The SEC will play an eight-game conference football schedule in 2024, the league announced on Thursday.
The 2024 season will mark the first for the SEC as a 16-team conference when the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns join. The league opted to keep the existing eight-game format for now as it “…continues to finalize a long-term strategy as a 16-team conference.”
For the 2024 season, SEC teams will play an eight-game conference schedule with four non-conference opponents. One of those four non-conference opponents is required to be from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 or major independent.
The SEC will also eliminate the divisional standings beginning in 2024 and place the top two teams in the standings into the SEC Championship Game. Under the new division-less format, each school will play every other school a minimum of two times in a four-year period.
“We have been engaged in planning for the entry of Oklahoma and Texas into the SEC since the summer of 2021, but the change of the membership date from 2025 to 2024 creates scheduling complexities that can better be managed with a one-year schedule,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.
“Creating a one-year schedule will provide a longer on-ramp to manage football scheduling around existing non-conference commitments of our members,” Sankey said. “It will also provide additional time to understand the impact of an expanded College Football Playoff and engage with our media partners as we determine the appropriate long-term plan for SEC football scheduling.
“During this time of change, our fans will continue to enjoy traditional rivalries and begin to see new matchups presented by the addition of two historically successful football programs to the SEC,” Sankey said.
Each schools opponents for the 2024 season will be announced on Wednesday, June 14 on a special primetime show on the SEC Network. Dates for those games will be announced at a later date.
Football Schedules