The landscape of college football is about to look VERY different in 2024, and Nick Saban may have accidentally leaked a very disappointing reality for the future of scheduling in the Southeastern Conference. If what he said is true, the new model will diminish a lot of historic rivalries.
Beginning next season, Texas and Oklahoma will be members of the SEC. They will make 16 teams.
That leaves commissioner Greg Sankey and the conference with a decision:
- Continue to play eight conference games each season.
- Move to a nine-game league schedule.
If it is the former, the SEC will see the end of many annual rivalries. If it is the latter, more rivalries will be protected, but teams may lose more games which could hurt College Football Playoff and bowl chances for the conference as a whole.
A decision was made for 2024, and the SEC chose to punt. It announced an eight-game slate for next fall.
A decision on 2025 (and beyond) could come any time over the next 22 years. There is no timeline.
However, Nick Saban may have indicated what that decision might be during his weekly coaches show on Thursday night. His comment didn’t even correlate to the question he was asked.
Dusty Dvoracek, an ESPN analyst and former Sooners defensive lineman, asked the head coach for his thoughts on the addition of the two Red River rivals in 2024. Saban said that he is excited to get them on board. He also praised the conference for expanding without changing its geographic location — like how USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten despite being in Los Angeles.
Nick Saban dropped a potential bombshell.
The way we’re going to do our 7-team, 1-team fixed, you’re going to play everybody every four years, so almost every guy at your school is going to get to play every team in your conference.
— Nick Saban
It is far from confirmation, and there is still a long way to go. Saban may know everything. He may known nothing.
However, his statement was said with a pretty definitive tone as if it is a done deal. If so, there would be a significant change in rivalry games.
In a 7-team, 1-team fixed format, six pretty significant rivalries would not be played annually:
- Florida / Tennessee
- Alabama / Tennessee
- Georgia / Auburn
- LSU / Ole Miss
- Texas / Arkansas
- Texas A&M / Texas
That would be a bummer for college football fans. All of those games have been hostile and rowdy throughout history. Those that have been played in recent years especially so.
They would disappear from the annual calendar if Saban is correct.