Alabama Football Gaining an Advantage on Georgia Through Potential Scheduling
Conference plus one. It's the newest rumor surrounding the Big-12, SEC and ACC. It essentially means all of the member schools will likely play their previously scheduled nine conference only games and one additional non-conference game. This keeps traditional cross over rivalries like Georgia vs Georgia Tech and South Carolina vs Clemson intact.
However, some schools like Alabama, don't have a yearly out of conference game on their schedule, which means they would essentially be free to schedule any non-conference opponent that is willing to play them, and since the PAC-12 has elected to go strictly conference only in 2020 that means they have a free date to open the season.
It's been reported that if the SEC goes to this model, Alabama will schedule BYU to open the season before they take on Georgia in Tuscaloosa for the season opener. This is a significant advantage for the Crimson Tide.
It's hard enough for Georgia to open their conference schedule on the road against the likes of Nick Saban and Alabama, but you combine that with an entirely new offense, a new starting quarterback and three new starters along the offensive line and you've got yourself some potential trouble. Especially considering Alabama would essentially get a tune-up game in BYU before welcoming Georgia to town.
With Virginia having been the season opener for Georgia, if they were to go to a conference plus-one format, it's assumed that Georgia will scrap that game for Georgia Tech at the end of the season.
On the other hand, in the times of COVID-19, you could look at this as an advantage for Georgia. At least with the Bama game being your season opener, you would likely have all of your players ready and healthy for the biggest game of the season. Whereas we really have no idea what the roster attrition is going to look like towards the middle or end of the season.
This all of course is based on the idea that the SEC will keep its current schedule for football teams and that they don't just ball up the old schedules and throw them in the trash.
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