OXFORD: The funny thing about news is how they can temporarily start to feel like bad news.
The SEC announced Thursday that it will move on to a 10-game football season, at conference, in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the United States. The season, which begins on September 26, will be a race through the toughest and longest SEC challenge that SEC game groups have faced without the built-in breaks of group five matchups and FCS opponents.
The clever news here, of course, is that the SEC plans to play a season in 2020. The bad news? This schedule favors anyone.
“I’ll be honest: for Ole Miss in specific and the scenario we’re in, it’s not a wonderful result from a competitive point of view,” said Ole’s sports director, Miss Keith Carter. “We’re looking for outlets to create a program and outings to generate enthusiasm and all that stuff. In fact, we need to play football and that’s important. But for us, an 8-2 calendar would have been a little strange where to get some games out of the conference.”
Of course, the interests of the Ole Miss box are not important to the grand plan of making sure the season unfolds. That’s why Carter said he and football coach Lane Kiffin should be “team players,” even if that means accepting a schedule that can make things harder than ever for Miss Ole.
Playing a season is the ultimate. Determining where the victories will come from is secondary.
Carter spoke face-to-face with the Clarion Ledger on Friday about the SEC’s decision, answering some questions about what to follow. Here’s a breakdown of Carter’s answers.
Carter said he didn’t need to divulge too much data about the SEC’s plan-making process. But he said he knew the league’s workplace over the weekend and discussed “several models” about how to load two SEC war parties on each team’s schedule.
Carter is confident that those decisions can be made within a week.
Ole Miss has finished the normal season in the state of Mississippi in a whole season since 1975. The Egg Bowl is scheduled to play on Thanksgiving night in 2020. Which, due to the delay in the start of the season, may not be The Last Weekend of the season.
So what’s going on?
Carter said he hasn’t had any express conversations about the game with the SEC or Mississippi State AD John Cohen yet, but anticipates that there will be some care to make sure the game maintains its special appeal.
“This game is so vital at the end of the season and is scheduled for Thanksgiving night,” Carter said. “I think it will continue but we will continue to have those conversations. In fact, we’ll do whatever we want to do to make the season happen.”
Different meetings have adopted other programming approaches by 2020. The ACC, for example, allowed its groups to schedule a game outside the conference this year, provided the game was played at the school house.
The SEC has chosen not to adopt a similar model. As Carter explained, it’s about flexibility and control.
“It was about cutting the variables of the equations,” Carter said. “This is at the end where all classified ads are at the same wavelength. We need to play. But we also need to make sure that we have the most flexibility than if we encounter obstacles along the way or if there are disruptions along the way. so, we can rotate and make sure we have features to finish.”
Carter said he had had talks Thursday with sports administrators from the four schools that Miss Ole intended to play on the off-conference program this year. These conversations were productive and Carter said a primary purpose is to find a place to put those groups back on Miss Ole’s calendar in the future.
However, it is a confusing puzzle to tackle. Let’s take the canceled ole Miss setting opposite Baylor, for example. Carter said that he and Baylor AD Mack Rhoades had productive conversations about the pandemic and would like to find an impartial replacement game on site or a series of houses for the Rebels and Bears.
But it’s not that easy. Ole Miss has a Power Five convention game reserved every year until 2027. Baylor has a Power Five or FBS Independent convention game booked every year until 2028. Accepting to play long-term means scheduling the game a decade to advance. or agrees to have a very complicated year of plans.
“We’re definitely going to continue the verbal exchange there and we can put a game on the time chart in the future,” Carter said.
With respect to contracts for up to $3.35 million in guaranteed cash that Ole Miss is expected to pay its non-conference parties to the conference, Carter said the conditions had not yet been resolved.
“I know we need to continue to have conversations to include them in our long-term calendar and we will continue to do so,” Carter said. “But in terms of the real main points of the contracts and how they will be carried out, we are still on that.”
There are two schools of ideas to start with, starting this season in the middle of the pandemic. The first is to get the season started as soon as possible to give you time to catch up if the first contests are canceled. The other is to delay the get get get stadededed from the season to expect possible spikes when academics return to campus to expect to succeed over the additional dangers before you get get get get stadededed out of the season.
The SEC opted for the latter.
“Our thinking procedure knowing what will happen from early to mid-September, let’s pass it and finish, and then we can start our season a little later and get away from the possible peaks,” Carter said. “At the end of the day, that’s what the day won by delaying the season.”
Although this plan has won and Carter supports it, he acknowledges that it is not a mutual benefit to Ole Miss.
“We need to do all those things to the variables of the equation and help our league have a sustained season. As Lane and I have talked, this is all we’ll do and we’ll do the best we can. But I’m fine. a challenge. “
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or [email protected]. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.