The SEC has announced that it will finally unveil its 2013 football schedule this afternoon at 3pm ET.  That’s just the 2013 schedule, mind you.  The league is still tackling the rotation issue for future years.

Yesterday a league official told The Birmingham News that due to the difficulties of setting up a 14-team, eight-game schedule, the rotation part of things is taking longer and leading to a number of issues.  If the SEC decides to stick with such a plan then fans can expect — according to associate commissioner Mark Womack — the following:

* Some “permanent” cross-divisional rivalries may change.  (In 2012, the permanent foes were: Alabama-Tennessee, Arkansas-South Carolina, Auburn-Georgia, Florida-LSU, Kentucky-Mississippi State, Missouri-Texas A&M, and Ole Miss-Vanderbilt.  South Carolina is expected to become permanent partners with Texas A&M while Arkansas and Missouri will likely be paired together.  We’ll have to see if other tweaks are made.)

* Once again, a few SEC teams might have to make return trips to the same foe in consecutive years.  (This season, Missouri is playing at Texas A&M for the third year in a row while Mississippi State returned to Kentucky for a second consecutive season.)

* The rotation of cross-divisional foes won’t be even.  In order for teams to see each other more often, the league is planning to stop rotating those opponents in two-year home-and-away cycles (as it’s done previously).  And in order for everyone to have an even number of home games inside the conference each year, the intervals on those rotation changes won’t all be equal.  In other words, Alabama might face Vanderbilt in Nashville in 2013 and in Tuscaloosa in 2019.  Meanwhile, Arkansas might face Tennessee in Knoxville in 2013 and in Fayetteville in 2018 or 2017.

* The SEC will likely also have to drop — as it did this year — several “parameters” it had put in place to prevent schools from playing three straight SEC road games, for example.  The league will also want to set up the schedule so that each team will face three divisional foes at home and three on the road, but will it be able to do so?

What’s ridiculous about all this is the fact that a nine-game schedule — as we’ve been preaching from Day One — would wipe out just about every issue noted above.  The only complication with a nine-game slate would be the fact that seven teams would play five home games one year while the other seven would play just four home games in that year.  But that would flip-flop on an annual basis and it’s really no more of an issue than the “luck of the draw” set-up the SEC has used for years with its cross-divisional rotation.  Depending on the year, one West Division team might draw Florida while another draws Vanderbilt.

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Former Mississippi State AD and current SEC transition team member Larry Templeton was in Columbia, Missouri yesterday to see the #5 Tigers knock off future SEC running mate Texas A&M on the hardwood.  The folks at PowerMizzou.com — the Rivals site covering Missouri — and The Kansas City Star caught up with Templeton and spoke with him about a number of SEC-related topics:

1.  Templeton said the SEC will continue to go with an eight-game football schedule, but that the future schedule format for 2013 and beyond will not be tied to the 2012 schedule.  “Everything you see in ’12 was done strictly to make it work.  Everything else is on the table for discussion.”

Of a nine-game schedule, Templeton said: “We’re not going to nine.  It would be an easier scheduling format, but I don’t think it would be fair to our players or our coaches.”

This has been known for a while.  SEC coaches and ADs do not want to go to a nine-game conference slate and it will be up to the league commissioner and school presidents to convince them otherwise.  Based on the SEC’s previous “bravery” when it came to adding league games and adding a championship contest, we continue to state that the SEC will eventually wind up with a nine-game schedule.  If not, then the SEC will harm itself (especially with all other leagues heading toward a nine-game schedule universe).

2.  Templeton said that one topic up for consideration is whether or not to continue having permanent cross-divisional rivalries.

If these games go away, the SEC will lose three of its oldest rivalries: Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia, and Ole Miss-Vanderbilt.  Missouri would also lose Texas A&M and the recruiting grounds of the Lone Star State.

The Big 12 nuked its Oklahoma-Nebraska matchup when it absorbed four schools from the old SWC in the mid-90s.  The bad karma from that move has haunted the league to this day.

There is little chance that Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt would play each other as “non-conference” games in addition to their usual league slates, so you can stop emailing me that one.  That leaves realignment of the divisions as the only other option, but…

3.  Templeton said he did not foresee the divisional alignment changing “real quickly.”  He said: “I think we would have to have some sound reasoning as to why we would want to change that.”

4.  Templeton told the Missouri press that the SEC basketball schedule will be 16 games “next year and 18 thereafter” according to PowerMizzou.com.  He also said that Kansas City — clear across the state of Missouri — will be in play for landing an SEC Tournament at some point.

5.  Templeton said that he does not expect the SEC Championship Game to ever move from Atlanta.

6.  The SEC rep would not discuss the possibility of the league expanding further.

So what did we learn?  Not much that wasn’t already known.  Except for this: Templeton said, “Until the NCAA changes the championship game rules, it would be hard to anything but divisional play.  Now, we would like the NCAA to look at that because we feel pretty strongly — we have some crossover games division to division — (and) we would like to play more of them.”

That might be one way to open up scheduling and to save key rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia.  Presumably, the SEC could go without divisions and simply send its top two teams to Atlanta for the SEC title game.

But that’s pure speculation at this point.

1.  Alabama’s defense is once again prepping for a two-quarterback system.

2.  If Mississippi State can upset Bama on Saturday, it would be the Crimson Tide’s first loss to an unranked foe since a 2007 loss to Louisiana-Monroe.

3.  The bowl possibilities for Auburn (and everyone else in the SEC) are wide open at the moment.

4.  The team that’s finished with the most rushing yards has won the last eight Auburn-Georgia games.

5.  Arkansas’ defense is feeling confident after allowing just 207 yards of offense to South Carolina on Saturday.

6.  Current Razorback — and former Tennessee — assistant coach Steve Caldwell isn’t talking to the press as he prepares to face his old employer for the first time.

7.  Les Miles says he hasn’t given a lot of thought to which of his two quarterbacks will play first on Saturday.

8.  Freshman punter Brad Wing has had a big impact for LSU.

9.  Alabama native and Mississippi State linebacker Brandon Wilson says he was “never a ‘Roll Tide, University of Alabama’ kind of guy.”

10.  Dan Mullen says the Tide “deserve all the hype they’ve gotten this  year.”

11.  Ole Miss offensive coordinator David Lee is impressed by Louisiana Tech’s defense.

12.  Houston Nutt’s biggest problem was getting his signees to campus and then keeping them there.

13.  This writer says Rebel fans don’t appear to want any part of this year’s Egg Bowl with MSU.

The SEC has just about figured out its scheduling model for a 13-team league in 2012.  If/when Missouri joins the SEC this week, all that work could go right out the window.

Seth Emerson of The Macon Telegraph recently caught up with Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity and was told that the schedule plan should be revealed “sooner than later.”

In terms of key cross-divisional rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia, McGarity said he expects those games to be undisturbed.  Other cross-divisional games could disappear for a year, however.


“There are various challenges that will be clarified here shortly.  But we all realize that we’re just focusing on one year. … That’s really our mission right now, and we’re in the process of trading information back and forth…

There are several models that we have seen that keep your East opponents intact, and then keeping your Western common opponent intact.  And beyond that there are a number of different options.  But I think that we’ve seen the traditional rivals stay in place.”


McGarity said there’s been no talk of a 14-team schedule… which is what will be needed when Missouri comes aboard as expected.

Larry Templeton — the ex-MSU athletic director who is part of the SEC’s transition team — suggested last week that Texas A&M could be given an eight-game league schedule that actually consists of four games against the East and four games against the West (rather than the five divisional games and three cross-divisional games their West cohorts will play).

If that is part of the plan, and if the Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee rivalries are to be protected, it’s possible the other league teams might lose their cross-divisional permanent opponent for a year only.  That would allow the rest of the league’s cross-divisional rotation to roll on as expected.

Arkansas and South Carolina, Kentucky-Mississippi State, and Florida-LSU have no longstanding history pre-1992 expansion (though that UF-LSU game is a doozy).  Ole Miss-Vanderbilt is one of the league’s oldest rivalries, but could it be put on hiatus for one season?

Using such a plan would also allow A&M to host four teams and travel to four teams with all eight of those opponents keeping the same number of home and road games as they were originally scheduled to have.

Next year, Arkansas is scheduled to travel to South Carolina.  Kentucky is slated to travel to Mississippi State.  LSU will visit Florida.  And Vandy will go to Ole Miss.

So it’s possible the 2012 A&M schedule could feature Arkansas in College Station (or back in Arlington at Cowboys Stadium), Kentucky, LSU and Vanderbilt at home.  With road trips scheduled to South Carolina, Mississippi State, Florida and Ole Miss.

Just a thought.

A thought that will be completely moot if Mizzou can escape the Big 12 by next season.

For the upcoming Auburn-Georgia football game on Saturday, Nov. 13 at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Auburn Athletic Ticket Office is reminding fans to use caution regarding the possibility of counterfeit tickets. The only authorized outlets for Auburn-Georgia tickets are the Auburn and Georgia Athletic Ticket offices.
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1.  Urban Meyer wants all of the Gator fans to wear blue to Saturday’s game with South Carolina.  (Maybe he should’ve leak word through Pete Thamel of The New York Times.)

2.  “Tight end” Jordan Reed enjoys being part of Florida’s quarterback rotation.

3.  Florida’s got high expectations in basketball, but Billy Donovan says, “This group hasn’t always handled expectations well.”

4.  Steve Spurrier says this weekend’s USC-UF showdown isn’t about him.  (Good luck selling that one, Coach.)

5.  Carolina will head into the week with a number of injuries.

6.  Spurrier says of the game: “Florida seems to be peaking at this time, and maybe we’re headed the other way.”

7.  Georgia — facing Auburn this weekend — would like to beat at least one ranked foe in 2010.

8.  Cam Newton and AJ Green will provide plenty of starpower.

9.  Gene Chizik says the Auburn-Georgia rivalry is “what college football is all about.”