If the SEC expands its football schedule, what teams would Missouri prefer to face?
This week’s SEC business meetings in Destin, Florida were highly anticipated because of the recent Nick Saban/Jimbo Fisher kerfuffle.
Less splashy but more enduring topics were on the table, too, such as future football scheduling in the conference that will soon include Oklahoma and Texas. Their inclusion will bring the number of teams in the league to 16.
It comes down to this: With the additional inventory, does the SEC expand to nine games, or stay with eight?
According to the Associated Press, a nine-game schedule would include three permanent opponents and six that would rotate over a four-year cycle. An eight-game slate would continue to feature one permanent opponent and seven others in a rotation. Divisions likely would disappear.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz didn’t publicly support one model over another but emphasized the need to develop rivalries. In the current setup, the Tigers meet Arkansas on an annual basis.
“I understand a little more now being at Mizzou, not playing a consistent rivalry with a long-term team, whether that was Kansas or Illinois and the disruption that causes to the fan base, and now to start a rivalry with Arkansas and how that’s a little more difficult and challenging.
“If we do away with divisions and go into a rotating conference schedule, the consistency of rivalries will be important to the passion of the Southeastern Conference.”
Keep rivals. Check. But what might be best for Mizzou? The Tigers have met Arkansas for eight straight seasons in the Battle Line Rivalry.
If a nine-game schedule with multiple annual rivals is adopted, Missouri could return to its Big 12 Conference roots. Missouri and Oklahoma have met 96 times, including twice in the Big 12 Championship.
How about three annual games against Arkansas, Oklahoma and, perhaps, South Carolina or Kentucky?
Any change isn’t likely until the 2025 season, the expected first year that Oklahoma and Texas will be members of the SEC. But all of the conferences schools would like to know the model so they can make adjustments to future schedules.
Scheduling models have been hot topics in other conferences, too. Divisions may become a thing of the past. The Pac-12 will play without divisions this year and the ACC is considering the option for 2023.
The Big 12 was the first to do away with divisions when it became a 10-team league in 2011.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 2:38 PM.