SEC Football: Should a Nine Game Schedule Become Reality?

With conference expansion, scheduling changes and difficulties appear. As the SEC attempts to find an answer to the eight or nine game schedule quandary, athletic directors and fans alike have to wonder if a schedule expansion helps or hurts the conference.

The SEC athletic directors met this past Wednesday, February 29, to discuss the future of the football conference schedule. With the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri to the conference lineup, scheduling has become a major focus and concern.

Currently, the SEC has an eight-game conference schedule that rotates two inter-division games every two years and locks six other conference games. Five come against division opponents, the sixth game is an inter-division rivalry lock.

Auburn, for instance, has locked Georgia as their rival from the Eastern Division, but with the current addition of the Aggies and Tigers, the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” may take a backseat to conference rotational play.

The SEC scrambled to find answers to the scheduling issues for the 2012 season, with the conference settling on the current eight game rotation for the 2012 season. 2013 is a different animal, however.

There isn’t a lot of time for the conference to waste as schedules are set years in advance, so what are the concerns holding back the move?

What Keeps the Move From Happening?

The SEC has a big issue that it faces with a number of institutions and current athletic directors fighting a nine-game schedule. There is a concern involving bowl eligibility and self-elimination from conference play.

Scott Strickland, Mississippi State A.D., told the Birmingham News recently that "You have to figure out what's more important: Do you just worry about playing everybody in your division, or play everybody as often as possible?" He was offering a possible round-robin alternative to a nine game schedule.

There are obviously a lot of questions and concerns that A.D.’s carry from across the league. The SEC already boasts the toughest competition in the country, adding one more game against the best lineups in the country can’t seem very enticing to the school administrations.

It also causes concern surrounding non-conference opponents as most teams would avoid a premier non-conference game as the level of competition would be extreme with nine in-conference games.

With all the negatives that seem apparent, are there positives to a nine-game schedule for the conference?

Why the Move Should Happen

Obviously there are some concerns that the A.D.’s and school administrations hold involving the move to a nine-game conference schedule.

Looking at the concerns, however, most of the schools appear to be concerned with the level of competition that will be faced in their schedule with the addition of a conference game, but aren’t schools already scheduling one “premier” non-conference game?

They should be, but let’s be honest, it doesn’t always happen.

One of the biggest opponents to the expansion in scheduling is Vanderbilt’s Vice Chancellor of Athletics, David Williams. Williams told the Birmingham News "I understand those who say from an attractiveness side that going to nine is good, (but) from my side, I don't want it. I'd rather go to seven games."

Why would seven games be better for the conference? I can’t think of any reason considering the national prowess that the conference carries. If anything, expand the schedule to extend the conference’s elite standing.

If the conference dropped to any less mandatory conference games, most know that schools would schedule one more cream puff, not a tough upper tiered team.

Looking deeper, an expansion of conference games would likely help the conference. If history is any indicator, the conference would increase their strength of schedule across the board as the SEC consistently boasts the most top 25 teams.

Adding a premier SEC contest and keeping one premier out of conference game would also allow for the conference to show its strength against the rest of the country.

In Conclusion

I find no reason why the SEC should not move to a nine-game conference schedule. With the recent expansions of other conferences around the country, it may be a forced move.

It appears that the ACC is headed in the nine-game direction and as reported by the Birmingham News, the Pac-12 and Big Ten begin an annual series starting in 2017. With those changes, there may not be any premier opponents left on the docket to pick up.

The SEC has been on the cutting edge of the college football landscape in the past. They were the first conference to host a championship game and the first to expand to 12 teams. As of late, however, the conference has taken a less proactive approach.

The SEC leads the country in talent and fan following, it’s time to step back into the lead role for the sports development. This is no time to take the sit and wait approach. It will undoubtedly be interesting to watch this discussion develop into results in the near future.

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