Who’s in the SEC? Explaining conference realignment, new schedules and more

When you think of major college football, you think of the SEC. It just means more in that part of the country. I know that to be true because not only am I from there, but I went to one of its flagship institutions at the University of Georgia from 2008 to 2012. Professional sports eventually made it to the Southeastern United States with the advent of air conditioning, but college sports reign supreme.

Just when we got used to former Big 12 teams Missouri and Texas A&M being a part of this league for well over a decade, the SEC gained two more former member institutions of that league in the form of Oklahoma and Texas. Adding Missouri and Texas A&M were all about adding media markets during the 2010s cable boom. Now adding Oklahoma and Texas were all about strengthening the top of it.

So what I am going to do today is outline all the major wholesale changes impacting the SEC this season. Whether it be new members coming in, former coaches going out, new head coaches coming in or antiquated divisions going out of style, I have you covered. Some of this you may already know. However, I am certain you can learn something here, as I mostly certainly did putting it together.

Let's start with the active membership of the Southeastern Conference. There are two new members.

Current SEC membership

Here is a table outlining all 16 SEC member institutions, the year they joined and their home stadium.

New SEC members

The SEC has expanded three times in its history. After losing a trio of teams before the 1970s, the SEC went from a 10-team league to a 12-team league in 1992 with the additions of Arkansas and South Carolina. It added two more teams in 2012 with Missouri and Texas A&M coming aboard. For this season, the SEC expanded from 14 to 16 teams with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas.

Former SEC members

To date, only three schools have left the SEC. Those are Georgia Tech, Sewanee and Tulane. Sewanee was the first to leave in 1940 after only being a member institution for eight years. The Tigers would deemphasized college athletics soon thereafter. It would take until the 1960s for the Yellow Jackets and then the Green Wave to leave the league. Both did so for far different reasons than did Sewanee.

Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1964 because of a disagreement with the league's recruiting and scholarship regulations. The Yellow Jackets wanted more control to stop practices like overrecruiting, something Paul "Bear" Bryant was notorious for at Alabama. Bobby Dodd pulled Georgia Tech from the SEC. They were an independent in football until joining the ACC in 1978.

Tulane departed from the SEC a few years later in 1966. The Green Wave left the league for similar reasons as Sewanee for having a difficult time keeping pace with the public universities as a private institution. The Greenies did deemphasize college athletics to some degree but have been a competitor at the FBS level throughout. They are currently among the notable members of the AAC.

SEC divisions

As of this season, the SEC no longer has divisions. The league used to have two seven-team divisions known as the SEC East and the SEC West. With the additions of Oklahoma and Texas, the league abolished divisions to help create more scheduling and competitive balances. In the 30-something years with divisions, the East and West battled for supremacy, but the West won out.

How the SEC schedule works

Scheduling rules

Admittedly, the SEC is in a bit of transition when it comes to schedule. Despite adding Oklahoma and Texas to the mix, the league will still play an eight-game conference schedule this year and next. While the SEC did do away with divisions ahead of this season, every team's primary rivalry was maintained, as well as a few other elite secondary rivalries that the league would be dumb to lose.

In order to do that, every SEC team will play the same conference opponents as this year next fall, but the venue will flip. Whoever a team played at home in SEC play in 2024 will be played on the road in 2025, and vice versa. Neutral-site rivalry games like Arkansas-Texas A&M, Florida-Georgia and Oklahoma-Texas will be played at their same venues of note with the designated home team flipped.

Upcoming schedules

Here is what the 2024 regular season schedule looks like for all 16 SEC members for this season.

And here is who every SEC team will be playing in conference play ahead of next season in 2025.

SEC Championship Game tiebreakers

Tie-breaking criteria in order

With there being no divisions in the SEC anymore, we must prepare for new tie-breaking procedures to determine each team's final place in the conference stadings, and who gets to play in Atlanta.

Here are the SEC tie-breaking procedures listed in order by what is most important down to the least:

1. Head-to-head result when it comes to tied teams.
2. Overall record vs. common conference opponents among the tied teams.
3. Record vs. highest-placed common conference opponent, continuing through conference standings among said tied teams.
4. Cumulative conference winning percentage when it comes to all conference opponents among tied teams. (Think strength of schedule).
5. Scoring margin vs. all conference opponents among tied teams.
6. A random draw of tied teams in the end...

This is the one downside to not having divisions anymore in the SEC. These tiebreakers are a doozy...

If you want to run through a series of scenarios for the 2024 SEC football season, check this out.

SEC head coaches

Here is a list of every SEC head coach, what team they lead and for how long they have been doing it.

New SEC head coaches

There are five head coaches new to the SEC this year. Two are coming over from the Big 12 with Oklahoma and Texas joining the league. There are three others who are new to their current team.

Coming over from the Big 12 are Brent Venables at Oklahoma and Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Venables has been leading the Sooners since 2022. Prior to that, he was the long-time defensive coordinator for Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Venables was the long-time defensive coordinator at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops prior to his Clemson run. He has been in Norman in different roles from 1999 until 2011.

Sarkisian is entering his fourth season as the face of the Texas football program. Prior to taking over the Longhorns in 2021, he was the former Alabama offensive coordinator under Nick Saban. He has also served in that role with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Prior to initially coming to Alabama back in 2016, Sarkisian was the head coach at USC from 2014-15, as well as at Washington from 2009-13.

There are three brand-new head coaches in the SEC this season. That would be Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State and Mike Elko at Texas A&M. DeBoer most recently was the head coach at Washington. Lebby was the offensive coordinator on Venables' staff at Oklahoma. Elko returns to Texas A&M after a great two-year run as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils in the ACC.

Former SEC head coaches

With Kalen DeBoer, Mike Elko and Jeff Lebby taking over at Alabama, Mississippi State and Texas A&M respectively, that means three former SEC coaches are no longer in the league. DeBoer replaced Nick Saban, who retired from coaching and is now a college football analyst on ESPN. Lebby replaced Zach Arnett, who is now a defensive analyst for Lane Kiffin over at Ole Miss after he failed.

As for Elko, he replaces his former head coach from when he was the Aggies' brilliant defensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. Fisher received the largest buyout in college football history, as Texas A&M is paying him a whopping $77.5 million to no longer coach football games for them. He is laying low this season, potentially looking at what other Power Four jobs could open up around Thanksgiving.

SEC in the rankings

Preseason AP poll

Here is a list of every SEC team ranked inside the top 25 in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll:

• 1. Georgia Bulldogs (1,532 votes, 46 first-place votes)
• 4. Texas Longhorns (1,386 votes)
• 5. Alabama Crimson Tide (1,260 votes)
• 6. Ole Miss Rebels (1,189 votes)
• 11. Missouri Tigers (927 votes)
• 13. LSU Tigers (804 votes)
• 15. Tennessee Volunteers (629 votes)
• 16. Oklahoma Sooners (566 votes)
• 20. Texas A&M Aggies (292 votes)

And here is a list of every unranked SEC team that received at least one vote in the AP Poll:

• Kentucky Wildcats (3 votes)
• Auburn Tigers (2 votes)

Preseason coaches poll

Here is every SEC team that was ranked in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll:

• 1. Georgia Bulldogs (1,364 points, 46 first-place votes)
• 4. Texas Longhorns (1,223 points, 1 first-place vote)
• 5. Alabama Crimson Tide (1,077 points)
• 6. Ole Miss Rebels (1,019 points)
• 11. Missouri Tigers (808 points)
• 12. LSU Tigers (742 points)
• 15. Tennessee Volunteers (621 points)
• 16. Oklahoma Sooners (609 points)
• 20. Texas A&M Aggies (273 points)

And here is every other SEC team that received at least one vote in the US LBM Coaches Poll:

• Auburn Tigers (25 points)
• Kentucky Wildcats (12 points)
• Florida Gators (11 points)
• South Carolina Gamecocks (10 points)

SEC media poll

This is how the SEC media voted in terms of who will win the conference championship in 2024:

• Georgia Bulldogs (165 votes)
• Texas Longhorns (27 votes)
• Alabama Crimson Tide (12 votes)
• Ole Miss Rebels (4 votes)
• Vanderbilt Commodores (2 votes)
• LSU Tigers (2 votes)
• Souh Carolina Gamecocks (1 vote)

And here is the projected order of finish, based on how the SEC media voted on it while in Dallas:

1. Georgia Bulldogs (3,330 points)
2. Texas Longhorns (3,041 points)
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (2,891 points)
4. Ole Miss Rebels (2,783 points)
5. LSU Tigers (2,322 points)
6. Missouri Tigers (2,240 points)
7. Tennessee Volunteers (2,168 points)
8. Oklahoma Sooners (2,022 points)
9. Texas A&M Aggies (1,684 points)
10. Auburn Tigers (1,382 points)
11. Kentucky Wildcats (1,371 points)
12. Florida Gators (1,146 points)
13. South Carolina Gamecocks (923 points)
14. Arkansas Razorbacks (749 points)
15. Mississippi State Bulldogs (623 points)
16. Vanderbilt Commodores (293 points)

Now that you have this information, you have some SEC football games to watch, so go enjoy them!