The SEC finally should have a permanent format for its conference schedule beyond 2016 by its spring meetings in May -- and that format may stick to the status quo of eight games.
AL.com’s Jon Soloman talked to eight SEC athletic directors who favor sticking to an eight-game conference slate, though SEC commissioner Mike Slive said university presidents and chancellors will have a say in what format the league uses.
With plenty at stake -- long-standing rivalries, permanent cross-divisional games and the rigors of an eight-game schedule vs. a nine-game schedule -- Slive wants those university higher-ups involved in the process.
And too, if the SEC sticks to an eight-game schedule (six conference games, one rotating cross-divisional game and one permanent cross-divisional game) it’d mean a school could go 12 years between hosting or traveling to one of the six non-permanent cross-divisional campuses.
Soloman has an insightful look at all these issues -- you can see why it’s taken the SEC so long to sort them out, that’s for sure.