Breaking: SEC Adopts 10 Game, Conference Only Schedule

There will be football in the Southeastern Conference this fall, but it will look different.

The news has officially broken that the SEC will play a 10-game, conference only schedule in the fall, with the scheduled start date for September 26, which means Tennessee will see SEC East Rival Florida on week 1.

BREAKING: #SEC presidents have adopted a plan to play a 10-game, conference-only schedule this fall, sources told @SINow.

League approved kickoff date is Sept. 26. Particulars on the schedule (the two additional games & locations) are unclear for now.

SEC title game Dec. 19.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 30, 2020

SI's Ross Dellenger wrote yesterday that sources told him the conference would likely move towards a league-only schedule in the fall.

Dellenger wrote today, "The league will kick off the season Sept. 26, three weeks later than the scheduled Labor Day weekend start. While the SEC’s divisional structure is expected to remain the same—winners of two seven-team divisions playing in a Dec. 19 championship game—league teams will play two more opponents from their opposite division. A normal SEC schedule includes eight conference games—six against inner-division teams, one against a permanent team from the opposite division and one against a rotating team from the opposite division.

The decision Thursday was not a surprise. SI reported the potential plan in a story Wednesday. However, many believed the ACC’s announcement Wednesday regarding its scheduling model could impact the SEC’s plan to move to a conference-only schedule. The ACC announced an 11-game schedule with 10 conference games and an option for one non-conference game that must be played in that ACC team’s home state. It left the door open for four traditional SEC-ACC rivalry games, including Georgia-Georgia Tech, Florida-Florida State, Kentucky-Louisville and South Carolina-Clemson."

The 9th and 10th game will likely come in the form of the school's next two cross-division opponents, a model Dellenger also showed yesterday on Twitter.

If SEC prezs vote conference-only, 2 additional SEC games could be the next 2 in each team's rotation.

BAMA: UF, VU
AU: SC, MU
ARK: UG, SC
LSU: UK, UT
MSU: VU, UG
OM: UT, UK
TAMU: MU, UF
—
UF: BAMA, TAMU
UG: ARK, MSU
UK: LSU, OM
MU: TAMU, AU
SC: AU, ARK
UT: OM, LSU
VU: MSU, BAMA
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 29, 2020

Tennessee will now play every team in the SEC East as usual, in addition to Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Alabama from the West.

The SEC Championship will be played on Dec. 19.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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