SEC Moves to Conference-Only Schedule, Pushes Back Start

It was expected, but some thought it could be next week before the SEC made a move toward a conference-only schedule for the 2020 college football season.

Instead, the conference is expected to announce the move later on Thursday afternoon according to reports first issued by Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger.

Per Dellengers' report, the conference is also expected to push the start of their season back three weeks to Sept. 26, rather than their original scheduled start date of Sept.5, when several league teams, including the Vanderbilt Commodores, were scheduled to begin play.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey issued this statement concerning the decision.

“This new plan for a football schedule is consistent with the educational goals of our universities to allow for the safe and orderly return to campus of their student populations and to provide a healthy learning environment during these unique circumstances presented by the COVID-19 virus,” Sankey said. “This new schedule supports the safety measures that are being taken by each of our institutions to ensure the health of our campus communities.”

This action was taken following extensive discussions and thorough deliberation among the SEC’s presidents and chancellors, athletics directors, conference office staff, and medical advisors, led by the SEC’s Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force.

“After careful consideration of the public health indicators in our region and following advice of our medical advisors, we have determined that this is the best course of action to prepare for a safe and healthy return to competition for SEC student-athletes, coaches and others associated with our sports programs,” said Sankey.

The decision to limit competition to conference-only opponents and rescheduling the SEC Championship Game is based on the need for maximum flexibility in making any necessary scheduling adjustments while reacting to developments around the pandemic and continued advice from medical professionals.

“We believe these schedule adjustments offer the best opportunity to complete a full season by giving us the ability to adapt to the fluid nature of the virus and the flexibility to adjust schedules as necessary if disruptions occur,” Sankey said. “It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures.”The move comes one day after Dellenger wrote of the decision by league officials and athletic directors, and included the two new conference opponents for each school to complete their 10-game slate for the season.

As reported on Wednesday, the Commodores will now likely see Alabama and Mississippi State added to their schedule that already featured their six-SEC East rivals and cross-division contests against Ole Miss in Nashville and Texas A&M in College Station.

The Commodores were scheduled to play their first conference contest on Sept. 12 at Missouri, with the Tide opening their conference slate one week later on Sept. 19, hosting Georgia while the Bulldogs were to open conference play on that same day versus Arkansas.

Exactly how the move back to Sept.26 will impact those original conference openers is unclear but will likely be made public soon.

While a move to a conference-only schedule has its benefits and is being done as a safety precaution to assure testing protocols can be conducted uniformly, it's unfortunate that several big non-conference will be lost as a result.

The SEC Football Championship Game will be played Dec. 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, rescheduled from the original date of Dec. 5. The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on Dec. 12 for all schools.

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