While not yet officially announced by the Southeastern Conference, Paul Finebaum, host of the “Paul Finebaum Show” on the SEC Network is reporting, citing a source within the conference, on the two games to be added to the 2020 football schedule.
On Thursday afternoon, the SEC announced that due to concerns over spread of COVID-19, the conference will be adjusting to a 10-game schedule for this fall, with each school playing its regularly scheduled six rivals in its division, along with the two previously set teams from the opposite side of the conference. However, to fill out the slate, two additional games with teams in the opposite division will be added.
In the case of Missouri, Finebaum says the teams to be added to the Tigers schedule will be Texas A&M and Auburn, both members of the SEC’s Western Division. It is unclear at this time where each game will be scheduled to be played.
The new schedule eliminates all non-conference games for the SEC, and pushes back the first games until Saturday, September 26th. One mid-season off week will be scheduled for all 14 schools, with the final regular season games on December 5th, and the conference championship game in Atlanta on December 19th. December 12th is being kept as an open week in the scenario that games with need to be made up due to issues coming from the pandemic.
Missouri had been scheduled to play Arkansas at Arrowhead Stadium on Thanksgiving Weekend, but it appears that game will now be played in Columbia, while the Tigers regularly planned cross-over game with the SEC West sends MU to Mississippi State. The only SEC teams not on Missouri’s 2020 schedule will be Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss.
In addition to early reports indicating that Missouri-Arkansas will be moving from Kansas City to the Mizzou campus, Arkansas’ game with Texas A&M, originally scheduled to be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will now be headed to Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. However, Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity and Florida AD Scott Stricklin both have said their goal for the annual Gators/Bulldogs matchup in Jacksonville, Florida is to keep the 2020 game at that neutral site. If the game were to be moved, the Bulldogs would, as the designated home team this year, play the game at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” is currently scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 31st in Jacksonville.
Here is the complete list of the TWO new games to be added to the schedules, according to Finebaum:
Alabama – Florida, Vanderbilt
Auburn – South Carolina, Missouri
Arkansas – Georgia, South Carolina
LSU – Kentucky, Tennessee
Ole Miss – Tennessee, Kentucky
Mississippi State – Vanderbilt, Georgia
Texas A&M – Missouri, Florida
Florida – Alabama, Texas A&M
Georgia – Arkansas, Mississippi State
Kentucky – LSU, Ole Miss
Missouri – Texas A&M, Auburn
South Carolina – Auburn, Arkansas
Tennessee – Ole Miss, LSU
Vanderbilt – Ole Miss, Alabama
