As 2023 ends an era in SEC football, can anyone derail the Georgia juggernaut?
Whatever happens on the fields of play in 2023, the coming season will be the end of an era on multiple fronts in Southeastern Conference football.
The 2023 campaign will be the last season in which:
▪ The SEC is divided into East and West divisions;
▪ There are 14 teams in the league;
▪ The college football national champion will be decided in a four-team playoff;
▪ And the best SEC game of each week will be telecast by CBS.
As Bob Dylan might put it, the times, they are a-changin’.
Starting with the 2024 season, the Southeastern Conference will be division-free. The two berths in the league title game will go to the top two finishers in the 16-team, regular-season standings.
Next season’s long-awaited additions of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 will bring the number of SEC teams to 16.
A 12-team playoff will determine the national champ.
And the SEC’s media rights will be held in their entirety by ESPN/ABC. As a result, the 3:30 slot on CBS on Saturday afternoons — long the home of the most-high profile SEC action — will become part of the Big Ten television package.
That switch means the Big Ten will also inherit the iconic theme song that has long introduced SEC action on CBS.
All of those coming changes for 2024 means the 2023 SEC football season will carry the feel of “one more time for old times sake.”
Here are some of the stories to watch:
Farewell to divisions
In 2023, four SEC teams are down to their final chances to win a division crown.
It has been 31 seasons since the SEC split into six-team East and West divisions with the arrivals of South Carolina and Arkansas in 1992. The SEC stayed with the divisional format after the entry of Missouri and Texas A&M in 2012 pushed both the East and West to seven teams.
All-time in the East, Florida has claimed the division title 13 times, followed by Georgia (10), Tennessee (five), Missouri (two) and South Carolina (one). Kentucky and Vanderbilt have never won the division crown.
For the West, Alabama has won 14 division titles, followed by LSU (seven), Auburn (six), Arkansas (three) and Mississippi State (one). Mississippi and Texas A&M have never won the division crown.
In the 31 previous SEC championship games, the West Division champ has won 18 times vs. 13 victories for the East. Alabama has won the SEC Championship Game 10 times, followed by Florida (seven), LSU (five), Georgia (four), Auburn (three) and Tennessee (two).
New faces as OCs
One area in which change has already swept the SEC is at offensive coordinator. Of the 14 schools in the league in 2023, 10 will have new OCs.
Only Florida, LSU, Mississippi and Vanderbilt will not start the season with a new offensive coordinator — and all four of those schools have second-year OCs.
At least three of the new SEC play-callers in 2023 are going back to the future.
1. New Georgia OC Mike Bobo held the same job under ex-Bulldogs head man Mark Richt from 2007-14.
2. The incoming Arkansas offensive coordinator, Dan Enos, also ran the Razorbacks offense when Bret Bielema was coach from 2015-2017.
3. Kentucky’s new offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, is also UK’s old OC. After calling the plays for Mark Stoops in 2021 as UK went 10-3, Coen held the offensive coordinator title on the staff of Los Angeles Rams head man Sean McVay last year. Kentucky slipped to 7-6, and Coen was lured back.
At least three of the new SEC OCs figure to be among the most scrutinized coaches in the country in 2023.
1. The former head coach at Louisville, Arkansas, Western Kentucky, Louisville (again) and Missouri State plus the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Bobby Petrino was brought in to revitalize a Texas A&M offense widely perceived to have gone stale with head man Jimbo Fisher calling plays.
2. Tommy Rees, a former Notre Dame quarterback, left the OC job at his alma mater to take the same position working under Nick Saban at Alabama. Whoever ultimately claims the Crimson Tide starting quarterback job vacated by Bryce Young, the pressure will be on Rees to promptly get the new QB up to speed.
3. Mississippi State’s Kevin Barbay is not only following the late Mike Leach as MSU’s play-caller, he is replacing the Air Raid attack synonymous with “The Pirate” with a more conventinal, pro-style attack.
Coaches on the hot seat
1. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M. After Texas A&M boosters were perceived to have opened the financial spigot via name, image and likeness provisions to bring in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022, the Aggies responded by going 5-7 last season.
Even though his contract buyout is said to be well in excess of $70 million, Fisher is coaching at a school that could likely raise the money to make that payment in a snap — if A&M does not make a substantial step upward in 2023.
2. Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri. Through three seasons as Mizzou head man, Drinkwitz (17-19) has actually fared worse overall than the coach he replaced, Barry Odom (25-25), did in his four seasons leading the Tigers’ program.
Though Drinkwitz’s contract buyout if fired after this season, $19.875 million, would be a heavy lift for Mizzou, this at the least feels like a year in which Drinkwitz needs to produce his first winning season at Missouri
3. Billy Napier, Florida. Coming off a 6-7 debut on the Gators sideline in 2022, Napier is only entering his second season in Gainesville. Barring a complete competitive collapse, it would behoove Florida to give its coach more time to rebuild a program that has gone 20-18 over the past three seasons under ex-Florida coach Dan Mullen and Napier.
Gators backers, however, have long since grown impatient with UF football’s recent mediocrity. This is another school where a relatively large coaching buyout — it would take a payout of just under $32 million to fire Napier without cause after the 2023 season — would be surmountable if it actually came to that.
Bye to the four-team playoff
Eleven SEC teams are down to their final chance to ever play in the four-team College Football Playoff.
In the nine prior seasons in which the four-team College Football Playoff has been deployed to choose the national champion, three SEC teams have combined to win it all six times.
Under the four-team playoff format, Alabama has claimed three national titles (2015, 2017 and 2020), Georgia has won the championship twice (2021 and 2022) and LSU once (2019).
Of the nine previous seasons with four teams in the playoff, there have been 36 playoff slots available. The SEC has filled 11 of those:
At seven times, Alabama has made it more than any other program in the country. Georgia (three times) and LSU (once) are the only other SEC teams to appear in the four-team playoff.
Among non-Southeastern Conference schools, the most appearances in the four-team playoff have been made by Clemson (six), Ohio State (five), Oklahoma (four), Michigan (twice) and Notre Dame (twice).
Cincinnati, Florida State, Michigan State, Oregon, TCU and Washington have all made one appearance in the four-team playoff.
‘Chalky’ predictions
▪ Georgia will win the SEC East; Alabama wins the West.
▪ Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs will defeat Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.
▪ Georgia, Southern Cal, Michigan and Ohio State will make the CFP.
▪ The Bulldogs will become the first team since Minnesota in 1934, 1935 and 1936 to win three straight national championships at college football’s top level.
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