SEC football schedule 2020: Florida vs. FSU, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech among rivalry games eliminated

Four historic intrastate rivalries are among the games lost by the SEC's scheduling decision

By David Cobb

Jul 30, 2020 at 6:01 pm ET • 2 min read

USATSI

The SEC had already lost a few nonconference games due to scheduling restrictions imposed by other leagues, most notably the Alabama vs. USC game originally scheduled for Sept. 5 in Arlington, Texas. But when the league announced Thursday that it will play a 10-game, conference-only slate in 2020, several SEC teams lost historic rivalry games from their 2020 schedules, including one that has been contested every season for nearly a century.

Georgia and Georgia Tech have played annually since 1925 in a series that includes 109 games dating back to 1893. Georgia leads the all-time series 68-41 and has won the last three meetings. But the series will have to take a hiatus due to the protocols for the 2020 season laid out by the SEC on Thursday.

The league-only schedule will also eliminate three other storied in-state rivalry games: Florida vs. Florida State, South Carolina vs. Clemson and Kentucky vs. Louisville. The ACC approved a "plus-one" plan on Wednesday that allows its schools to play a nonconference game either at home or in-state, meaning the four intrastate games could have been played if the SEC had implemented a similar policy.

But the SEC's announcement on Thursday stressed that playing conference-only games will provide "maximum flexibility" for scheduling adjustments that could be needed.

"It is regrettable that some of our traditional non-conference rivalries cannot take place in 2020 under this plan, but these are unique, and hopefully temporary, circumstances that call for unconventional measures," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in the league's announcement.

Here is the full list of nonconference games eliminated by Thursday's announcement from the SEC:

*denotes a game that had already been canceled due to scheduling restrictions imposed by another league