:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/18180099/dsc_0206.0.jpg)
UPDATE: The schedule out!
As we head into the 2013 SEC football season, let's not forget that the conference has yet to issue a schedule for the 2014 season. No, that's not really normal, but nothing about the schedule has been normal since the SEC expanded to 14 teams ahead of last season. (Just ask Steve Spurrier and Les Miles; no, really, ask them, they really want to tell you all about it.)
In any case, that situation is about to be rectified, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy. He took to the Twitters today with this bit of news:
SEC's 2014 schedule expected to be released Wednesday. Adjust your day accordingly
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) August 20, 2013
Is this one of the dreaded "bridge" schedules that have bogged us all down in arguments about who has the easiest path to Atlanta over the last few years? Well, according to earlier reports, it depends on what your definition of "bridge" is.
Womack said the 2014 and 2015 schedules would be part of the cycle going out to 2026, but that at the same time, the conference would look at all alternative scheduling formats.
"(2014) will be part of the overall cycle," he said. "But you could stop (the cycle) after Year 2. We are trying to finalize a cycle of games that would fill the 6-1-1 format. If we elect after two years to go with nine games or to stay at eight and go to 6-2 (six divisional and two rotating opponents), we will stop the schedule at that point."
One thing we do know: Either before or after, there's going to be some grumbling. Oh, hey, lookee there.
SPOILER ALERT: LSU's 2014 sched. includes UF, UGA, SCAR, Bama twice, UK Basketball, and the Green Bay Packers; all road games
— Pod Katt (@valleyshook) August 20, 2013
There's one slightly interesting aspect that has pretty much already been disclosed. If all goes according to plan, South Carolina and Texas A&M will be paired as interdivision rivals -- thanks in part to the farsighted visionaries in the South Carolina athletics department that wanted to get out of playing Arkansas every year -- while the Hogs will face Missouri annually. Which makes a lot of sense for next-door neighbors Missouri and Arkansas, but not so much sense for South Carolina and Texas A&M.
But that's okay. Because if the schools and / or conference don't like things the way they are, they can just change it all again in two years. And maybe again two years after that. It's not like consistency or programming is important for any reason.