2019 SEC Media Days: 5 things for Vols fans to focus on

4. Will the SEC ever add another conference game?

This has consistently been a debate with the league, and it won’t change at 2019 SEC Media Days. Right now, there is one yearly rival from the opposite division for every team in the league and then they play every other team on a rotating basis. Meanwhile, they play everybody in their own division.

As a result, they only play eight games and can only see some teams once every six years. It’s also highly unfair for the Tennessee Vols, who face the Alabama Crimson Tide every year, and even schools like the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs, who face the LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers every year.

The question out there is if the conference will expand to nine games, as the Big Ten has done. In some ways, the good with that outweighs the bad. Assuming they’d still require every school to play a Power Five non-conference opponent, this is an extra conference game to replace a meaningless non-conference game, meaning added revenue for the league.

It also means, specifically when it comes to competing for conference championships, there is a more even playing field given the disparities in cross-divisional rivalries right now. However, it could also decrease the chances of a team making the College Football Playoff as they beat each other up more, and that could also reduce the number of bowl eligible SEC teams.

This year, for instance, the Vols may get an unfair break with Alabama. But they have a very easy non-conference schedule. Considering the fact that the SEC title is not in play for them in 2019, they’d rather have the unfair West advantage and four easier non-conference games to reach bowl eligibility. So this is an intriguing issue and one worth paying further attention to.