SEC opts for a ten-game, conference-only 2020 schedule

The powers-that-be at the SEC have decided on a ten-game, conference-only schedule for 2020.

Although there have been no schedule released – we can probably expect them to come next week.

The decision meant that the season will start on September 26th – a month after Big 12 and three weeks after the Big Ten.

South Carolina Board of Trustees member Chuck Allen told The Athletic (via Twitter): “My understanding is the vote was 13-1 with our president, Bob Caslen, being the sole dissenting vote and part of the reason for his dissenting vote was the rivalry with Clemson.”

Either the SEC is waiting for another month to try and ‘get’ the numbers lower, or they are stupid.

Why stupid? If you go by ‘normal’ flu season, it starts around October time. If COVID-19 is at best a bad version of the flu and at worst a killer that’s putting more and more young people in hospitals, then this is a stupid idea.

“We did this in recognition that COVID’s not going away,” Commissioner Greg Sankey told the Paul Finebaum Show, adding that the reason why the SEC was conference-only so it would “crown a champion”.

The SEC’s decision – as explain to Ralph Russo on the Associated Press was because the schools were “expecting a possible spike in cases when students return to campus means the season needs to be delayed to give best chance to start. The delay eliminates room for non-conference games”.

The SEC Championship Game will be on December 19th.

Also: Nothing has been said by the SEC about permitted attendance at games, or tailgating, because that will go by a state-to-state basis.

Also hurting will be the FCS schools who needed the money from SEC schools for their programs to at best keep going and at worst survive. FCS schools will lose a total of $3.1 million between 11 schools.