SEC 2012: The Revised Schedule Comes into Focus

The 2012 SEC schedule has been a hot topic over the past few weeks, with dates and inter-division games yet to be finalized. People all across the South are still desperately waiting to lock in wedding dates set around their team’s bye week.

While the league will not announce its schedule under after Christmas, various leaks are beginning to be reported, the most significant of which coming Friday. What we do know is that the 2012 schedule is being constructed as a one-year schedule, meaning the schedule will not be indicative of any future rotation.

I proposed a 2012 schedule back in October that had Missouri and Arkansas as permanent crossover opponents, rather than Missouri and Texas A&M. The league has chosen to eschew an annual “Battle of the Ozarks”, in order to maintain the yearly meeting between “rivals” Arkansas and South Carolina.

While my proposal remains the likely scenario for intra-division play, there will be some changes for games between teams in the East and West. Here’s a recap of the reported inter-division matchups for next season:

Alabama: Missouri, at Tennessee

Arkansas: at South Carolina

Auburn: Georgia

LSU: South Carolina, at Florida

Ole Miss: Vanderbilt, at Georgia

Mississippi State: Tennessee

Texas A&M: Florida, at Missouri

Florida: LSU, at Texas A&M

Georgia: Ole Miss, at Auburn

Missouri: Texas A&M, at Alabama

South Carolina: Arkansas, at LSU

Tennessee: Alabama, at Mississippi State

Vanderbilt: at Ole Miss

The remaining holes are one game each for Auburn, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt, and two games for Kentucky.

Kentucky was originally scheduled to travel to Arkansas in 2012, and that game should be played as scheduled. We’ve now reached our first chink in the armor, a repeat trip to Kentucky for Mississippi State, who played in Lexington this season. The Bulldogs need a road game and the Wildcats need a home game, so the only answer is a second straight meeting in Commonwealth Stadium.

That fills the openings for Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi State, leaving just Auburn and Vanderbilt. The two teams were set to play under the old model next season in Auburn but that game will now move to Nashville with Vanderbilt already playing at Ole Miss from the West and Auburn hosting Georgia from the East.

After months of debate, the puzzle of the SEC’s 2012 matchups appears to finally be complete. The official pairings, as well as dates, should be announced by the league in the next week or two. For many Southerners, it may be their most exciting gift of the holiday season.