Nick Saban weighs in on SEC's decision to play 8-game league slate in 2024
Greg Sankey is the SEC Commissioner. But Nick Saban is perhaps the front-facing General. During times of conflict, the General’s voice matters.
On June 1, The SEC announced conference teams will play an 8-game league schedule in 2024 with no divisions. Twenty-four hours later, the 71-year-old Alabama head coach gave his thoughts on the matter.
“There’s some issues going to nine games. The future schedules that we’ve put together in terms of playing, we’re trying to play two Power Five schools each year along with the SEC schedule,” Saban said on Friday.
The eight-game schedule is controversial, considering the SEC’s upcoming additions. In 2024, Oklahoma and Texas will join the conference, totaling 16 teams. The programs are joining the storied conference one year ahead of the original schedule.
Thus, the league hasn’t had a surplus of time to deal with the groundbreaking change. While SEC teams are locked in to play eight conference games in 2024, Saban wouldn’t be surprised if the format changes with time.
“Eventually, we’ll probably move to more involvement and more SEC games. I think this has happened so quickly it’s really hard to make a lot of changes that fast. Whatever it is, we’re excited,” Saban said.
Not every SEC coach is optimistic about the conference’s decision to keep an eight-game league schedule in 2024. Florida, Georgia, LSU, Missouri & Texas A&M were the programs that supported a 9-game SEC schedule, according to Brett McMurphy of the Action Network.
Sankey didn’t seem to deny the chance for change.
“Creating a one-year schedule will provide a longer on-ramp to manage football scheduling around existing non-conference commitments of our members,” Sankey said in a statement. “The change of the membership date from 2025 to 2024 creates scheduling complexities that can better be managed with a one-year schedule.”
Saban and the Crimson Tide will worry about the upcoming season before ever stressing over the 2024 schedule. The NCAA placed the powerhouse program at No. 4 in its preseason rankings. Alabama will kick off its 2023 campaign on Sept. 2 against Middle Tennessee.