2024 SEC football schedule opponents, takeaways: Oklahoma gets tough draw, Alabama-Georgia takes center stage

On Wednesday SEC the home and away opponents were revealed for the 2024 season, the first for newcomers Texas and Oklahoma, with the Longhorns and Sooners joining the league next year. Each team plays eight games in the conference, with each incumbent playing either Texas or Oklahoma during their opening round in the SEC gauntlet.

Texas plays at Texas A&M in College Station, which will be the first edition 24 of its historic competition. since November 2011, when Justin Tucker hit a field goal at Kyle Field to give the Longhorns a 27-25 victory over the Aggies. Texas’ win sent Texas A&M out of the Big 12 on a sour note. The Longhorns will also see two-time reigning national champion Georgia come to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for what will be their biggest home game.

Soon, fans will get to see SEC power Alabama up close and personal in Norman in a rematch of the 2018 Orange Bowl.College Football Playoff semi-final. They’ll also get a chance to travel to two historically tough road venues: LSU’s Death Valley and Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.

What do we think of the 2024 new-look SEC matchups? Let’s take a look at some of the top talking points in what will be the first season the conference has played without a division since the league split in 1992.

Oklahoma better stick

The Sooners pulled off a challenge to make a run in Year 1. They get Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina at home, while their fourth home game is a neutral site against the Longhorns. So… it’s not really a home game at all.

It’s fascinating how the conference spreads out the home games when certain dates are revealed. It’s fair to assume the Red River Rivalry will take place in its traditional location in late September or early October, and the Sooners already have non-conference matchups on Aug. 31 (Temple) and Sept. 14 (Tulane). Does the SEC try to balance home and away games as much as possible? If so, a bumpy road could be coming in October-November.

Some say Oklahoma’s schedule simply “isn’t fair.” No. It’s just SEC football at its best (hardest). Congratulations.

Texas’ schedule is somewhat manageable

Sure, the Longhorns get Georgia at home. We can probably count it as a loss now, even though we have no idea who will be on either list. However, it is not as difficult as I expected. Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State — none of which have been dominant lately — are coming to Austin. One of the Longhorns’ road games is against lowly Vanderbilt, and a trip to Arkansas in the old Southwest Conference showdown isn’t the hardest task in the world. Keep in mind that the Oklahoma matchup is considered a road game, and things worked out well for Steve Sarkisian’s crew.

The Texas A&M game in College Station is going to be wild, but that goes without saying.

Two monsters meet in T-town

Georgia has won two straight national championships and is likely the favorite to make the three-peat in 2023, thanks in part to a very easy schedule. The Bulldogs’ dynasty has come at the expense of Alabama, which boasted a “dynasty” for most of the 2010s. Naturally, the SEC staged a showdown in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, between two SEC players in a game that would define the landscape of a new era. college football.

It will be the first regular season matchup between the two teams since the Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs 41-24 in Tuscaloosa en route to the 2020 title. That game was before coach Kirby Smart established a dynasty, and it’s safe to say things have changed quite a bit since then.

LSU fans should be excited

The Tigers stunned the college football world when they won the SEC West in coach Brian Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge in 2022. Even if they don’t return to Atlanta in 2023, the door is open when the SEC expands in 2024.

Road games against Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina and Texas A&M don’t jump off the page. All four have potential, but “potential” and $5 will buy you a cup of coffee. Alabama and Oklahoma will visit Death Valley, as will Vanderbilt and Magnolia Bowl rival Ole Miss.

There will be no division in 2024, so it’s not crazy to think the Tigers could land in the top two — especially after what we saw Kelly orchestrate last season.

It’s about to get even better

The SEC kicked the can at its spring meetings when it couldn’t come up with a long-term scheduling matrix. The two finalists are the 1-7 model, where teams have one permanent competitor and seven rotating opponents, and the 3-6 model, which has three permanent competitors and six rotators. The long-term future of the conference will ultimately be decided, and the general consensus is that it will be some variation of the 3-6 model. Think of the 2024 season as the future opening act of a sold-out rock concert.

The conference had two years to settle into a long-term format, but failed to do so. It is considered a failure by all accounts. However, the SEC saved a lot of face by giving the college football world a wild one-time 10-game challenge similar to what it did during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign.