SEC - Part I

 I know, I know, it is college football season.  I'll be honest, it kind of snuck up on me as well.

Did you know, Saturday's Game Day on ESPN, will be the last appearance of Lee Corso.  I mean, he has been on the show since they had leather helmets, and the forward pass was illegal.  When he started the national powers were Princeton and Army.  I say all of that in jest of course, because Coach Corso is a treasure.  He is one of the cogs that makes Game Day so successful.  I mean, who else could try on all of those mascot heads.....and look cool doing it.  I tell you; he had the royal wave down better than the Queen herself.  I hope, at least half a dozen times on Saturday, he takes his ever-present pencil, points it at the guest prognosticator and says, "not so fast!"  I will miss him.  I hope Rece and Dez and Herbstreit allow their emotions to be real.    

I'm going to miss him.  Don't forget, 8 a.m. Saturday morning from Tallahassee.

Ok, on to the main part of this blog.  If you are a die-hard fan of the SEC, and seriously, what other kind of fan is there?  (BC, I don't want to hear a word about Michigan and the Big 10.  Barry, I don't want to hear about UVA and the ACC, unless it is about Clemson), you are more than ready for the football season to start, which for SEC fans it does this Thursday night, when Mizzou hosts Central Arkansas, then continues on Friday when Auburn visits Baylor.  The other 14 teams will play on Saturday, except for South Carolina, which plays Sunday.

You may have seen the SEC announced in 2026 they are going to nine conference games.  Each school will have three "permanent" opponents.  Schools they will play every year.  They will play six of the remaining 12 in 2026, and the other six in 2027, rotating between home and away.  

What this means is, every team in the SEC will play every team in the conference at least every other year and will visit every school at least once every four years.

Now, the permanent opponents were not named, but I have taken the opportunity to do the work for the SEC Scheduling Office in Birmingham.  I'm confident they will send a thank you or a fruit basket later. I mean, I'm doing their work for them.

Ok, here we go with my three permanent opponents for every SEC school.

Alabama - Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee

This may have been the easiest of the 16 to decide.

Arkansas - LSU, Missouri, Texas

The Hogs keep all of their rivals.  Of course if you ask someone from Texas, they will say their rivals are Oklahoma and A&M

Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss

Bama and Georgia were no-brainers.  I thought it would be good they play someone from next door

Florida - Georgia, LSU, South Carolina

This one was pretty much a no-brainer as well.

Georgia - Auburn, Florida, South Carolina

I don't expect to hear any arguments over this one either

Kentucky - Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

The Wildcats are up there by themselves in Lexington.  The last two were pretty easy, and I think Ole Miss makes a nice third choice

LSU - Arkansas, Florida, Texas A&M

I would imagine the good folks in Baton Rouge will be pretty happy with the three I selected for them

Mississippi State - Alabama, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt

I really debated on adding Vandy.  It was them or Oklahoma and that just didn't seem fair, so Vandy it is

Missouri - Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina

The first two were easy.  By playing South Carolina every year, you have the annual battle of the Columbias.

Oklahoma - Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M

Kind of looks like an old Big XII schedule for the Sooners

Ole Miss - Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State

As long as there is an Egg Bowl every year, I don't think Ole Miss cares who their permanent opponent is besides the Bulldogs

South Carolina - Florida, Georgia, Missouri

Florida and Georgia were a given, and I just explained Mizzou

Tennessee - Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt

Any questions?  Good, next!

Texas - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M

Yeah, kind of proud of my work here

Texas A&M - LSU, Oklahoma, Texas

The Aggies may cry foul, but I think it is pretty good, all local schools, all good schools, all Top 25 schools

Vanderbilt - Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee

Kentucky and the Vols were written in ink, and really, it's not that far from Nashville to Starkville.

Take a few moments to digest all of this, take some notes and fire away, or if you know someone in the SEC office, feel free to send this to them.  Either way, clip and save and we will see how close we all were.  

You'll notice this says Part I.  I have a Part II, which is already partially finished, that I will share in a day or two.

Have a great week, Be kind to each other.  More SEC silliness is around the corner.