Vanderbilt, Alabama to be Tennessee baseball’s permanent opponents in future schedule format
With the additions of Texas and Oklahoma joining the Southeastern Conference officially in the summer of 2024, the league announced the two future permanent opponents for each of the 16 teams that will officially take place starting in the 2025 league season, a part of the new schedule format.
Tennessee’s two permanent opponents beginning in 2025 will be Vanderbilt and Alabama.
The future league format to accommodate 16 teams will consist of each program playing 10, three-game league series to equal 30 SEC games a season. Two series each season will come against permanent opponents – Tennessee’s being Alabama and Vanderbilt – while the other eight series will be on a rotation.
There will be no East or West divisions in the new format as the league will shift to single-division play. According to a league statement, the two permanent opponents for each program were picked on factors consisting of geography, traditional opponents and strength of schedule.
Every sport inside the SEC landscape is having to adjust schedule formats to accommodate conference expansion to 16 teams. The 2024 football season, which the league previously announced would be an eight-game format, has yet to commit to a permanent format beyond next season. The discussion is still ongoing to keep it at eight games (likely 1 permanent opponent + 7 rotating) or nine games (likely 3 permanent opponents + 6 rotating).
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Tennessee football’s 2024 opponents will be Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State at home and Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt on the road. The order of scheduling, including game dates and times, have yet to be announced.
D1 Baseball was first to report the future baseball scheduling permanent opponents. The SEC announced the official plans shortly after on Thursday morning.
SEC Baseball Permanent Opponents
Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee
Arkansas: Ole Miss, Missouri
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia
Florida: Georgia, South Carolina
Georgia: Florida, Auburn
Kentucky: South Carolina, Vanderbilt
LSU: Mississippi State, Texas A&M
Ole Miss: Mississippi State, Arkansas
Mississippi State: Ole Miss, LSU
Missouri: Oklahoma, Arkansas
Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas
South Carolina: Kentucky, Florida
Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Alabama
Texas: Texas A&M, Oklahoma
Texas A&M: Texas, LSU
Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Kentucky
