You gotta love the SEC. It’s really the only conference where we have passionate fans debating next year’s opponents before this year’s games ever kick off.

The passion across the SEC is what makes college football so great. Hopefully the league figures out a way to preserve all the traditional rivalries when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference while also using those 2 big-name programs to create more great rivalries.

We’ll see how 2024 goes, but there should be plenty of excitement in the coming years as the SEC builds new rivalries.

Now let’s dive into your questions for this week’s Mailbag, starting with a couple about the SEC schedule release:

John:

Obviously Auburn got the worst road draw in the 2024 SEC schedule release, having to go to both Alabama and Georgia. Which team got the worst home draw?

Honorable mentions go to Arkansas (vs. Texas, Ole Miss, LSU and Tennessee), Florida (vs. Kentucky, Ole Miss, LSU and Texas A&M) and Oklahoma (Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee).

But the answer to this question is Vanderbilt. The poor Commodores have to host Texas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama next season. South Carolina looks like the only potential chance to win in that home slate, and that won’t be a gimme at all.

Before y’all get upset in the comments, I acknowledge that literally every SEC schedule is tough. There aren’t any easy wins in the league. Even Vanderbilt won a couple of league games last year.

You have to be at your absolute best every single week in the SEC. That’s what makes the conference so great. It just means more, right?

Cole:

Am I the only Georgia fan not happy with some of the games on Georgia’s schedule for 2024? 1. Mississippi State: played them in Athens in 2017. Played them in Starkville last season. 2. at Ole Miss: played them in Oxford in 2016. Play them this year in Athens. 3. Why no LSU? We haven’t played them since 2013 in Athens, and we played in Baton Rouge in 2018. 4. Why no Texas A&M? Georgia is the only SEC team not to play in College Station. We’re playing at Texas first before A&M? I understand the game at Alabama. It wasn’t a true road game in 2020.

The fact that Georgia has yet to play at Texas A&M is one of the most confusing scheduling quirks for any team around the country. It would be like if the Atlanta Falcons just didn’t play the Dallas Cowboys for more than a decade in the NFL. Everyone would think that was weird.

The thing is that it shouldn’t be that hard to rectify. Just schedule a Texas A&M game in College Station against Georgia for 2025 and build the rest of the campaign around that.

My theory is that someone at the SEC office thinks it’s really funny that the Bulldogs haven’t been to College Station yet and is trying to keep the joke going. Watch Texas A&M have to travel to Athens in 2025. I’d bet money on it.

And I’m with you, Cole. I liked watching LSU-Georgia in the SEC Championship Game last season. More matchups between the Tigers and Bulldogs would only make SEC play more exciting.

Let’s hope these sorts of things can be addressed starting with the 2025 SEC schedule (which will probably be released next month at the rate these schedule releases are going).

Jordan:

If you could see 1 nonconference game in 2023 that isn’t currently scheduled, what would it be?

That’s a tough one, but not for the reason you might expect. For example, my initial instinct for this question is to say Georgia-Ohio State – an elite offense vs. one of the best defenses in college football.

But I have a sneaking suspicion that the Buckeyes and Bulldogs will both be in the 4-team College Football Playoff this winter. So would I really want to ruin that potential matchup with a meeting in September?

Thus, my thought process when answering this question is to pick 2 really good teams that aren’t scheduled to play each other already but are also unlikely to meet in the Playoff.

I’ll give you 2 answers – Alabama vs. Washington and USC vs. Texas.

Alabama vs. Washington would be a matchup of a team trying to find a new offensive identity (Alabama) vs. a team with so many returning contributors (Washington). The Huskies have had an offseason marked by incredible stability at the coordinator spots, head coach and offensive skill positions. The Tide have seen waves of change under head coach Nick Saban.

I’d still pick Alabama to win, for the record, but that game would be a ton of fun.

USC vs. Texas is kind of self explanatory. Lincoln Riley vs. his old rivals. Steve Sarkisian vs. his old school. Two historically great programs. Two great quarterbacks. The list goes on and on. I’d absolutely love to see that game.

@Dobbe8:

Who do you have winning the College World Series?

Well, I’m not always great with these predictions, but what the heck. I’ll give it a shot.

I’m going to take the Florida Gators to win it all this year. I like that they don’t have to play either Wake Forest or LSU in Bracket 1. That’s huge. They should be favored to make it to the final series.

Virginia is no joke, but the Gators should be able to take care of business against TCU and Oral Roberts. If they can beat the Cavaliers on Friday, they have the opportunity to potentially wrap things up in Bracket 1 early and get some rest before playing whoever comes out of the gauntlet that is Bracket 2.

For that reason, I’m going with the Gators. My apologies to Florida fans for jinxing them.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.