Pat Dooley’s High Five (February 10th)

The way I see it, the SEC is now on the clock.

The whole Texas-Oklahoma thing has finally been settled and we can’t wait to see what the 2024 schedule looks like.

Those two schools paid $100 million to leave the Big 12 early and it’s almost like we want to fast forward to 2024 when we will have these two power leagues and a 12-team playoff.

I’m getting excited.

Bu first, the SEC has to figure some things out, which brings us to the latest High Five, the five things that will be big news as we go forward with scheduling:

 

1. Is it eight or nine SEC games? The league has a split that has to get resolved. Schools that need the extra non-conference game to increase their chances for bowl eligibility are in favor of the eight-game format. There is also the issue of every other year for most teams playing more conference road games than home if it goes to nine. I think it will settle on nine and be announced as a unanimous decision by all 16 teams. Right.

 

2. The format. So, the decision has been made that if it is seven, there will be one permanent opponent (for Florida, it would be Georgia) and if it goes to nine there would be three. That’s when it gets tricky, especially when it comes to geography. Nobody will be happy.

 

3. The permanents. For example, Florida would like to get back to playing Auburn every year because it is the closest school to Gainesville. But I doubt that will happen. Georgia, South Carolina, Texas A&M? Sure, why not?

 

4. The non-conference schedules. Florida is one team that has scheduled aggressively with games against Miami, UCF and FSU on the docket for 2024. But if the SEC goes to nine games, there is no breather so we might see one of the first two games moved to a different year. This will be the case for most teams in the new league.

 

5. ESPN revenue. That will define a lot of the scheduling because how much ESPN is willing to up its rights fees now that the two teams are coming early will have a lot to say about what they expect in scheduling. Part of the deal was to move Texas-Michigan to Ann Arbor next year for Fox instead of it being on ESPN. It’s going to get complicated.