It's Schedule Season in college football, the time of year where we learn the schedule for the upcoming season and argue about how future schedules should be formed. Should the SEC play eight games, or nine? Should the Playoff contain 14 teams or 16? How should those 16 teams be selected? What are the scheduling implications of the different 16-team formats?
Within the noise, LSU's Brian Kelly campaigned for an SEC-Big Ten scheduling challenge.
"We want to compete against the Big Ten," Kelly told Paul Finebaum. "Look, the Big Ten right now holds it on the SEC. They've won the last two national championships. That's the reality of it.
"We want to get challenged in that regard, and we'd like to be able to get that done."
The Big Ten would be unlikely to agree to anything unless and until the SEC agrees to join them in playing a 9-game conference schedule. That's been a topic of conversation for years within the SEC, and kicked into overdrive when Texas and Oklahoma joined the in 2021, but it's tricky. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky would essentially play a 10-game conference schedule when including their annual in-state rivalry games, and an annual B1G-SEC challenge would kick that number up to 11. “I’m all for it, but it would be like the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Green Bay Packers for our 18th regular season game and the other teams aren’t," South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer told the Athens Banner-Herald.
Said Greg Sankey on the prospect of an SEC-Big Ten scheduling mandate, "That’s a long road to hoe to get to the end of that.”
But let's leave reality in the reality and enter the land of fantasy. Here's what an SEC-Big Ten Challenge would look like if scheduled to begin the 2025 season.
(All rankings via the FootballScoop Pre-Preseason Top 25.)
Maryland at No. 13 South Carolina (8 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN): Once upon a time, the season began on a Thursday night in Columbia, S.C. We're bringing that back in this battle of former ACC foes.
Missouri at Nebraska (8 p.m. ET Friday, Fox): These teams played 104 times from 1892 to 2010, as members of the Missouri Valley, Big 8 and Big 12, and not once sense. In fact, when the Big Ten first announced its intent to expand in 2009, it was widely thought Missouri was the intended target, until Nebraska realized the prisoner's dilemma it found itself in and gobbled up the open spot as well. In this rivalry torn apart by realignment, what better way to reunite than on a Friday night as part of a TV cash grab?
No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State (noon ET, Fox): No need to overthink this one. It's already the most anticipated matchup of the non-conference schedule, in a possible No. 1 vs. No. 2 game. The Longhorns and Buckeyes have played four times previously. The winners of those games have finished the year ranked No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, and No. 1.
Vanderbilt at Northwestern (noon ET, BTN): Obviously.
No. 10 Illinois at Arkansas (noon ET, ESPN): Double obviously.
UCLA at Tennessee (noon ET, ABC): Triple obviously.
No. 8 Alabama at No. 16 Michigan (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS): There's a temptation to send Kalen DeBoer back to Husky Stadium, but the Crimson Tide and Wolverines -- the all-time winningest programs in their respective conferences -- have only played seven times previously, none of them on campus. The Big House is a more picturesque venue than Bryant-Denny, so we're sending Alabama north.
USC at No. 24 Oklahoma (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Based on what we know, Lincoln Riley would do everything in his power to get out of this game. All the more reason why it needs to happen.
Michigan State at No. 24 Auburn (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Michigan and Alabama are already playing at the same time, so why not make it a double feature and see how many Michigans and Alabamians we can hospitalize in a single day?
Mississippi State at Purdue (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN): Neither team won a game in their respective conference seasons last year. One of them is starting this year on the right foot.
No. 20 Indiana at Kentucky (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network): Historic rivals on the hardwood, these border buddies met annually on the gridiron from 1971 to 2005 but haven't played since. That needs to change. IU got the last home game 20 years ago, so UK gets this one.
Wisconsin at No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): Whether it be through swaying or jumping, both fan bases do their best to test the integrity of their respective stadiums.
Iowa at No. 22 Ole Miss (7:30 p.m., SEC Network): Iowa fans once drank their official bar at the Big Ten Championship dry. Let's give Hawkeye fans a whole day at the grove and see what they can accomplish.
No. 6 Georgia at No. 7 Oregon (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): Dan Lanning had to face his former team in his first game as the Ducks' head coach (as anyone's head coach) in a de facto road game in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The rematch will come three years later, as both teams are the defending champions of their respective conferences.
No. 2 Penn State at No. 9 LSU (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC): If this became an annual thing, it would be difficult to not give LSU an annual home night game due to theatrics alone. Considering their respective big-game struggles, the losing coach likely becomes Tiger Meat to his own fan base.
No. 11 Florida at Washington (11 p.m. ET, Fox): Florida already ended a multi-decade run without playing a single non-conference game outside the Sunshine State when the Gators went to Utah (and lost) to open the 2023 season. Even still, sending Florida on a 6,000-mile round trip only seems fair after not leaving the SEC footprint for 22 years.