As Expected, SEC Makes no Moves as of now
On Monday, the Southeastern Conference and the 14 athletics directors from across the conference met in Birmingham to discuss the current situation we face as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the headlines around the nation.
As expected before the meeting, the league made no changes to the current schedule, electing to wait longer before possibly joining the Big-10 and Pac-12 in jumping to a conference-only schedule for the coming college football season.
Appearing on the Paul Finebaum radio show Monday evening conference commissioner Greg Sankey shared the position of the conference currently.
"If we can wait to make major decisions, we're going to have better information," Sankey said on "Finebaum." "So, we're going to be patient."
While the SEC could have made a move, joining the Big-10 and Pac-12, the decisions to wait seems the correct step, as we have seen, things can change rapidly with this virus, and there are no guarantees as to what might happen in the next week.
Besides the SEC, both the ACC and Big-12 have to this point resisted the move to the conference-only scheduling. Likewise, no Group of Five conferences has opted for the change at this time.
The Pac-12 decision has impacted the SEC, as Alabama was to open their season against USC, which now leaves the Crimson Tide with an open date. There has been previous speculation that TCU would be willing to step into that game, replacing the Trojans, but no official announcement has been made as of yet.
That matchup could be announced at some point, but an announcement will likely be put on hold until it is determined what their conferences will ultimately do moving forward.
Additionally, Texas A&M was scheduled to play Colorado of the Pac-12 this season. There have been no known talks between the Aggies and another school to replace that contest.
No SEC teams were scheduled to face teams from the Big-10 this season. Thus their decision has no immediate impact on scheduling for SEC teams.
As of this moment, there have been no teams on the Vanderbilt Commodores schedule that have personally, of through their conference, made changes to the schedule.
According to reports late last week, Sankey was quoted as saying that his level of concern about the future of the season is "high to very high."
Plans for a season will continue forward at the moment, but this could change in the coming days.
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