Greg McElroy looking forward to Georgia at Alabama in 2024

The 2024 SEC football schedule is out — yes, the first one with Texas and Oklahoma. And while the schedules of those Big 12 migrants are the biggest story, the contest that has the eye of ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy is between the two best teams in the conference. Alabama is set to host Georgia next fall in what McElroy considers the top game of the entire 2024 SEC slate.

Here was his explanation of why it’s the matchup he has the biggest circle around:

“No. 1: Alabama is hosting the Georgia Bulldogs. Now, you look at these two programs, and arguably over the last seven or eight years, you can make a case as the top two programs, along with Ohio State, along with a few others in college football. Now, Alabama gets to host Georgia. They’re in Bryant-Denny for the first time in a while. It should be an incredible matchup between two of the best in the sport.”

Because of the bizarre scheduling model with the divisions, SEC schools would regularly go a decade or more without visiting each other’s home stadiums. For instance, Georgia has still not played Texas A&M in College Station yet, even though the Aggies joined the league 11 years ago. So a Georgia game in Bryant-Denny Stadium has not been a very common occurrence and has only happened once in the last 15 seasons.

Under the new model, whatever it ends up being, Georgia will visit Alabama much more often.

ESPN analyst wishes Georgia played Texas A&M in 2024

The folks over at ESPN recently assessed the full 2024 SEC schedule. As part of their review, a few writers singled out games that didn’t appear on the 2024 schedule that they wish had.

Chris Low was letdown by the lack of a Georgia–Texas A&M matchup for next season. While it wouldn’t be a brand new matchup, the two sides have scarcely played and the Dawgs have never played an SEC football game in the state of Texas. Low’s disappointed in that.

“Part of the excitement of the new-look SEC is seeing an established power like Georgia go from its own football-obsessed state into another football-obsessed state like Texas,” he wrote. “And now that Bobby Petrino is back in the league as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator, seeing his offense go up against Kirby Smart’s defense would make for high drama.”