The 2023 season will be here soon enough, but with the release of the 2024 SEC and Big Ten schedules, there is plenty to discuss about the long-term future of college football.
How will USC fare in the 16-team Big Ten next year? How will Texas and Oklahoma adjust to the 16-team SEC we will see in 2024? These are irresistible questions, and it’s worth taking some time in these slow summer weeks to think about the future beyond the 2023 season.
One notable plot point which has emerged from the SEC and Big Ten schedule releases is that USC has more of a margin for error than Texas A&M does in the 2024 season.
If you look at A&M’s 2024 schedule, you will see it’s a remarkably favorable schedule.
Aggies Wire offered this note:
“Other than facing the Longhorns year to year, LSU will remain the second continued rivalry, as both programs have developed a deep hatred for one another (all in good fun). The biggest surprise? Alabama and Ole Miss were notably left off the schedule, meaning that Jimbo Fisher’s extremely entertaining feuds with Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin will take a break for at least one season.”
Not only are Bama and Ole Miss removed from the 2024 schedule; A&M doesn’t face Georgia or Tennessee, either.
A&M doesn’t face four of the SEC’s five best teams. LSU is the only heavyweight team the Aggies play. We’ll see about Texas. The Longhorns could be really good, but they have to prove it under Steve Sarkisian.
USC, in marked contrast to A&M, plays multiple teams in the top tier of its conference in 2024. USC has to play Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Penn State, four of the five best non-USC teams in the Big Ten (alongside Ohio State). Moreover, the Trojans play LSU — A&M’s best opponent — out of conference. USC plays Notre Dame — A&M’s other elite nonconference opponent — as well.
USC’s schedule is clearly tougher than A&M. The Trojans and Aggies play the same two high-end foes (LSU and Notre Dame), but USC’s conference schedule is far more difficult.
It makes this next point obvious and frankly incontestable: If USC and A&M both finish with a 10-2 record, or with the same record (maybe 11-1, maybe 9-3), USC will be first in line and A&M will be second. USC will get into a 12-team playoff before the Aggies do.
A&M must win more games than USC to box the Trojans out of a playoff berth in 2024. If the Aggies can’t do that, Jimbo Fisher will not prevent Lincoln Riley from making the 12-team playoff.
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