Despite all these months of speculation about what the 2025 Southeastern Conference football schedule would appear to be, apparently all we had to do was do what the SEC did:
Just take the 2024 schedule, flip it over and voila! Welcome to 2025.
On Wednesday, the SEC released a schedule that is the exact opposite of the 2024 plan, which in fact includes Oklahoma and Texas and eliminates divisional play. Whichever team plays at home in 2024 will play away in 2025 and vice versa.
For LSU, that means Arkansas, Texas A&M, Florida and South Carolina at home; Alabama, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt are on the way in which.
It’s an Occam’s razor approach to planning: the only solution is almost at all times one of the best. So go for 2.
LSU vs. Texas? Still nothing, despite the fact that the Longhorns were scheduled to come to Tiger Stadium in 2020 to complete their non-conference series at home against LSU. The Tigers went there in 2019, but in fact the pandemic prompted the SEC to switch to a 10-game, all-conference schedule and that marquee game disappeared. The Longhorns still have not played at Tiger Stadium since 1953, which is a ridiculously very long time for 2 traditional powers from neighboring states.
There are some cool things on the schedule. LSU will play Oklahoma State for the primary time ever in football. If you’ve got been lamenting that Florida will not be LSU’s regular opponent because it has been since 1971, that may be dismissed, together with the Saints’ annual salary cap woes. The series against Texas A&M, arguably one in all LSU’s regular opponents in a divisive world, also continues uninterrupted.
The road schedule includes three potentially tough tests for LSU at Bama, Ole Miss and OU and one trip at Vanderbilt. If you could have to go on tour within the SEC, you would like to go to Nashville, benefit from the music, and take a straightforward “W.”
Once again, there is no Auburn, formerly one in all LSU’s most fascinating annual rivalries, nor Mississippi State, the varsity’s LSU has played more football than anyone else and is its closest geographic rival. This is also one other regular season through which LSU bypasses Georgia, currently the SEC’s top program. You may or may not prefer it, but avoiding the Bulldogs increases LSU’s possibilities of reaching the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff in the following two years.
But it’s still not a long-term solution, especially for schools like LSU that have lobbied to expand the offer to nine SEC games. This is one other season with 4 non-conference games. LSU has only scheduled three thus far – at Clemson, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky. At this late date, LSU will likely have to find one other win, which suggests one other weak crowd at Tiger Stadium for a game that doesn’t move the needle.
Fitting more pizza into the schedule is the goal of the nine-game SEC schedule. It’s also about making extra money from ESPN/ABC/Disney, which locked down SEC television rights with a recent deal starting this fall before Texas and OU agreed to join the league. ESPN is under no obligation to pay a cent more for a 16-team SEC, adding two huge franchises, than it did for a 14-team SEC. This is definitely a consider planning… inertia.
Will the SEC eventually play nine games? People like LSU athletic director Scott Woodward have at all times thought so. As time goes on, I’m not so sure about that anymore, especially if there is no satisfactory solution to the TV rights issue.
Beyond that, there is still no set format for an eight-game schedule. The 2024 schedule and the reverse 2025 schedule were simply put together, with some consideration for regional and traditional competition. Bama-Auburn, LSU-Ole Miss, Texas-OU, etc. Each school could play either Texas or Oklahoma.
The next two seasons bring the SEC no closer to developing a everlasting plan. With eight matches under his belt, he has long assumed one everlasting opponent and 7 rotational opponents. That’s great for Bama-Auburn and Florida-Georgia, but where does that leave LSU? Maybe with Arkansas, possibly with A&M if Texas and OU proceed to play in Dallas yearly like I’m sure they need to. More than one everlasting opponent has never been publicly introduced in eight matches (with nine matches it will be three everlasting and 6 rotating).
The 2025 schedule is form of okay. It’s still SEC football. But it is not because it might be, needs to be and ultimately might be – probably.
