After weeks of delays thanks to the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri as its 13th and 14th members, the SEC has finally released its 2012 conference schedule.
Next year’s league slate will open with South Carolina traveling to Vanderbilt on opening weekend Aug. 30, while the two newest members will be one of a handful of games to close out the season Nov. 24, with Mizzou traveling to College Station to take on the Aggies. Alabama and Florida are the only schools that will face both Mizzou (SEC East) and A&M (SEC West) in their inaugural SEC season.
Mizzou will open SEC play with a home game against Georgia Sept. 8, while the Aggies’ first game in their new conference will be a home game the same day against Florida.
Interestingly, the Texas A&M-Arkansas game is still listed as a neutral site contest. Reports had surfaced in recent days that the Aggies-Razorbacks series, played in Cowboys Stadium the past three years, was in danger of being moved from the NFL venue to the respective school’s campuses because it was falling short financially. Of course, the listing as a neutral site game could be merely a matter of the two schools working to get out from under a 10-year contract with seven years remaining on it.
“Officially the Aggies will be the home team against Arkansas at a site to be determined at this point,” an A&M spokesperson told Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News.
For the second straight season, 2011 SEC East champion Georgia will avoid both Alabama and LSU. Instead, the Bulldogs’ two cross-divisional games will be against Ole Miss and Auburn to close out conference play. According to Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News, UGA will have “the easiest SEC schedule based on opponents’ 2011 overall records (.500).”
Coming off a winless 2011 season in conference play and with a new head coach in Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss has an absolutely brutal 2012 league schedule: all eight of their SEC opponents will play in bowl games this season, and they will take road trips to Alabama, LSU, Arkansas and Georgia -- the top four teams in the conference this past season. Solomon notes that the Rebels will have the toughest schedule in the conference based on this year’s records. Good luck with that, Coach Freeze.
The press release notes that the 2012 schedule is not based on any other previous or future scheduling formats. The SEC athletic directors will convene in Spring 2012 to begin formulating scheduling principles for the 2013 season and beyond.
“The SEC transition team and our athletic directors did a great job with significant logistical challenges in a short time frame in developing the 2012 football conference schedule,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive. “The ability to come together for the conference is what makes the SEC so strong and that was evident yet again in this process.”
After the jump you’ll find the complete school-by-school 2012 schedule:
ALABAMA
Sept. 15: at Arkansas
Sept. 29: OLE MISS
Oct. 13: at Missouri
Oct. 20: at Tennessee
Oct. 27: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Nov. 3: at LSU
Nov. 10: TEXAS A&M
Nov. 24: AUBURN
ARKANSAS
Sept. 15: ALABAMA
Sept. 29: vs. Texas A&M
Oct. 6: at Auburn
Oct. 13: KENTUCKY
Oct. 27: OLE MISS
Nov. 10: at South Carolina
Nov. 17: at Mississippi State
Nov. 24: LSU
AUBURN
Sept. 8: at Mississippi State
Sept. 22: LSU
Oct. 6: ARKANSAS
Oct. 13: at Ole Miss
Oct. 20: at Vanderbilt
Oct. 27: TEXAS A&M
Nov. 10: GEORGIA
Nov. 24: at Alabama
FLORIDA
Sept. 8: at Texas A&M
Sept. 15: at Tennessee
Sept. 22: KENTUCKY
Oct. 6: LSU
Oct. 13: at Vanderbilt
Oct. 20: SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 27: vs. Georgia (Jacksonville)
Nov. 3: MISSOURI
GEORGIA
Sept. 8: at Missouri
Sept. 22: VANDERBILT
Sept. 29: TENNESSEE
Oct. 6: at South Carolina
Oct. 20: at Kentucky
Oct. 27: vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
Nov. 3: OLE MISS
Nov. 10: at Auburn
KENTUCKY
Sept. 22: at Florida
Sept. 29: SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 6: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Oct. 13: at Arkansas
Oct. 20: GEORGIA
Oct. 27: at Missouri
Nov. 3: VANDERBILT
Nov. 24: at Tennessee
LSU
Sept. 22: at Auburn
Oct. 6: at Florida
Oct. 13: SOUTH CAROLINA
Oct. 20: at Texas A&M
Nov. 3: ALABAMA
Nov. 10: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Nov. 17: OLE MISS
Nov. 24: at Arkansas
OLE MISS
Sept. 29: at Alabama
Oct. 6: TEXAS A&M
Oct. 13: AUBURN
Oct. 27: at Arkansas
Nov. 3: at Georgia
Nov. 10: VANDERBILT
Nov. 17: at LSU
Nov. 24: MISSISSIPPI STATE
MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 8: AUBURN
Oct. 6: at Kentucky
Oct. 13: TENNESSEE
Oct. 27: at Alabama
Nov. 3: TEXAS A&M
Nov. 10: at LSU
Nov. 17: ARKANSAS
Nov. 24: at Ole Miss
MISSOURI
Sept. 8: GEORGIA
Sept. 22: at South Carolina
Oct. 6: VANDERBILT
Oct. 13: ALABAMA
Oct. 27: KENTUCKY
Nov. 3: at Florida
Nov. 10: at Tennessee
Nov. 24: at Texas A&M
SOUTH CAROLINA
Aug. 30: at Vanderbilt
Sept. 22: MISSOURI
Sept. 29: at Kentucky
Oct. 6: GEORGIA
Oct. 13: at LSU
Oct. 20: at Florida
Oct. 27: TENNESSEE
Nov. 10: ARKANSAS
TENNESSEE
Sept. 15: FLORIDA
Sept. 29: at Georgia
Oct. 13: at Mississippi State
Oct. 20: ALABAMA
Oct. 27: at South Carolina
Nov. 10: MISSOURI
Nov. 17: at Vanderbilt
Nov. 24: KENTUCKY
TEXAS A&M
Sept. 8: FLORIDA
Sept. 29: vs. Arkansas
Oct. 6: at Ole Miss
Oct. 20: LSU
Oct. 27: at Auburn
Nov. 3: at Mississippi State
Nov. 10: at Alabama
Nov. 24: MISSOURI
VANDERBILT
Aug. 30: SOUTH CAROLINA
Sept. 22: at Georgia
Oct. 6: at Missouri
Oct. 13: FLORIDA
Oct. 20: AUBURN
Nov. 3: at Kentucky
Nov. 10: at Ole Miss
Nov. 17: TENNESSEE