Tucker’s Top Five SEC Matchups to Watch in 2024
By Tucker Harlin
These are the five SEC matchups I’m most looking forward to in 2024.
All of these are nontraditional matchups in the SEC regular season.
1. GEORGIA at ALABAMA
This was an easy choice for the top spot on my list.
Of their eight meetings since the SEC expanded to 14 schools, six of them were either SEC or national championship games.
One of the two regular season meetings was during the shortened 2020 season, so the 2015 meeting was the only one in front of a capacity crowd on one of the campuses.
Georgia and Alabama playing in the regular season helps with parity in a division-less SEC. It decreases the odds of a rematch in the SEC or national championship, which is good for the conference and the sport.
This matchup could have large implications on the future of the SEC.
Should Alabama win, the SEC should be aware that the Alabama dynasty isn’t dead. If Georgia wins, then the league may officially see a changing of the guard at the top.
2. GEORGIA at TEXAS
Although I’m not looking forward to this one quite as much as Georgia at Alabama, this could be the best overall game on this list.
Texas has very loudly come into the SEC, fresh off a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff appearance.
The last time these two met, Bevo almost killed Uga in a pregame meeting of the mascots, and that was a harbinger of things to come.
It most certainly appeared Texas was “back” last season, but a win over Georgia in its first season in the SEC might solidify that claim.
3. TENNESSEE at OKLAHOMA
Between the SEC openers for Oklahoma and Texas, this one was by far the most interesting of the two.
For one, you have two second year quarterbacks facing off in Nico Iamaleava and Jackson Arnold. This is a game that can shape their futures in their respective programs.
Tests like this early in the season can either shut or open doors later on in the year depending on the result.
Tennessee will have seen NC State by this point, but Oklahoma’s best foe at this point will either be Houston or Tulane, both of which are rebuilding.
4. TEXAS at TEXAS A&M
I couldn’t compile a list of my top five SEC matchups to watch in 2024 without the mention of Texas at Texas A&M.
There’s already some intrigue between the rivals across sports as Jim Schlossnagle left A&M to take the baseball head coaching job at Texas just before the Longhorns joined the SEC.
We’ll have to wait till the end of the year to see it, but everyone who loves college football can agree that a reunion between the rivals after a 12-year hiatus is good for the game.
I don’t think the Aggies will be at their best this season, but rivalries are always unpredictable.
5. OKLAHOMA at LSU
This is another game at the end of the year that could provide some fireworks.
LSU has played a few different foes during rivalry week in the different iterations of the SEC.
The Battle of the Boot is normally an incredible game, but it was traded for Texas A&M in the last week of the season from 2014-2023.
The Tigers are 9-3 against the Aggies since they joined the SEC, all three of those losses coming at Texas A&M under Jimbo Fisher. Only one or two of those games in Death Valley were competitive.
It may not be competitive this season, but a return trip to Oklahoma in 2025 should be a sight to see.
