 SEC FOOTBALL OPPONENTS



ALABAMA

AUBURN

GEORGIA

MISSOURI

SOUTH CAROLINA

at LSU

at Oklahoma

at Tennessee

at Vanderbilt



ARKANSAS

LSU

OLE MISS

TENNESSEE

TEXAS

at Auburn

at Mississippi State

at Missouri

at Texas A&M*



AUBURN

ARKANSAS

OKLAHOMA

TEXAS A&M

VANDERBILT

at Alabama

at Georgia

at Kentucky

at Missouri



FLORIDA

KENTUCKY

LSU

OLE MISS

TEXAS A&M

at Georgia#

at Mississippi State

at Tennessee

at Texas



GEORGIA

AUBURN

FLORIDA#

MISSISSIPPI STATE

TENNESSEE

at Alabama

at Kentucky

at Ole Miss

at Texas



KENTUCKY

AUBURN

GEORGIA

SOUTH CAROLINA

VANDERBILT

at Florida

at Ole Miss

at Tennessee

at Texas



LSU

ALABAMA

OLE MISS

OKLAHOMA

VANDERBILT

at Arkansas

at Florida

at South Carolina

at Texas A&M



OLE MISS

GEORGIA

KENTUCKY

MISSISSIPPI STATE

OKLAHOMA

at Arkansas

at Florida

at LSU

at South Carolina



MISSISSIPPI STATE

ARKANSAS

FLORIDA

MISSOURI

TEXAS A&M

at Georgia

at Ole Miss

at Tennessee

at Texas



MISSOURI

ARKANSAS

AUBURN

OKLAHOMA+

VANDERBILT

at Alabama

at Mississippi State

at South Carolina

at Texas A&M



OKLAHOMA

ALABAMA

SOUTH CAROLINA

TENNESSEE

TEXAS+

at Auburn

at LSU

at Missouri

at Ole Miss



SOUTH CAROLINA

LSU

OLE MISS

MISSOURI

TEXAS A&M

at Alabama

at Kentucky

at Oklahoma

at Vanderbilt



TENNESSEE

ALABAMA

FLORIDA

KENTUCKY

MISSISSIPPI STATE

at Arkansas

at Georgia

at Oklahoma

at Vanderbilt



TEXAS

FLORIDA

GEORGIA

KENTUCKY

MISSISSIPPI STATE

at Arkansas

at Oklahoma+

at Texas A&M

at Vanderbilt



TEXAS A&M

ARKANSAS*

LSU

MISSOURI

TEXAS

at Auburn

at Florida

at Mississippi State

at South Carolina



VANDERBILT

ALABAMA

SOUTH CAROLINA

TENNESSEE

TEXAS

at Auburn

at Kentucky

at LSU

at Missouri



* Arkansas at Texas A&M - Arlington, TX

# Florida at Georgia - Jacksonville FL

+ Texas at Oklahoma, Dallas, TX

As the son of two UGa alums, the VU v UGa game was always a big deal in my family. For a decade or more, we attended every year, home and away.


As a Floridian, I have always made a point to attend as many VU @ UF football & mbb games as possible. Hope I live long enough to see this monstosity of a non-regional conference explode and splinter. How is this ideal for the athletes and their families?


# mtnvandy

mtnvandy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 15, 2023 1:54 am As the son of two UGa alums, the VU v UGa game was always a big deal in my family. For a decade or more, we attended every year, home and away.


As a Floridian, I have always made a point to attend as many VU @ UF football & mbb games as possible. Hope I live long enough to see this monstosity of a non-regional conference explode and splinter. How is this ideal for the athletes and their families?


# mtnvandy

They pointed out on wsfa in Montgomery that Alabama and Mississippi State have played in each of the last 76 years.. That too is ending.

It is a good thing the playoffs are expanding as I don't see any SEC team being undefeated after they go to nine games.

Cynically my take is that the leagues will grow even larger as the ratings and dollars keep growing...will be interested to see what happens when they both start to recede. How much will the lesser emphasis on those games fans are used to watching add to the demise of the golden goose.

Will also be interesting to see what happens to the school's like ours with much smaller fan bases and national interest and (at least for the great majority of the post WWII era--but hopefully changing with Coach Lea) less successful football programs.

And vis a vis our '24 schedule...it will be an accomplishment to go 6-6...but I never saw us going 5-7 last year, so here's hoping

Ugh. This schedule is terrible for us. Unless things drastically change (like our going to a wide-open offense), we will be lucky to be competitive in three of those 2024 games. I see five almost certain losses.

To many of us who grew up in the 10-team SEC, this obviously no longer even feels like an SEC schedule.

We don't play EITHER Mississippi team OR Georgia OR Florida.

Alabama won't play either Mississippi team either in 2024.

Auburn doesn't play LSU.

They need to just change the name of the conference, because "SEC" doesn't describe it.

There are now two super conferences. One has a bunch of former SEC teams along with many others and the other has many former Big 10 teams along with many others.

I'll be happy to see the book closed on the "SEC" as it has been on the SWC and Big 8, among others. The moniker is no longer applicable, nor is the spirit of the league. College football has changed, and continues to. We might as well accept it and let go of the past. I hate that I'm saying this, but it is time to recognize where we are.

coachinwaiting wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 1:10 pm I'll be happy to see the book closed on the "SEC" as it has been on the SWC and Big 8, among others. The moniker is no longer applicable, nor is the spirit of the league. College football has changed, and continues to. We might as well accept it and let go of the past. I hate that I'm saying this, but it is time to recognize where we are.

New name, "The Big $"?

Johnmn555 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 2:35 pm

coachinwaiting wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 1:10 pm I'll be happy to see the book closed on the "SEC" as it has been on the SWC and Big 8, among others. The moniker is no longer applicable, nor is the spirit of the league. College football has changed, and continues to. We might as well accept it and let go of the past. I hate that I'm saying this, but it is time to recognize where we are.

New name, "The Big $"?

Pretty much accurate. I'd like nothing more than to see conferences go back to geographical constructs, not that money wasn't inherent in that as well. But back in the day it was more about saving money on travel than media rights. If we're going to expand the playoffs until it looks like the NCAA basketball tourney (it's coming), then reduce the regular season to 10 games in a restructured conference system designed geographically.

At the end of the regular season, begin a 32 team playoff bracket. The maximum number of games (for 2 teams) would be 16. The minimum for the losers of round one is 11. Does that leave out too many teams from the post season? Okay, let the 16 first round losers move to the losers bracket (no worse any idea than the lower tier of bowl games we have now) and play the first 16 left out of the original bracket for the honorable mention championship trophy. Problem solved.

Doubtless most of us grew up with a 10-member SEC and are nostalgic about it. But it's worth remembering, as we all know, one of the SEC's predecessors was the SIAA, which grew to 30 members, including Texas. From the SEC History website:

The seven-member SIAA expanded to 19 institutions in 1895 (Alabama, Auburn, Central, Clemson, Cumberland, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mercer, Mississippi State, Nashville, North Carolina, Sewanee, Southwestern Presbyterian, Tennessee, Texas, Tulane and Vanderbilt) and by 1920 there were 30 members.

The larger schools reorganized as the Southern Conference at a meeting in Gainesville Dec. 12-13, 1920. Professor S.V. Sanford of Georgia called the meeting and served as the first president. Charter members of the Southern Conference included: Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.

I just looked at this 2024 schedule. We are going to be pulverized.

bernstml19 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:06 pm I just looked at this 2024 schedule. We are going to be pulverized.

It will be Year Four of the Clark Lea era. If the arc of improvement continues... maybe Vandy is in a position to do some of the pulverizing?