LEXINGTON, Ky. — Even with the arrivals of Texas and Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference moved up to 2024, Mitch Barnhart continues to make clear that Kentucky is still in favor of SEC teams staying at eight league football games played annually, not nine.
The University of Kentucky athletics director makes logical points as to why adding an additional league contest each season would be problematic for the SEC programs — such as UK — where the historic margin of error between football success and failure is reed thin.
The problem, however, with staying at eight games once Boomer Sooner and Hook’em Horns are chanting “S-E-C!” is that the scheduling format being proposed to allow for that, the so-called “1-7 plan,” would be wildly unsatisfying.
That proposal, with each SEC team playing only one permanent rival with seven rotating foes each season, would do away with far too many rivalry games of the kind that need to be played every season.
The desire to maintain more of the traditional SEC rivalries as annual occurrences plus the perceived preference of SEC financial patron ESPN for more broadcast inventory of league games is why I believe a nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule set up on a “3-6 format” — three permanent foes, six rotating — is all but inevitable.
If that proves true, which three of the other Southeastern Conference teams should UK want as its permanent foes?
Media opinions of who Kentucky’s three permanent rivals would be if Greg Sankey and Co. adopt the “3-6 scheduling format” have been varied.
— Ross Dellenger of SI.com projected UK’s “permanent three” would be Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi State.
— Chip Patterson of CBSSports.com sees Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt as UK’s annual rivals.
— Blake Toppmeyer of the USA Today Network chose Florida, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt for UK.
— Michael W. Bratton — known on Twitter as “SEC Mike” — projected Mississippi, Tennessee and Vanderbilt to be Kentucky’s annual SEC rivals.
For my money, UK should advocate for the following three permanent opponents:
— Tennessee. Given the one-sided nature of the border series between UK and UT — the Volunteers lead 83-26-9 — it seems fair to say that no entity in the recorded history of mankind has caused more distress for sports fans in the commonwealth than the Volunteers football program.
Yet, in all sports, Tennessee is the one SEC opponent that most animates the Kentucky fan base. In recent years, as UK under Mark Stoops has gotten better at football and UT under Rick Barnes has gotten stronger at men’s basketball, there has been more juice in the rivalry between the Big Blue and the Big Orange than any time since the 1970s.
It’s hard to assess what Tennessee’s agenda will be in terms of potential SEC scheduling alterations, but Kentucky should fight to have the Volunteers be one of UK’s permanent opponents.
— Vanderbilt. When I unscientifically polled Kentucky basketball fans last summer in the context of which SEC programs they wanted as UK’s permanent men’s hoops foes once Oklahoma and Texas arrive, Vandy, to my surprise, was the second choice after Tennessee.
The city of Nashville is an easy drive from the commonwealth of Kentucky. It’s an attractive place to visit, and Vanderbilt Stadium tends to be a venue where a lot of UK fans from the western part of the commonwealth can see the Wildcats.
The all-time series record between Kentucky and Vanderbilt, 48-43-4 in favor of UK, is quite competitive. That’s a bit misleading, in that Vandy went 19-1-2 vs. Kentucky to begin the series in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the Wildcats have gone 47-24-2 vs. the Commodores since then.
Given its explosive population growth of recent times, Metro Nashville has become an increasingly important recruiting hub for UK football. Maintaining a playing presence in that market could be beneficial.
— Missouri. Though a relative newcomer in the SEC, the Tigers have developed an enmity for UK since beginning Southeastern Conference play in 2012. “We don’t like Kentucky,” Mizzou safety Martez Manuel said last summer at SEC Media Days. “I hate that white and blue, I’m not going to lie.”
Kentucky leads its all-time series with Missouri 9-4, and has a 7-4 advantage since the Tigers joined the SEC. Mizzou’s disdain for UK has been fueled by the fact that in three of Kentucky’s victories over Missouri — 2017, 2018 and 2022 — a controversial, late-game officiating call (2018, 2022) or non-call (2017) worked to the Wildcats advantage.
On top of the budding rancor of the UK-Mizzou series, the states of Kentucky and Missouri are contiguous, creating the potential for an enduring rivalry to build.
SEC football at nine league games
If the Southeastern Conference shifts to a “3-6” scheduling format with each league team playing three annual rivals and six rotating opponents from within the conference once Oklahoma and Texas arrive in 2024, what might that look like?
Taking on the challenge, I assigned three permanent foes for each SEC team based on trying to preserve as many existing rivalries as possible while also considering both competitive fairness and geography:
— Alabama: Auburn, LSU, Tennessee.
— Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M.
— Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State.
— Florida: Georgia, LSU, South Carolina.
— Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina.
— Kentucky: Missouri, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
— LSU: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi.
— Mississippi: LSU, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt.
— Mississippi State: Auburn, Mississippi, South Carolina.
— Missouri: Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma.
— Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M.
— South Carolina: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State.
— Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt.
— Texas: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M.
— Texas A&M: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas.
— Vanderbilt: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee.
