Nick Saban questions SEC's 3 permanent opponents proposed for Alabama football schedule for 2024

Change is on the horizon for SEC scheduling with Texas and Oklahoma joining in 2024, but what the change will look like is to be determined.

If it's a nine-game format with three permanent opponents and six rotating, Alabama football coach Nick Saban told Sports Illustrated this week that his team would face Tennessee, Auburn and LSU.

“I’ve always been an advocate for playing more (conference) games,” Saban said. “But if you play more games, I think you have to get the three fixed (opponents) right. They’re giving us Tennessee, Auburn and LSU. I don’t know how they come to that (decision).”

Sports Illustrated wrote that Saban is looking for "more balance and equity than what has been proposed by league administrators in a nine-game model."

According to Saban, the SEC is using a 10-year success metric to determine permanent opponents.

“They said they did a 10-year whatever,” Saban said. “Well, some of those years, Tennessee wasn’t as good as they’ve been in the previous 10 years, but now they are as good as they used to be before those 10 years."

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Saban noted how two of the three teams are "in the top 10" and the other "is in the top 10 a lot."

"Look historically over a 25-year history, and the three best teams in the East are Georgia, Tennessee and Florida," Saban said. "You look historically at 25 years, Alabama, LSU and Auburn are the three best teams in the West. So we’re playing them all.”

Saban has been a proponent of more conference games, and he has also argued for more Power 5 games in college football. Alabama's scheduling backs that up. His issue is with the balance in the quality of the three permanent opponents each program will face, if that's the format the SEC chooses. An eight-game format with one permanent opponent and seven rotating has also been discussed.

“They only did (the success metric) over 10 years,” Saban said. “Now you’ve got name, image and likeness, which changes that whole dynamic, because it’s who has the most money to pay players, until they change the rules. I like playing more SEC games. I think it’s good for the game and good for the fans. I think they have a better chance to get the parity right doing the eight games. I’m talking about the balance of who has who.”

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: Nick Saban questions proposed permanent SEC opponents