TAMPA, Fla. — It Just Means More…teams.
That’s the feeling I get as we’ve cycled through eight of the 16 SEC programs here on Florida’s western coast. The conference I grew up on with 12 teams has ballooned over the last 15 years. A&M and Missouri barged in, and Texas and Oklahoma shook the core of collegiate athletics when they joined.
Adding those powerhouse brands offers more compelling matchups from the gridiron to the hardwood to the diamond. At the same time, it takes some away.
Florida takes its turn at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. The Gators won’t take a turn in Tiger Stadium this fall. LSU won’t go to The Swamp. Three of our four visitors on Tuesday don’t appear on LSU’s schedule. With 15 possible opponents and only nine games, every team nearly misses out on half of its conference rivals.
Just a year after LSU and Arkansas put on a thrilling show in Omaha during LSU’s 2025 national title run, the Tigers and Hogs didn’t play a baseball series this spring.
That’s a bummer.
During my five-year run as a student at LSU, I saw all 11 of the other campuses in the SEC. Tebow threw a jump pass, Charles Scott stole a game between the hedges, McFadden and Holliday traded kickoff return scores, JaMarcus ripped the heart out of Neyland Stadium and Cam ripped through LSU’s defense.
My tires hugged the road all over the southeast, and I saw the inside of every college bar and discount hotel I could find. I never missed a game.
In this version of the league, LSU hasn’t played Georgia since 2018 or been to Knoxville since 2017. It’s 2026! That problem has been fixed with the nine-game slate, but those two facts remain.
There are obvious positives. Money is king, and the addition of powerful brands and major markets drive revenue. Texas taking the Tiger Stadium field will be awesome, and Oklahoma proved its baseball chops in June. The Longhorns and Aggies playing an SEC game on Thanksgiving week opposite the Egg Bowl and Iron Bowl works.
Still, something feels off when you consider how unbalanced the football schedule has become and how many teams and venues you miss out on every fall.
The league’s acquisitions have made sense. It’s nowhere near as egregious as Stanford and Cal playing in the ACC or UCLA and Rutgers playing midweek conference basketball. The footprint is intact, and the league is thriving beyond the College Football Playoff Championship Game. I’m confident that renewed success in that game is not far off.
I just took a moment on Tuesday to consider the relative charm that came with the 12-team league that kept rivalries on the schedule annually. Next year, LSU will play a football schedule without Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State or Arkansas anywhere to be found. Instead, LSU takes on Missouri, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M join Florida in the media madness on Wednesday. LSU gets a shot at all three this year. That feels right.
No three rivals have stirred up purple and gold emotions more than those three over the last 15 years.
September figures to add two more chapters to that story.
I just wish it happened more often.
