Some Southeastern Conference coaches were not happy about the SEC football slate.
Last week’s updated SEC football schedule upset a lot of analysts and fans. Tennessee football had one of the most upset bases, as the Vols added two preseason Top 25 teams, the Auburn Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies, from the West while already facing the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Arkansas Razorbacks, the projected worst team in the West, had the biggest reason to be upset, as they are the projected worst team in the West and added the top two teams from the East, the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs. That made no sense.
Differences in scheduling led to many SEC football coaches reportedly expressing frustration. Pete Thamel of Yahoo tweeted out that at least five coaches in the league displayed that attitude on a Thursday call.
Sources: The SEC coaches call on Thursday became contentious. At least five SEC coaches expressed frustration over the lack of transparency regarding the inability to produce a "formula" for how the two additional league opponents were chosen.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 14, 2020
Arkansas’s tough schedule didn’t make Eliah Drinkwitz the only coach worthy of complaining. Honestly, teams who got the easiest draws made provided other teams competing to win their respective divisions legitimate grievances as well.
Georgia and Alabama, the two projected favorites to play for the SEC Championship, mysteriously drew the easiest slates from their divisions. Georgia drew the Hogs and Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Alabama drew the Kentucky Wildcats and Missouri Tigers while already slated to play the Vols and South Carolina Gamecocks.
Taking that into account, Florida’s Dan Mullen and the LSU Tigers’ Ed Orgeron had great reason to be upset. Heck, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn could voice criticism as well. If the Vols somehow become a surprise and compete in the East, Jeremy Pruitt could have gotten in on the action.
So far, we have named Drinkwitz, Mullen, Orgeron, Fisher, Malzahn and Pruitt as SEC football coaches with rights to express their frustration. The tweet reported at least five coaches, and it’s likely there’s lots of crossover. What’s clear, though, is that the way the league threw this slate together is very suspicious.