Before the Big 12, ACC, and SEC release their adjusted pandemic schedules, we are exploring what these three Power Five conferences might do. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided on conference-only schedules. We are waiting for the Pac-12’s precise schedule layout, and for the other three Power Fives to show their hand.
We looked at the Big 12’s situation and the ACC’s perspective. Now we will focus on the SEC.
The SEC, like the ACC, wants to protect late-season rivalry games (Florida-Florida State, etc.), so one would think the SEC will at the very least want an eight-plus-one plan: eight league games and one nonconference game. If the Big Ten has set the marker at 10 games for a season schedule, I highly doubt the SEC will remain at only nine games. The question seems to be if the SEC will go for a 10-game plan or try to exceed it. I don’t have a strong feel for what the SEC will try to do there.
I remarked, in my analysis of the ACC, that the Atlantic Coast Conference would lean toward an eight-plus-two plan: eight league games and two nonconference games. The basis for my conclusion is that the ACC’s relationship with Notre Dame would give the conference an incentive to keep open two nonconference game slots: one for the Irish, one for the rivalry games with the SEC.
The SEC doesn’t have a Notre Dame-like X-factor in the equation, so if I was to compare the SEC with the ACC — given that the two leagues both play eight conference games in a normal season — I would assess higher odds to the SEC going with a nine-plus-one plan (nine league games, one non-con) than the ACC, which I think will seek an eight-plus-two plan rather than a nine-plus-one.
It could be that the SEC will try to play 11 games and exceed the Big Ten’s 10-game total. I’m not sure of that. I do think that if the SEC and ACC both end up with 10-game schedules, the SEC is much more likely to add a ninth conference game for CBS television than the ACC will. The ACC has more incentives to play two nonconference games than the SEC.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the SEC and ACC both try for 11-game schedules. If that happens, the SEC could have a 10-plus-one plan (10 league games, one non-con), whereas the ACC, should it play 11, would use a nine-plus-two plan.
At any rate, we’ll find out what the SEC and ACC think in the coming weeks… probably.