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SEC Football: Ranking the top 5 conference matchups in 2024

By Patrick Previty

COLLEGE STATION, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Justin Tucker #19 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with teammates after kicking the winning field goal as time expired in the second half of a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on November 24, 2011 in College Station, Texas. Texas won the game, 27-25. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images)
COLLEGE STATION, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Justin Tucker #19 of the Texas Longhorns celebrates with teammates after kicking the winning field goal as time expired in the second half of a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on November 24, 2011 in College Station, Texas. Texas won the game, 27-25. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma and Texas are more than a year away from joining SEC football, but many questions about how the conference will look continue to persist.

Most concerns pertain to how the SEC will choose to schedule the new 16-team conference, and on Wednesday night, those questions were answered.

Ranking the Top 5 SEC football conference matchups in 2024

Here are the things to know:

Divisions are gone, no more SEC East and SEC West.

It will loosen up the scheduling restrictions and hopefully give a better championship game that is between the best two teams in the conference (although that hasn’t exactly been a problem in recent years with the rise of Georgia).

There will still only be eight conference games.

To the chagrin of many fans from other conferences, the SEC decided in spring meetings to stick at eight, and now that is confirmed. Maybe it will change to nine in 2025, but for now it remains at eight.

Adding two teams, getting rid of divisions, and opting to keep eight conference games could have spelled danger for some rivalries. But the new schedule confirms that Alabama-Tennessee, Georgia-Florida, and Mississippi-Mississippi State among others are left unharmed.

Every team currently in the conference will play either Texas or Oklahoma in 2024. Also, no team will play the same team on the road in consecutive years.

With all of the developments happening in the SEC football world, it seemed like a perfect time to rank—and dive a bit deeper—into the best matchups on the 2024 slate.

Admittedly, the list favors the angle of new teams joining the conference, so consider yourself warned.

Honorable Mentions

Oklahoma vs Texas

In an “old” Big-12 game between two programs trying to adjust to life in a new world, fans will be happy to see this “old-timey” matchup. A change from the ‘breath of fresh air’ that will be the 2024 college football season.

Texas at Arkansas

The Longhorns may not consider this a rivalry, but the Razorbacks sure do. Having played regularly from 1932 to 1991, there is a rich history that can be rekindled with Texas joining the SEC.

Alabama at LSU

A staple of the last 15 or so years in the SEC. This game has brought so much drama, heartbreak, and stakes to a rivalry that nobody seems to acknowledge is really good until the week leading up to the game. Well, with Brian Kelly in town at LSU, the prestige of this matchup will continue to rise in the years to come and it’s nice to see it continue into 2024.

Oklahoma at Missouri

Oklahoma will be Missouri’s most played team in the SEC come 2024. The rivalry includes 96 total meetings, and among their last 5 includes two Big 12 Championship Games and one upset defeat over a No. 1 ranked Sooner team.

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