Paul Finebaum: SEC faces 'curious moment' as division over schedule format comes to head

SEC spring meetings are underway in Destin, Florida and one of the hottest topics on the docket is the conference potentially moving to a new scheduling format that would have teams play nine conference games instead of eight.

But multiple reports have suggested that this change will not occur this season and that there has been disagreement surrounding the nine-game model at spring meetings.

College football analyst Paul Finebaum is at spring meetings and spoke with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic about a potential nine-game schedule, with McElroy seeing no downsides outside of implications surrounding the future expansion of the College Football Playoff model.

“I think you’re right, I even think it’s more toward the middle to the bottom of the league than it is even at the top,” Finebaum said. “Could an additional conference game cost somebody? It’s possible, but I think with 12 you run the bigger risk of having the conference schedule devalued. And I know that nobody in the SEC believes that could be true, but everyone else is playing more conference games, everyone else is trying to step up.”

Adding one additional conference game to every SEC team’s schedule does mean an extra loss on the schedule of eight of the league’s teams annually. This may not seem like an area of importance right now, but with the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams in 2024, the conference regarded as the strongest in college football will definitely want as many of their teams in the mix as possible.

“And I think it’s a curious moment for the league, however, I do believe if we see eight games it will be temporary. What I mean by that is it will be a one-year deal, I have a hard time believing this is something that will last a long time,” Finebaum said.

More than half the conference’s teams are in favor of sticking with an eight-game schedule in 2024, with 2025 likely being targeted as the next opportunity to push for nine games. But programs like Georgia, Florida, LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M are already in support of the ninth game, and with some new additions coming to the conference in 2024, sooner may be better for the scheduling change

“I think it would be presented as a bridge to the future in relation to Texas and Oklahoma fully integrating themselves, even though they’ll be in the league a year from now,” Finebaum said. “But I’m most interested in the reaction from around college football, because if it’s divided here, I can only imagine what it’s going to look like elsewhere.”