SEC head coaches questioning nine-game conference schedule, per Eli Drinkwitz: “We’re all saying it”

SEC head coaches are questioning the move from eight to nine conference games, according to Missouri’s head football coach Eli Drinkwitz.

A reporter asked Drinkwitz if coaches are having doubts about the move at SEC Media Days.

“We’re all saying it,” Drinkwitz said.  “I think we’re all saying it when we look at our schedules. It’s going to be a real challenge. I think Coach (Lane) Kiffin has been somebody who’s been, whether publicly or privately, been able to kind of— he’s been the one on the forefront even last year in these meetings saying, guys, I don’t think that this is the right play for us. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. We gotta meet those challenges head-on now. I think the one thing that we don’t get enough credit for in the SEC is the challenge of the stadiums that we play in, and the environments that we play in. I think, you know, obviously the FIFA World Cup has done a tremendous job of putting our stadiums on display. And the stadiums they’re playing in, they’re great stadiums, but they’re not comparable to the SEC stadiums that you’re talking about. I mean, I think yesterday FIFA’s World Championship was in front of 80,000. Well, that’s 25,000 short of some of these other stadiums that we play in Death Valley and Athens and in Ben Griffin Hill, I think it’s 88,000. But I mean, Knoxville, that’s a whole different deal. And there’s nothing you can do to remove 20,000 people from a game. That’s a tremendous challenge for anybody to walk into, and hey, we gotta play Starkville at night this year with those cowbells. I think that’s about 80,000 strong there. That’s gonna be a real challenge for everybody.”

Alabama football kicks off SEC play against Kentucky on the road in its second game of the season.