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SEC adopts 10-game, conference-only schedule for 2020

The SEC schedule will be a fury road to the depths of Valhalla.

By Grayson Weir and One Man To Beat Updated
NCAA Football: Mississippi at Missouri Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Southeastern Conference presidents have approved a 10-game, conference-only schedule for the 2020 football season. This decision comes after much deliberation and uncertainty amidst the fallout from the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Per the agreement, the season will begin on September 26th, three weeks after the original start date of Labor Day Weekend and conclude with an SEC title game on December 19th, two weeks after the original December 5th date. The schedule will include one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on December 12 for all schools.

“We believe these schedule adjustments offer the best opportunity to complete a full season by giving us the ability to adapt to the fluid nature of the virus and the flexibility to adjust schedules as necessary if disruptions occur,” said conference commissioner Greg Sankey. “It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures.”

Ole Miss previously had non-conference games scheduled against Baylor, Southeast Missouri, Georgia Southern and Connecticut. The Baylor game was set for kick-off in the Houston Texans’ NRG Stadium in the 2020 Texas Kickoff.

Should the Rebels’ current in-conference opponents and locations remain the same, the Rebels will play Auburn, at LSU, Alabama, at Vanderbilt, Florida, at Texas A&M, at Arkansas and Mississippi State, along with two other SEC teams to round out the COVID-19 revised schedule. Details are uncertain as to how individual program schedules will shake out at this time, but a scheduling model composed by the league office using strength of schedule will determine the two additional opponents for 2020, per Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.

This being Lane Kiffin’s first season in Oxford, the excitement for the start of his tenure will most likely be met with one of the toughest schedules in decades.

Stay tuned to The Cup for updates as more details are announced.