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This is what all the fuss was about.
Alabama at Oklahoma. Oklahoma at Auburn.
Georgia at Texas. Texas at Texas A&M.
Etc., etc., etc. Load up the RV, this is must-see SEC. Come the fall of 2024, it will just mean more to the max because these will be regular-season football games in the Southeastern Conference.
Turns out, as the college football world parked in front of the SEC Network for the conference's first 16-team football schedule reveal, 8 vs. 9 didn't matter as much as Big Al vs. the Sooner Schooner and Uga meets Bevo. Two more marquee names in the league just means more marquee league games no matter how long they stubbornly stick with only eight conference meetings each.
Have to admit, it was exciting to witness the unveiling and look forward to the fresh matchups and tailgate trips. Maybe not "one of the most exciting moments in Southeastern Conference history," as Paul Finebaum put it - Kick 6 on line one, Paul; 2nd and 26 on line 2 - but the anticipation for 2024 has overshadowed the impending reality of 2023.
What might have been missed in all of Wednesday evening's reality-TV drama was a subtle reminder that, while they are very welcome and bring much to the table, the Longhorns and Sooners will not be the big cigars in these parts anytime soon.
The biggest game to flash across the SEC Network screen didn't involve either Texas or Oklahoma. It featured the two best programs in the league, in the country, in the sport, the winners of the last three national championships and the favorites to run that streak out of the four-team playoff and into the new 12-team postseason, which also starts in 2024.
Stop the presses, wherever there are still presses. Georgia and Alabama will play each other a year from now in Tuscaloosa. ...
Read the rest of Kevin's column on the challenges ahead in the 16-team SEC. Only in the Lede.
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