Pandemic silver lining? Let’s play a 10-game SEC football schedule every year.
Chins up and masks on, football fans, because there is a way to squeeze some lasting good out of the bad that has been this coronavirus pandemic.
Make the SEC’s 10-game conference-only football schedule permanent.
That’s right, play 10 SEC foes every year, not just this COVID-19 year, when the “It Just Means More” league decided to keep all games in-house — for safety reasons, of course — rather than play the normal eight-game conference campaign in addition to the four fillers, the majority of which merely pad the Ws and balance the books.
Honestly, after we witness the thrills and spills that will be this year’s weekly marquee matchups, can we really be going back to the meaningless days of Alabama-Western Carolina, Auburn-Samford or Kentucky-Eastern Illinois?
Now, I know there’s no guarantee we will even start a 10-game SEC schedule in 2020, much less complete one. Over in ACC Country, it took all of one week for North Carolina to call off in-person learning after COVID-19 clusters invaded the Chapel Hill campus. The Tar Heels claim they will play football anyway — who needs regular students? — but we shall see.
And I know most SEC coaches will recoil at such a radical idea as a 10-game conference season. I can hear them now. Ten conference games? Every season? One after the other? We didn’t join this league to play league games.
To be blunt, the SEC schedule as it is now is a bit rote. Each team plays its six divisional opponents. Every year. Each team plays one “permanent” cross-division opponent. Every year. And each team plays one cross-division opponent on a rotational basis. That’s how a Texas A&M entered the SEC in 2012 but has yet to play a football game in Lexington. And it’s 2020.
The Big Ten plays nine conference games — when it plays, of course. The Pac-12 plays nine conference games — when it plays, of course. So does the Big 12. Alabama Coach Nick Saban has been pushing for a nine-game SEC schedule. His crazy logic: By the time a four-year player leaves the league, he should have played every conference team at least once.
This is the SEC’s chance to do exactly that, plus one. Even ESPN’s Rece Davis advocated for it at the end of the SEC Network’s schedule show on Monday night. Play one non-conference opponent. Play 10 league games. And play another non-conference opponent, such as a traditional rival — Kentucky vs. Louisville springs to mind — or an additional Power Five school. Your choice.
Here’s another factor: After this year, the SEC might need to increase its number of conference games just to pay the bills. Even if the league manages to complete a full 2020 season, it will be with limited attendance. That’s a financial hit. And if coronavirus outbreaks prematurely pulls the plug, that’s a bigger hit.
A 10-game SEC schedule would help television ratings, which would help advertising rates, which could help refill coffers. It would also boost attendance, once we get the green light to fill stadiums. Used to be it didn’t matter who State U was playing, fans filed through the turnstiles. Those days are over. Too many options. Too many games, better games, on your HD television at home.
This SEC season will be filled with just those games. Georgia at Alabama. Florida at Texas A&M. Auburn at South Carolina. Tennessee at Auburn. Texas A&M at Tennessee. And yes, Kentucky at Alabama, one week before the Cats travel to Florida.
“It will be challenging,” said UK coach Mark Stoops on Monday, before repeating a line from World War II Gen. George Patton. “General Patton said, ‘I am a soldier. I fight where I’m told. And I will win where I fight.’ That’s going to be our approach.”
So if we are lucky enough to safely enjoy a 10-game SEC season this pandemic — fingers crossed — eight will never again be enough.
