Our Updated SEC 10-Game Schedule Proposal

While we’re waiting for the real thing, here’s my best attempt at a mock 10-game league schedule. The guiding principles:

The two new opponents are added based on strength of schedule. I used preseason SP+ data to put each division in four tiers:

• SEC East 1: Florida, Georgia
• SEC East 2: Kentucky, Tennessee
• SEC East 3: Missouri, South Carolina
• SEC East 4: Vanderbilt
• SEC West 1: Alabama
• SEC West 2: Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M
• SEC West 3: Ole Miss, Mississippi State
• SEC West 4: Arkansas

We originally did this exercise to pick new opponents more than three weeks ago, but I made a copy/paste error on Auburn’s schedule and fooled myself into thinking no SEC West team had to play both Florida and Georgia. In reality, someone does, and I went with Auburn for a couple of reasons. The Tigers get the benefit of also playing Vanderbilt. If we anticipated full stadiums, I would’ve given Alabama both the Dawgs and Gators in Tuscaloosa. But that seems out of balance with home field worth far less this year, so this way both Auburn and Alabama play Georgia, then split the rest of the SEC East, with Auburn getting both Florida and Vanderbilt for balance. There’s also still a rivalry factor (I think) with the Gators and Auburn, annual foes before the league switched formats in 2003. Otherwise, I stuck with the two new opponents selected in that piece three weeks ago.

If each tier is worth its designated point value, every team in the league plays a cross-divisional schedule worth either nine or ten points, except now Auburn is at eight points.

Team	Annual	2020	New	New
Florida	LSU	Ole Miss	Auburn	Texas A&M
Georgia	Auburn	Alabama	Arkansas	Miss State
Kentucky	Miss State	Auburn	LSU	Ole Miss
Missouri	Arkansas	Miss State	Alabama	LSU
S Carolina	Texas A&M	LSU	Alabama	Arkansas
Tennessee	Alabama	Arkansas	Ole Miss	Texas A&M
Vanderbilt	Ole Miss	Texas A&M	Auburn	Miss State
Alabama	Tennessee	Georgia	Missouri	S Carolina
Arkansas	Missouri	Tennessee	Georgia	S Carolina
Auburn	Georgia	Kentucky	Florida	Vanderbilt
LSU	Florida	S Carolina	Kentucky	Missouri
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	Florida	Kentucky	Tennessee
Miss State	Kentucky	Missouri	Georgia	Vanderbilt
Texas A&M	S Carolina	Vanderbilt	Florida	Tennessee

Now that we’ve got the teams, the schedule itself:

Division games are played the first seven weeks, with annual rivalries taking up the odd team out slot each week. So from September 26 through November 7, each week would feature six divisional games and one annual rivalry. Every team gets a bye on November 14. This leaves room for any early season cancellations to slide over. Then the existing 2020 rotating opponent is played on November 21 (SEC West hosting this year), so we put SEC East hosts for new games on November 28 and back to the West for the season finale on December 5.

(If you can’t see the full tables, turn your phone to landscape mode or click here for a better look via Google Sheets.)

SEC East

	FLA	UGA	UK	MIZ	SCAR	TEN	VAN
9.26	UK	AUB	at FLA	VAN	TEN	at SCAR	at MIZ
10.3	LSU	at MIZ	at TEN	UGA	at VAN	UK	SCAR
10.10	at VAN	at SCAR	MSU	at TEN	UGA	MIZ	FLA
10.17	vs UGA	vs FLA	VAN	at SCAR	MIZ	ALA	UK
10.24	MIZ	at UK	UGA	at FLA	A&M	at VAN	TEN
10.31	SCAR	TEN	at MIZ	UK	at FLA	at UGA	MISS
11.7	at TEN	VAN	SCAR	vs ARK	at UK	FLA	at UGA
11.14
11.21	at MISS	at ALA	at AUB	at MSU	at LSU	at ARK	at A&M
11.28	A&M	MSU	LSU	ALA	ARK	MISS	AUB
12.5	at AUB	at ARK	at MISS	at LSU	at ALA	at A&M	at MSU

SEC West

	ALA	ARK	AUB	LSU	MISS	MSU	A&M
9.26	at ARK	ALA	at UGA	MISS	at LSU	A&M	at MSU
10.3	at MISS	at MSU	A&M	at FLA	ALA	ARK	at AUB
10.10	A&M	LSU	at MISS	at ARK	AUB	at UK	at ALA
10.17	at TEN	at A&M	LSU	at AUB	MSU	at MISS	ARK
10.24	at LSU	MISS	at MSU	ALA	at ARK	AUB	at SCAR
10.31	MSU	at AUB	ARK	at A&M	at VAN	at ALA	LSU
11.7	AUB	vs MIZ	at ALA	MSU	at A&M	at LSU	MISS
11.14
11.21	UGA	TEN	UK	SCAR	FLA	MIZ	VAN
11.28	at MIZ	at SCAR	at VAN	at UK	at TEN	at UGA	at FLA
12.5	SCAR	UGA	FLA	MIZ	UK	VAN	TEN

It’s not perfect, but really any of those first seven weeks can be moved around. The way I’ve drawn it up, the Vols get Georgia and Florida back-to-back, and Alabama plays four of its first five on the road, something I think we’d have to see the conference office do to believe it. But in a season of weirdness, I like the balance this schedule is built on. Like anything else right now, it seeks to make the best of the given moment.