LSU, Brian Kelly remain in favor of most 'robust' SEC slate

LSU coach Brian Kelly speaks with a game official during a timeout in the second half the SEC Championship Game, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Georgia won 50-30.

DESTIN, Fla. — The eight-game versus nine-game scheduling debate has become the Southeastern Conference's version of the Flying Dutchman.

A ghostly, haunting issue, seeming never to make port. Or, to use the more modern parlance of a question put to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey here Tuesday, is the plane going to land this week?

"We’ll see," was his noncommittal, and probably exceptionally candid, response.

Land it must, eventually. Texas and Oklahoma have committed to joining the conference in time for the 2024 football season. Football seasons, like frigates or 737s, can't be turned on a dime. It will take time to alter their courses if need be.

Now that everyone is here, including representatives from Texas and Oklahoma in non-voting roles, it would seem that getting faces in front of faces in a room could get this thing hammered out.

But all the talk around the pools and beach umbrellas here is that we may still get to the end of the SEC spring meeting Friday with the issue still being batted about like a beach ball.

Here is where things appeared to stand Tuesday:

• There is a group of schools committed to the nine-game model that includes three permanent opponents. That group includes LSU, as school officials reiterated Tuesday, along with Texas A&M, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma and possibly Florida.

• There is a group of schools that wants the new eight-game model that flips the old one on its head by going from seven permanent opponents to one. That group includes Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Alabama (ostensibly coach Nick Saban) and possibly Florida.

• On the fence are Ole Miss, Auburn and Tennessee. Vanderbilt hasn't made its views public. Best you can say about the Commodores is that everyone wishes they could be their permanent opponent. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough Vandy to go around.

LSU, reportedly, is one of just four schools along with Auburn, Texas and Oklahoma that has cleared its slate to play nine SEC games in 2024. LSU also could pivot to a fourth non-conference game, if needed.

LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said he can see the side that wants to stick with eight games. But he and coach Brian Kelly have a loftier view.

"I can't speak for the people who are dead set for eight," Woodward said here on the SEC Network's "Paul Finebaum Show." "I don't think it's as many as people think. But they have points. It's tough to be bowl eligible, and it's tough to compete in our league, which is a meat grinder. I get all that."

Kelly never has shied away from the grind.

"I’ve wanted to play the most robust schedule we can get," Kelly said. "I think we’re at that point where television demands great matchups. I think we’re getting to the point now where you’ve got to put quality competition in front of your fan base. The more we can do that, that's what we’re in favor of."

The College Football Playoff expands from four to 12 teams concurrent with the move by Texas and OU to the SEC. There are no guarantees, but clearly the conventional wisdom is that you could expect to have three or four SEC teams in the newly expanded CFP (there were three in the top six this past season) every year.

In a nine-game schedule, LSU's permanents are expected to be Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.

Asked whether he wanted to keep playing Alabama every year, Kelly's response was quick and direct: "Heck yeah."

"I love (playing) Alabama," he said. "I love Nick. I love that kind of matchup. I was in (Tiger) Stadium for that game, and I can tell you there's not a better atmosphere in college football than being there between two teams competing at that level. That's why I came to the SEC, to play in those kinds of games."

Earlier this month, Kelly raised the prospect of the SEC creating a temporary schedule format until it can figure out its long-term path and, perhaps just as importantly, whether ESPN/ABC/Disney will pay more for an expanded SEC with two powerhouse additions in Texas and OU. The SEC/Disney deal was hammered out in 2020, before the Longhorns and Sooners decided to join.

It's possible that the idea of a temporary — or as Kelly called it a "bridge schedule" — is what gains the most traction here this week, vote or no vote.

"Whatever that looks like, there needs to be the greatest flexibility with bringing Oklahoma and Texas into the league," Kelly said.

There is still enough flexibility in the calendar not to have a vote by Friday when the spring meeting ends.

But everything has its breaking point. The SEC is approaching one.

Eventually the plane has to land. The ship has to make port. The games have to be scheduled.

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