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Greg Byrne: Alabama scheduled future seasons off of an 8-game SEC slate
By Paul Harvey
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Greg Byrne understands SEC football moving to a 9-game league slate similar to the Big Ten and the Big 12 might eventually happen. However, the AD at Alabama believes there are still some tricky things to work through before that happens.
Recently, the idea of the SEC schedule moving to 9 games has resurfaced with reports of the SEC and Big Ten working together to expand the College Football Playoff. But at an event in Birmingham on Monday, Byrne made it clear Alabama operated with an 8-game league framework when setting future schedules.
“I think there’s a way to get to nine,” said Byrne in regard to expanding the SEC schedule. “We’ll see if it makes sense for the conference as a whole. We’re one vote in there.
“But, again, we’ve scheduled as though we were playing off playing eight conference games.”
Byrne later specifically referenced Alabama’s nonconference schedule for the upcoming 2025 season which features a season opener at Florida State and home vs. Wisconsin. The AD made it clear those games were scheduled with the thinking of an 8-game SEC slate.
“I know there was some discussion about that coming out of the meeting,” Byrne said of potentially playing 9 SEC games. “I know there’s been discussion in the past. All I’ll say is that we’ve scheduled two Power 4 nonconference games, starting next year. We have Florida State and Wisconsin. We did that in mind of having eight conference games.
“So nothing has been decided one way or the other. And you know, we’ll probably have another discussion here, I’m guessing, this spring or two, and see where we land with it.”
Reading between the lines a little bit, it sure sounds like Byrne is saying those major nonconference games down the road (the Crimson Tide also get West Virginia, Ohio State and Oklahoma State in the near future) could become a thing of the past with 9 games in the league. Some of that is understandable as it would be hard to envision playing 9 SEC games and 2 other power-conference opponents in one season, but hopefully, Byrne is not saying that all major nonconference games would go away with a 9-game league slate.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what becomes of the future of the SEC schedule and how that relates to the potential growth of the CFP.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
