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Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze might’ve accidentally leaked some unknown information about future SEC schedules. The Tiger leader said that he’ll miss playing rival Georgia annually.
Freeze’s remarks came in response to a question about conference realignment, and he might’ve just filled fans in on a potential change.
With Texas and Oklahoma set to join the SEC in 2024, the league will have to adjust to accommodate its new members. With a refusal to move away from an eight-game conference slate, many annual rivalries will get the axe.
The SEC unveiled its 2024 schedule earlier this offseason, the first to include the Sooners and Longhorns, and we’re already seeing the impact. South Carolina fans, for example, were upset not to see Georgia, Florida, or Tennessee on next year’s slate, teams played yearly since 1992.
Instead, the Gamecocks will play a slew of SEC West opponents. Many others landed in the same boat.
That 2024 schedule is a short-term fix as the league has yet to decide on a long-term format. In most cases, it seems that historic rivalries will be preserved as best possible. Auburn-Alabama, Florida-Georgia, Ole Miss-Mississippi State come to mind.
Still, not everyone will end up happy on an annual basis as many consider more than one SEC opponent a major rival.
Auburn might be one of those teams after hearing Hugh Freeze’s take on future SEC schedules. During a recent media outing, he was asked about conference realignment and its ramifications on the future.
“Well, I mean the game has changed, and I don’t know that we coaches have the power to do anything to really slow the changes down,” Freeze said. He then dropped some insight on the future of the Auburn-Georgia game.
“Obviously the conference realignment has happened within our conference and I’m pretty confident that that the SEC is pretty solid on where we are, and I think they’ll enjoy the new rivalries… You know there’ll be some [drawbacks]. I’ll miss playing Georgia every year, because I just got to experience it for my first time.”
Freeze suggests that the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” will no longer be played every season. It’s a series that dates back to 1892, and one that the SEC has tried to preserve over the years.
The East-West matchup has been played annually since 1944, squaring up more than 120 times. There are just five seasons since that first meeting where the teams haven’t faced off, the majority being linked to World Wars.
That makes it the second-most played rivalry in the FBS.
Now, we might not see the Tigers and Bulldogs on the annual calendar. That would lead one to believe that Alabama-Tennessee is at risk, too.
Obviously, the Iron Bowl will take top priority for Auburn should there be an annual rival, but with the need to quickly cycle through other foes in the now 16-team league, other series will be put on the backburner. How many permanent opponents can be scheduled in an eight-game SEC slate?
Hugh Freeze’s response suggests there won’t be many. Definitely an unwanted drawback of conference realignment.