WILDCATS

SEC football schedule 2024 announced: Kentucky to play at Texas in new conference format

Ryan Black
Louisville Courier Journal

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky will get a crack at one of college football's historic blue bloods in the first year of a 16-team SEC in 2024 when Oklahoma and Texas join the conference.

The Wildcats will travel to Austin, Texas, to face the Longhorns in 2024 — the highlight of UK's conference slate next season, which was revealed Wednesday night during a primetime show on SEC Network.

The only time Kentucky has faced Texas was Sept. 22, 1951. The Longhorns escaped with a 7-6 victory in Austin.

Aside from the matchup with Texas, UK's other conference games in 2024 include home tilts versus Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt along with visits to Florida, Ole Miss and Tennessee. It will be the first time since 2011 that Kentucky doesn't face Missouri during the regular season.

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UK will not face the Sooners in 2024. The SEC pitted just one of its newest members against each existing team.

While the SEC is sticking with an eight-game league schedule in 2024, commissioner Greg Sankey said the decision is not permanent and the conference will continue exploring other options for 2025 and beyond.

The 2024 season will be the first since 1991 that the SEC won't feature divisions. The following year, Arkansas and South Carolina joined the league, and the conference split into East and West divisions. From 1992 through this fall, the champions of each division squared off in the SEC championship game.

Starting in 2024, the two teams with the best conference records will meet in the league title contest.

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Kentucky football schedule 2024: SEC opponents

Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops blew his whistle as the team ran through drills at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility on Tuesday morning in Lexington, Ky. Mar. 21, 2023

Home games

  • Auburn
  • Georgia
  • South Carolina
  • Vanderbilt

Away games

  • Florida
  • Ole Miss
  • Tennessee
  • Texas

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Kentucky football schedule 2024: Non-conference opponents

  • Aug 31: at Akron
  • Sept. 21: vs. Ohio
  • Nov. 16: vs. Murray State
  • Nov. 30: vs. Louisville

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.