The Big 10 was calling out the SEC’s outdated 8-game conference schedule that allowed it to schedule one more cupcake game every season. Now the SEC has stepped up to compete on an even playing field between the two power conferences.
After a meeting with athletic directors this week, the SEC has now adopted a nine-game college football conference schedule that has been looming for the last few years, thanks to a vote by presidents on Thursday.
All it took was the possibility of extra money, along with a push from the college football playoff committee to finally get them over a few hurdles. Now, it will come down to university presidents to make the final decision on whether to switch from an 8-game to 9-game schedule after this week’s meetings.
But, athletic directors don’t make potential decisions without their bosses knowing about what’s going on during these meetings that took place this week with conference commissioner Greg Sankey.
“Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “This format protects rivalries, increases competitive balance, and paired with our requirement to play an additional Power opponent, ensures SEC teams are well prepared to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff.”
While this has always been the correct path, there were times over the past year when the situation looked as though it would continue to be pushed down the road. That was until the thought of ESPN adding monetary stipulations to the move was discussed further.
What will this look like each year? Well, each team will play three annual opponents
- The SEC will continue with a single-standings, non-divisional structure;
- Each school will play three annual opponents focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries;
- Each team’s remaining six games will rotate among the remaining conference schools; and
- Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.
- Also of note, the SEC had this to say about how teams will be scheduling future opponents, and which conference they must come from.
“SEC teams are required to schedule at least one additional high quality non-conference from the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences or Notre Dame each season. The SEC will continue to evaluate its policies to ensure the continued scheduling of high-quality non-conference opponents.”
A lot of people are down on the recent changes to college football. But aside from solving the obvious moral problem of not paying the players who are producing all the revenue, most of the changes, including the influx of money and the transfer portal, have actually been really good for the competitive side of the sport.
It’s no longer possible for a recruiting powerhouse or a cheating booster base to stockpile the top two or three players at a single position anymore. A player can not only get playing time, he can actually make more money as the starting quarterback at a bottom-feeder team in a power conference or as a contender in a second- or third-tier conference than as a backup at Ohio State or Alabama.
Ironically, one of the things that people most hate about the changes, such as the near-death of the Pac-12 Conference, is actually the result of the conference leadership failing to accept the changes soon enough. Remember, all of this started with two UCLA basketball players rebelling against the unjust and unfair, and, as it turns out, illegal way they were being treated.
I haven’t had much interest in college football since I was in my early teens, but I found myself drawn into it as a result of the more balanced distribution of the talent over the last two years. And I very much doubt I’m the only one.