NCAAF Conferences: SEC

The 2023 season will be the last with the current scheduling format, with each team competing against eight conference opponents, including six games against their divisional opponents, while one of the others is a permanent annual non-divisional opponent. The SEC Championship Game is then held between the winner of the East and West.

According to college football odds, that team will be Georgia once again, with -105 odds to go back-to-back after winning the championship in 2022. Alabama, the winner the year prior, has the second-best chance from NCAA football odds, with +250 odds.

Once the new schools join the conference in 2024, however, the SEC will do away with divisions, instead having the SEC Championship Game feature the top schools in the conference standings to determine the SEC champion.

With the elimination of divisions, the 2024 season will also feature a new schedule, though eight conference games will remain. Each SEC school will play eight conference games as well as one required opponent from a Power Five or major independent school, with the single-standings format allowing every team to play each other at least twice in a four-year period.

Though the new schedule will be for a year, it allows the SEC to determine a long-term schedule for the new 16-team conference that will help them keep non-conference commitments intact.

When it comes to betting on the SEC, there are many options, though a futures bet is the only way to bet on the conference winner.

An SEC futures bet, similar to any college football futures bet, is typically represented by positive numbers, with the lower the number indicating the greater the favorite. However, if a team is a major favorite, as is the case with Georgia, a futures bet could be represented with a negative number.

The SEC regular season offers more options for bettors, with the moneyline, point spread and total the three most common betting options. The moneyline is the easiest, as it is a prediction on who the bettor thinks will win the game.

The point spread, meanwhile, is a number the sportsbook believes a team will win or lose by. The favored team must win by more than the given number to cover the spread while the underdog must win outright or lose by less than the number to cover.

Finally, the total is the combined number of points a bettor believes the teams will score in a game. If a bettor thinks the teams will score more than the number from college football lines, they take the over, while they will take the under if they believe the opposite is true.

Bettors shouldn’t forget about prop bets when wagering on the SEC regular season either, which are wagers on certain events or player performances a bettor believes will happen in a game.

Whatever type of wager a bettor decides to place, they should be sure to do their research to ensure they have all the knowledge they need on the teams and players they are betting on to get the most out of their bet.