SEC’s scheduling future remains cloudy as coaches avoid taking sides

SEC Football Media Days are halfway over, and one topic has been asked to every coach that has stood behind the podium.

The questions are phrased differently but each coach has been asked if they support an eight-game conference schedule or nine-game conference schedule. So far, each coach has given a similar answer: I don’t know.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey didn’t give any indication which way he was leaning in his speech Monday. We’ve seen LSU’s Brian Kelly, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer, Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and Texas’s Steve Sarkisian all give similar answers.

ICYMI: Greg Sankey delivers subtle smackdown at SEC Media Days

Each coach has answered similarly, with either a non-answer or an admission of no opinion. So, now the question becomes will any coach give their full support to an eight or nine game conference schedule?

Probably not.

It may be a coordinated effort, but whoever coordinated the effort quickly learned it was unnecessary.

There is no right answer to an eight or nine game schedule, so why would a coach “rock the boat” when they don’t need to?

An extra conference game would improve each SEC team’s strength of schedule, but would it really be that much of an improvement? SEC teams have the 12-hardest schedules in 2025, based on strength of schedule, and the other four are all in the top 20.

How much better (i.e., harder) do we really need to make the schedules?

Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina didn’t make the playoffs because their schedule was easier than the teams that did make it.

If South Carolina beats LSU, it’s in the playoff.

If Ole Miss beats either Kentucky, LSU or Florida, it’s in the playoff.

If Alabama beats Oklahoma, it’s in the playoff. (Note: You could add Vanderbilt here, but I think we all liked seeing that too much to take that away from the Commodores.)

It wasn’t a case of “oh, these teams lost games to non-SEC schools that tanked our teams’ resumes so if we replace those games with SEC games, they’d have been in.” Of all the games mentioned above, South Carolina beating LSU would be the only true upset.

And, no, just because Clemson, SMU and Indiana all got steamrolled in their lone playoff games doesn’t mean one of the other SEC schools deserved that spot.

OK, maybe Indiana should’ve been replaced by one of the SEC teams. But don’t forget that Tennessee got steamrolled by Ohio State. It’s not a given that Alabama, Ole Miss or South Carolina would’ve fared any better against Notre Dame, even if the Irish only beat Indiana by 10 points. (Just in case you forgot, Notre Dame lost to Ohio State in the national championship game.)

The remaining eight SEC coaches will be asked about their preference for an eight or nine game conference schedule. But just know the answer won’t be anything close to definitive support.

And that an extra conference game won’t really matter if SEC teams get upset by other SEC teams.