Let the grumbling begin!
The SEC announced Friday the two additional opponents for each of its 14 football teams. As with any schedule-release any time, anywhere, some programs made out better than others -- or perceptually at least.
Georgia appears to have made out pretty well. The Bulldogs already had one of the tougher slates in the league, having to play Alabama and Auburn from the Western Division. On Friday, the team that college coaches ranked No. 4 in the USA Today preseason poll earlier this week drew Arkansas on the road and Mississippi State in Athens as new opponents.
Those two teams happened to be the next ones scheduled to roll onto the Bulldogs’ schedule as rotational, cross-division opponents in the next two years, respectively. But that wasn’t the case for every SEC squad.
The league presidents voted last week to play a conference-only schedule of 10 games in deference to the coronavirus pandemic. The complete schedules won’t be released until next week at the earliest.
The new opponents were decided by the SEC, led by Mark Womack, the league’s executive associate commissioner and longtime scheduling czar. Strength of overall schedule before the additions was a criteria, according SEC Network analysts Dari Nowkah and Chris Doering, who hosted the live-television announcement.
None of the SEC teams had any direct input about what teams might be added to the schedule, according to UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity.
“Don’t give any AD any praise or any criticism,” McGarity said. “We didn’t get involved in that at all.”
The schedule for Florida, Georgia’s primary Eastern Division rival, got tougher. The Gators added a road trip to Texas A&M and a home game against Arkansas.
Conversely, Alabama added a road game to Missouri along with a home game against Kentucky. The Crimson Tide is expected to be heavily favored in both games.
After learning the Razorbacks were adding Georgia and Florida from the East, Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek called his school’s schedule “the most challenging in the history of college football.”
The truth is, there wasn’t a lot of wiggle room. The two cross-divisional opponents had to be selected among the five not currently on each teams’ schedule. With Alabama and Auburn already on Georgia’s ledger, it wasn’t likely that the SEC would stick them with the toughest of the remaining possibilities.
Georgia was scheduled to pick up Arkansas next year in the SEC’s cross-divisional rotation. The Bulldogs last played the Razorbacks in 2014 in Little Rock, Ark. The matchup will reunite Georgia with Sam Pittman, who was its offensive line coach before leaving to take over Arkansas’ football program in December. Georgia has played only Missouri (8) and Texas A&M (5) fewer times overall than it has Arkansas (14). The Bulldogs lead the series 10-4.
Mississippi State and Georgia have played only 23 times. The last time came in Athens in 2017 when Dan Mullen was still coaching in Starkville. UGA won that game 31-3 and have won 11 of 12, dating to 1975. The Maroon Bulldogs are coached by offensive guru Mike Leach, who left Washington State to take over the program this year.
SEC ADDITIONS
Eastern Division
Georgia: Mississippi State, at Arkansas
Florida: Arkansas, at Texas A&M
Kentucky: Ole Miss, at Alabama
Missouri: Alabama, at LSU
S. Carolina: Auburn, at Ole Miss
Tennessee: Texas A&M, at Auburn
Western Division
Alabama: Kentucky, at Missouri
Arkansas: Georgia, at Florida
Auburn: Tennessee, at S. Carolina
LSU: Missouri, at Vanderbilt
Miss. State: Vanderbilt, at Georgia
Ole Miss: S. Carolina, at Kentucky
Texas A&M: Florida, at Tennessee
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