Kentucky Swinging Momentum to Preserve 8-Game SEC Football Schedule

Entering this week’s SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, many believed the league would leave the panhandle with a new plan for a 9-game conference football schedule. After a few days of discussions, sweeping changes are no longer inevitable, thanks in large part to efforts by the University of Kentucky.

There are two proposals on the table. The SEC could move to nine conference football games with each team annually playing three rivals, then rotating the other six opponents every two years. The 3-6 formula preserves secondary rivalries and adds another lucrative game to the schedule. The other option is to keep the 8-game SEC schedule by playing one annual rival and rotating between the other seven teams (a.k.a. the 1-7 format). Each option ensures teams will play every member school in a four-year period. Adam Luckett projected who Kentucky may play in each format.

Mark Stoops has never been eager to grandstand about large scale changes in the sport, with one exception. Stoops wants no part in playing a 9-game SEC football schedule. His boss has his back and the two appear to be making headway in Destin.

According to The Athletic, Kentucky is leading a coalition, along with Arkansas and Mississippi State, to preserve the 8-game SEC schedule. The Wildcats’ motive? Preserving the Battle for the Governor’s Cup.

“From our perspective eight (conference games) has worked out really well for us,” Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said. “It’s something we’ve been able to schedule thoughtfully about how we have built our program. We have the Louisville game at the end of the year, which is always a part of our scheduling. So when you do eight plus that game is nine, and the ability for us to say that competitively and financially this is what works best for Kentucky is really, really important. And so for us, and I can only speak for me and our program, I think eight works well.”

To be frank, nobody else around the SEC cares about the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry. The same applies to Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech and all of the other non-conference rivalries played the last weekend in November.

Kentucky is appealing to its peers by pointing to the rest of the Power Five. Most are pointing toward playing eight conference games. With CFB Playoff expansion talks all but dead, adding another conference game could cause the SEC to cannibalize itself.

“If we’re going to play nine conference games we’re going to end up playing probably five minimal top-15 teams in the country, and I’m talking about all of us, not just our team. How’s that going to compare to other conferences?” said Nick Saban. “And what kind of opportunity: You could have a great team and lose two games in our conference, and somebody in another conference went undefeated but didn’t have the same opportunity to play as many good teams.”

The discussions have bounced back and forth through the first two days. The tide may turn back in favor of the nine-game schedule before the SEC Spring Meetings conclude on Friday. One thing is certain: It’s going to take a lot to convince Kentucky to take away a guaranteed win over Louisville to play another SEC opponent.

[The Athletic]