Per Bohls from AAS:
1. Commish commentary: Finally landed Greg Sankey for our “On Second Thought” podcast, and the SEC commissioner told us he doesn’t necessarily see further expansion for the SEC and that the Texas-Texas A&M football series would be only every other year and not annual if the league sticks with the eight-game conference schedule that the athletic directors approved for 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma officially join. That would be very disappointing. The 7-1 model with only one permanent rival would allow for the annual blood war between the Longhorns and Sooners in the Cotton Bowl to continue every October, but the Horns and Aggies would play each other every other year as part of the rotation with the other 12 teams. Sankey said the league will determine the format and number of conference games for 2025 and hopefully beyond between now and the 2024 spring meetings in Destin, Fla., and he wouldn’t predict the outcome of the vote. … Many of the SEC football coaches and athletic directors at Destin said they were hesitant to go with the nine-game model because of the unknown consequences for future qualification for the 12-team College Football Playoff starting in 2024 when the sport goes to six automatic qualifiers and six at-large teams. Sankey said when asked if a 9-3 SEC team would probably earn an at-large berth, “I do think it can.” Besides, if some SEC schools that voted against nine games are too scared of the extra competition, should they even be in the SEC? Sankey did say there was so much interest in the schedule reveal in mid-June that “all the (opposition) noise went away.” Not all of it. … While some have criticized the SEC expansion with Texas and OU, the furthest trip for any SEC member would be only 95 miles longer than before the additions while teams like USC and UCLA will travel cross-country and two time zones to Maryland and Rutgers. He also said, unlike other expansion moves, the SEC addition “restores a lot of rivalries” like A&M-Texas, Arkansas-Texas, OU-A&M and OU-Missouri. … Sankey told us in our hot corner interview that if he wasn’t a conference commissioner now, he’d probably have been a physical education or history teacher and revealed a couple of his hidden talents. The enlightening podcast airs Thursday morning.
1. Commish commentary: Finally landed Greg Sankey for our “On Second Thought” podcast, and the SEC commissioner told us he doesn’t necessarily see further expansion for the SEC and that the Texas-Texas A&M football series would be only every other year and not annual if the league sticks with the eight-game conference schedule that the athletic directors approved for 2024 when Texas and Oklahoma officially join. That would be very disappointing. The 7-1 model with only one permanent rival would allow for the annual blood war between the Longhorns and Sooners in the Cotton Bowl to continue every October, but the Horns and Aggies would play each other every other year as part of the rotation with the other 12 teams. Sankey said the league will determine the format and number of conference games for 2025 and hopefully beyond between now and the 2024 spring meetings in Destin, Fla., and he wouldn’t predict the outcome of the vote. … Many of the SEC football coaches and athletic directors at Destin said they were hesitant to go with the nine-game model because of the unknown consequences for future qualification for the 12-team College Football Playoff starting in 2024 when the sport goes to six automatic qualifiers and six at-large teams. Sankey said when asked if a 9-3 SEC team would probably earn an at-large berth, “I do think it can.” Besides, if some SEC schools that voted against nine games are too scared of the extra competition, should they even be in the SEC? Sankey did say there was so much interest in the schedule reveal in mid-June that “all the (opposition) noise went away.” Not all of it. … While some have criticized the SEC expansion with Texas and OU, the furthest trip for any SEC member would be only 95 miles longer than before the additions while teams like USC and UCLA will travel cross-country and two time zones to Maryland and Rutgers. He also said, unlike other expansion moves, the SEC addition “restores a lot of rivalries” like A&M-Texas, Arkansas-Texas, OU-A&M and OU-Missouri. … Sankey told us in our hot corner interview that if he wasn’t a conference commissioner now, he’d probably have been a physical education or history teacher and revealed a couple of his hidden talents. The enlightening podcast airs Thursday morning.
