Labor Day weekend is a time of celebration across the country as the return of College Football rolls around to erase all the worldly problems. For those in the Southeastern Conference footprint, the return of the college football season comes around like a kid on Christmas Day, full of hope, excitement, and enthusiasm to run down the stairs to see what Santa has brought them. Instead of Santa, though, it’s the likeness of their program’s Head Coach, while the words of the great Paul Finebaum dance through their heads as a new season of hopes and dreams with the same goal: winning a National Championship.

For all of us, the fall of 2024 will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Texas and Oklahoma join our crazy family, and an expanded Playoff will make all eight SEC games de facto play-in games for the expanded Playoff. Winning the Southeastern Conference Championship is still essential because it guarantees a top-four seed in the College Football Playoff while maintaining the bragging rights for generations to come.

There was also a significant shift in the Southeastern Conference coaching dynamic as Coach Saban retired. Now, the top dog of the conference resides in Athens, as Kirby Smart has multiple National Championships, among various other things, to solidify him as the new king of the Southeastern Conference and all of college football, for that matter.

Regarding the weekend matchups, there are some decent games on Saturday, with headlines like Georgia and Clemson, Notre Dame and Texas A&M, and LSU and USC on Sunday. Two Southeastern Conference teams will play Thursday night as Missouri takes on Murray State, and Arkansas plays Arkansas Pine Bluff at War Memorial in Little Rock.

On Friday night, Oklahoma will welcome Temple to Norman for their first game as members of the Southeastern Conference. It’s a game the Sooners should win easily as 42-point favorites over the Owls.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Vanderbilt welcomes Virginia Tech to Nashville, Tennessee, with Chattanooga coming to Knoxville; Colorado State travels to Austin; Southern Miss and Kentucky battle in Bluegrass; and South Carolina welcomes ODU to Columbia. Several SEC teams are playing FCS teams, including Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Auburn, to go with Tennessee. Alabama opens the season with Western Kentucky to open the new era of Crimson Tide Football.

The game of the week goes to the Battle of Florida. The Gators welcome Miami to Gainesville for a highly anticipated battle between the two bitter rivals. With a challenging schedule, many people pick Florida to win six games, causing Billy Napier’s termination. However, a win over the Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon in the Swamp, and the Gators could be in play to play spoiler for some all season. These two last met in 2019 when the Gators defeated the Hurricanes 24-20 in Orlando under former Head Coach Dan Mullen.

It might be hot this weekend, but the Southeastern Conference is back. For the next six months, fans from across the Southeastern Conference will have a distraction from the everyday problems that linger from day to day. Here’s to another season of Southeastern Conference Football.