The college football landscape was rocked last summer when the Houston Chronicle reported that the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners had approached the Southeastern Conference to join the prestigious sports organization. Now that the deal is set in stone, the two Big 12 programs are expected to migrate and join the juggernaut that is the SEC in 2025, when their current conference deals expire.

One of the biggest questions surrounding this move is how the SEC will accommodate the addition of two more teams, swelling the total number of member schools to a plump 16 campuses spanning a true quarter of the country. While 16 is a much more easily divisible number than 14, change still presents myriad logistical issues that require answers sooner rather than later.

Among the suggestions made so far is reducing the number of non-conference games and instituting a nine-game intra-conference schedule — an increase from the eight currently played. There’s even the option of eliminating the divisional structure altogether, creating a hodgepodge super-conference, which is further bolstered by the goal of having every school play each other at least once every four years.

So what can the Gator Nation expect when this plan is finally unveiled?

According to Aaron Suttles and Seth Emerson of The Athletic, the idea of ​​a nine-game SEC schedule is much more realistic now than before expansion talks began, although the idea has already been floated. Commissioner Greg Sankey provided the following overview on the direction of the conference in terms of timing even before the COVID pandemic.

“Which is probably not understood because we were at the start of a schedule review in 2019. In fact, we are bringing a report to our chairs in March 2020… we were bringing analysis to this meeting to think about what a future 14-team schedule looks like. And then, you know, the pandemic was so full-time more, just trying to keep competition going, that we just put that aside. And then we came back at 16. So it’s almost a natural conversation. The impact of new rivalries on existing rivalries, these things are real. What really encourages me is the possibility in different models to see everyone with a certain level of frequency. And we will be moving towards a decision point as soon as possible.

Supporting the plan for an expanded conference program are Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs head coaches Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, who have long been proponents of increased SEC play, while their peers have been reluctant for fear of jeopardizing their bowl eligibility with such a rigorous roster of teams to face.

Regarding the organization of teams within the conference, the authors agree that the dissolution of divisions is the most likely outcome, but this leads to other planning problems. Various alternate scenarios include four divisions with four teams, unofficial divisions that would only be for planning purposes but would still rank teams 1-16, pods – which are basically a hybrid of the first two items on this list – or a fixed flexible planning arrangement.

The latter format involves a fixed number of schools which are permanently etched on the calendar while the other games are used flexibly so that opponents can be properly rotated. This proposed proportion is set at 3-6 but could be adjusted by play to a 2-7 or 4-5 format if deemed necessary. It is clear that the conference has many options at its disposal, but just as many obstacles.

SEC fans will hopefully get their answers at the end of SEC meetings next month.

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