Getty Image / Lance King
According to Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the SEC will be playing a conference-only schedule this fall consisting of only 10 games. While the news isn’t necessarily surprising given the country’s current circumstances, but it is interesting that the SEC went the route of not having at least one non-conference game to make it an 11-game schedule as the ACC announced earlier in the week that it would be going in that direction.
BREAKING: #SEC presidents have adopted a plan to play a 10-game, conference-only schedule this fall, sources told @SINow.
League approved kickoff date is Sept. 26. Particulars on the schedule (the two additional games & locations) are unclear for now.
SEC title game Dec. 19.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 30, 2020
The SEC loses out on a number of massive out of conference games given the schedule change. Alabama vs. USC had been canceled earlier when the Pac 12 announced it would be going to a conference-only schedule, but with this announcement, we won’t see LSU vs. Texas, Tennessee vs. Oklahoma, Ole Miss vs. Baylor, and Louisville vs. Kentucky.
Now all of the attention turns to how the SEC will build its new look schedule adding two extra conference games to each team’s slate. An emphasis on less travel will likely come into play as will teams traditional schedule rotations among both the East and West.