Event horizon

Seems Wednesday was the day to make a schedule announcement. Also seems like a good time to promote our MTE event page that went live on Wednesday. It curates all the MTEs for the 2024-25 and is only available to Daily subscribers.

Let's get to Wednesday’s news.

1. ACC-SEC Challenge matchups are … kinda good?

The longstanding tradition of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge serving up 1-2 good games and then some middling and bad matchups sure has continued with the ACC/SEC Challenge and their newly expanded conference members.

One would think that 16 (!) games would deliver a few more must-see matchups.

To be clear, there are two certified bangers on that graphic.

• Alabama at North Carolina (two preseason Top 15 teams, and a potential Top 10 showdown)

• Auburn at Duke (ditto to all of the above)

There are three with some serious potential — Kentucky at Clemson, Arkansas at Miami and Ole Miss at Louisville are all possible Top 25 matchups — and a couple that will garner lots of fan interest (NC State at Texas, Syracuse at Tennessee) but I’m wondering if they’ll be competitive, and two more that might be awesome.

• Wake Forest at Texas A&M feels like two bubble teams, or two teams that could get hot in March and make a deep run

• Virginia at Florida is an on-paper matchup that will be a fascinating contrast of styles, but will the Cavs just slow it down and make it unwatchable?

Actually, one more: Pitt at Miss State. The Bulldogs added a bunch of talent, but I have no clue if their defense will be any good. And Pitt’s been a squad that’s been surprisingly feisty the last two seasons.

Heck, I guess even Georgia Tech at Oklahoma has a storyline with Javian McCollum going against his former team.

Huh. Guess I talked myself into being really excited for two games, then really interested in five more, and maybe as many as seven. Maybe bigger is better?

2. Thanksgiving in Las Vegas sounds pretty good

But wait, there’s more when it comes to must-see early season games!

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