News broke on Thursday evening that the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns are officially joining the SEC in 2024, a year earlier than expected.

The move means that the 2023 season will be the final year with the traditional SEC West and East divisions.

Commissioner Sankey announced Oklahoma and Texas will now officially join the SEC on July 1, 2024.

The original date for the schools to join the conference was July 1, 2025. pic.twitter.com/6yV2VVYTBN

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 10, 2023

The SEC is expected to announce a new scheduling format sometime this spring (or perhaps sooner).

Most folks expect the SEC to move to a 6-3 schedule (six rotating opponents and three permanent opponents). The other scenario would be eight rotating opponents and one permanent opponent.

On Friday, The Athletic took a guess at what the permanent opponents for each program could look like with the 6-3 model.

They think the three permanent opponents for the Tennessee Vols would be:

• Alabama Crimson Tide
• Kentucky Wildcats
• Vanderbilt Commodores

The guess is based in part on a plan that was passed around at the spring meetings last year, so it's not a completely random guess.

From The Athletic:

In a nine-game schedule, each team would have three permanent opponents, then rotate everyone else. The identity of those three permanent opponents hasn’t been revealed publicly, but a plan exists and was passed around last year at spring meetings. Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher let slip that his program’s three permanent opponents would be Texas, LSU and Mississippi State.

Yes, Texas vs. Texas A&M will be back, assuming it’s a nine-game schedule.

(The loser of this scenario is Auburn, as The Athletic has their predicted opponents as Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.)

If the Vols land Alabama, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt as their three permanent opponents, it would make their path to the playoff significantly easier as they wouldn't have to play Georgia and Florida every single year (they still would in some years, depending on the rotation of opponents).

With playoff expansion on the way, the goal for Tennessee moving forward (starting in 2024) has to be to make the 12-team playoff each season. The Vols can afford two regular season losses each season and still have a strong shot at being one of the top 12 teams. So essentially, 10-2 has to become the new goal each year. That won't always happen — there will be some down 8-4 or 9-3 years (and that's ok…that's how it used to be in college football) — but that'll be the benchmark that Tennessee will be aiming for each season.

We'll see in the coming weeks/months how the new scheduling format shakes out. But if The Athletic is correct, I think it has to be considered a win for the Vols.

Featured image via Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports