We’re less than two months away from the start of the NCAA season. I know! It’s time to start preparing. Item #1, the schedule.
You can find the full, every-meet-ever schedule at the link below (or all season long in the menu at the top of the page).
2019 NCAA SCHEDULE
We still have a few straggling teams yet to release their schedules, and the SEC really needs to get a move on with those meet times, but otherwise it’s pretty complete. (Of course, there will be changes as we go since a solid quarter of college programs still don’t understand how times zones work. But America is definitely going to be fine.)
Below, I’ve compiled a little schedule-at-a-glance, limited to just the two or three very biggest or special meets of each week (two Super Six teams from last year, major podium meets, classic or famous rivals…that kind of thing). Some weeks are a little heartier than others.
| MEET WEEK 1 – December 31-January 6 |
| Friday, January 4 |
| TBA – Cal @ LSU |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Nebraska @ UCLA |
| MEET WEEK 2 – January 7-13 |
| Friday, January 11 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Georgia @ Oklahoma |
| 8:30 ET/5:30 PT – Michigan, Denver, Bowling Green @ Alabama |
| Saturday, January 12 |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – UCLA, Cal, Michigan State, UC Davis (@ Anaheim, CA) |
| MEET WEEK 3 – January 14-20 |
| Friday, January 18 |
| TBA – Alabama @ Georgia |
| TBA – Florida @ LSU |
| MEET WEEK 4 – January 21-27 |
| Monday, January 21 |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Stanford @ Cal |
| Friday, January 25 |
| TBA – LSU @ Alabama |
| Saturday, January 26 |
| 8:30 ET/5:30 PT – Metroplex Challenge (Oklahoma, Denver, Arkansas, Missouri) |
| MEET WEEK 5 – January 28-February 3 |
| Friday, February 1 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Florida @ Oklahoma |
| Sunday, February 3 |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Nebraska @ Michigan |
| MEET WEEK 6 – February 4-10 |
| Saturday, February 9 |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – Cal @ Utah |
| Sunday, February 10 |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Oklahoma @ Denver |
| MEET WEEK 7 – February 11- 17 |
| Friday, February 15 |
| 7:30 ET/4:30 PT – GymQuarters Invitational (LSU, Utah, Stanford, Missouri) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Perfect 10 Challenge (Oklahoma, Washington, Arizona State, George Washington) |
| TBA – Florida @ Alabama |
| MEET WEEK 8 – February 18-24 |
| Friday, February 22 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Georgia @ Florida |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Big Five (Nebraska, Iowa, Penn State, Maryland, Michigan State) |
| Saturday, February 23 |
| 3:30 ET/12:30 PT – UCLA @ Utah |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Big Five (Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Rutgers) |
| MEET WEEK 9 – February 25-March 3 |
| Friday, March 1 |
| TBA – Georgia @ LSU |
| TBA – Auburn @ Alabama |
| Saturday, March 2 |
| 4:00 ET/1:00 PT – Michigan @ Utah |
| Sunday, March 3 |
| 1:00 ET/10:00 PT – UCLA @ Oklahoma |
| MEET WEEK 10 – March 4-10 |
| Friday, March 8 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Elevate the Stage (Georgia, Arkansas, Minnesota, Michigan State) |
| Saturday, March 9 |
| 12:00 ET/9:00 PT – Oklahoma @ Michigan |
| TBA – Elevate the Stage (Alabama v. Auburn) |
| MEET WEEK 11 – March 11-17 |
| Friday, March 15 |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Alabama @ Oklahoma |
| Saturday, March 16 |
| :00 ET/1:00 PT – Utah @ Georgia |
| MEET WEEK 12 – March 18-24 |
| Friday, March 22 |
| TBA – DIII Team Final |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – MIC Championship (Shreveport, LA) |
| 8:00 ET/5:00 PT – Mountain Rim Championship (Provo, UT) |
| Saturday, March 23 |
| 12:00 ET/9:00 PT – Big Ten Championship Session 1 (University Park, PA) |
| 12:00 ET/9:00 PT – ECAC Championship (Ithaca, NY) |
| TBA – DIII Event Finals |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Big 12 Championship (Norman, OK) |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – EAGL Championship (Durham, NH) |
| TBA – SEC Championship Session 1 (New Orleans, LA) |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – Pac-12 Championship Session 1 (West Valley City, UT) |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – MAC Championship (Dekalb, IL) |
| 5:00 ET/2:00 PT – Big Ten Championship Session 2 (University Park, PA) |
| TBA – SEC Championship Session 2 (New Orleans, LA) |
| 9:00 ET/6:00 PT – Mountain Pacific Champshiopnship (Seattle, WA) |
| TBA – Pac-12 Championship Session 2 (West Valley City, UT) |
| MEET WEEK 13 – March 25-31 |
| NO MEETS |
| MEET WEEK 14 – April 1-7 |
| Thursday, April 4 |
| TBA – Georgia Regional Play-in |
| 3:00 ET/12:00 PT – Michigan Regional Play-in |
| TBA – LSU Regional Play-in |
| TBA – Oregon State Regional Play-in |
| Friday, April 5 |
| TBA – Georgia Regional Semifinal #1 |
| 2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Michigan Regional Semifinal #1 |
| TBA – LSU Regional Semifinal #1 |
| TBA – Oregon State Regional Semifinal #1 |
| TBA – Georgia Regional Semifinal #2 |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Michigan Regional Semifinal #2 |
| TBA – LSU Regional Semifinal #2 |
| TBA – Oregon State Regional Semifinal #2 |
| Saturday, April 6 |
| TBA – Georgia Regional Final |
| 7:00 ET/4:00 PT – Michigan Regional Final |
| TBA – LSU Regional Final |
| TBA – Oregon State Regional Final |
| MEET WEEK 15 – April 8-14 |
| Friday, April 12 |
| TBA – USAG Championship Semifinal 1 |
| TBA – USAG Championship Semifinal 2 |
| Saturday, April 13 |
| TBA – USAG Championship Team Final |
| Sunday, April 14 |
| TBA – USAG Championship Event Finals |
| MEET WEEK 16 – April 15-21 |
| Friday, April 19 |
| TBA – National Semifinal #1 |
| TBA – National Semifinal #2 |
| Saturday, April 20 |
| TBA – National Championship |
-One noteworthy schedule change this year is the timing of the Big Five meets, which will now be in February instead of their typical position the week before the Big Ten Championships.
-Big-meet overlap is not too bad at all this season. February 15 is packed, but otherwise the famous meets are being given room to breathe.
-UCLA will be competing in a new neutral-site quad meet at the Anaheim Convention Center, the non-specifically named “Collegiate Challenge.” Since the death of Fullerton, UCLA hasn’t had that opportunity for a fake road meet where it’s basically the home team but still gets to count it as a road score—which all the cool teams have. For example, Oklahoma still has the OKC meet (and Metroplex), and Utah and LSU will get to compete in road-counting conference championships where they’ll be the de facto home team this year.
-Speaking of UCLA and Oklahoma, their March 3 meet will once again be broadcast on Big ESPN.
-Note the new schedule for regionals weekend, in which what used to be one day of competition now magically lasts for three whole days. It’s a miracle. I’m very excited and hopeful that the new schedule results in less extreme overlap of all the competitions that has, in the past, made it impossible to watch any of the actual individual meets.
-There will be grumbling from the 29-36 teams that they have to compete in the play-in dual meets on that Thursday, but honestly they’re going to be the stars of a whole day of postseason competition, which would never happen otherwise. Those teams are typically the #6 seeds at regionals, and literally no one watches their routines because there are 25 other higher-scoring teams competing at the exact same time.
-On that topic, there will be several new ranking standards to watch this year. Making the top 36 will still be of paramount importance, but the race for the top 28 will be exceptionally significant as well because making the top 28 will mean avoiding that extra day of postseason competition. We’re also doing away with the traditional goals of being ranked in the top 6 or top 12. The new standard is the top 8 (#1 seed in the regional semifinal, seeded to advance to nationals) or the top 16 (#2 seed in the regional semifinal, seeded to advance to the regional final).
-In related NCAA news, we’re following the lead of elite with some new, stricter pause deductions this season. I’m interested to see how (or if) those are actually applied.
Regarding ” New Execution Deductions:
Concentration Pause (2 sec) 0.10 each
Concentration Pause (>2 sec) 0.20 each. ”
If those deductions had applied years ago, then UCLA’s Danusia Francis (NCAA beam champ) would have been dinged 0.20 on her great side aerial layout full beam dismount (or, if so, she would have had to remove the skill). She also performed this very recently for team Jamaica at World Championships…did elite take that deduction?
Are there any current popular NCAA routines that come to mind that will be true tests of this “Concentration Pause” deduction?
“Concentration pause”, that’s a strange term. They should call it the “getting your sh*t together pause.”
Feb 24 is already blocked out on my calendar for oklahoma@WVU. Woohoo! Cant wait. Went to the florida match up last year, but white knuckled the 3 hr drive home in the snow. Thats the issue for gym meets in this area; all depends on the weather and road conditions. Never thought id say this, but oh how i miss the 405 and the 10. 🙁
Thanks for the schedule update, Spencer! Looking forward to the season.
Spencer!!! Please respond I need advice (or anyone else that’s knowledgeable). If I want to watch meets this year and I’m willing to pay for one subscription to something, and my favorite teams are Florida, Nebraska, UCLA, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia, should I just go for the SECN+ or should I get a different subscription? What’s the best service to get the most meets? Access to conference champs, Elevate the Stage, etc. big meets are also a HUGE plus. It’s so frustrating that there’s no one-stop shop for NCAA gymnastics…unless Aunt Flo does that? But I really don’t want to pay for Aunt Flo I’m not that desperate 🙂
SEC Network/Watch ESPN. If you have watch ESPN and subscribe to SEC Network, you get all SEC meets and Oklahoma/UCLA meet. Plus, the app is great because they archive every meet, so you don’t have to watch each meet live. They’ll also show SEC championships and Nationals. I suspect they’ll also carry the Georgia and LSU regionals.
Sling Orange with Sports Extra ($30/month) will get you the ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPN U, SEC, SEC+) as well as all the Pac 12 regional channels. That’ll get you most meets (and conference championships) for all the teams listed except for Oklahoma and Nebraska. I still have yet to find a streaming service that has FOX Oklahoma (which has most of Oklahoma’s home meets) outside of Oklahoma, and I believe Nebraska usually has their own streaming service (though I’m not sure how much it costs). Unfortunately, Elevate is only available with a Flo subscription.
Fubo has Fox Oklahoma
Now if only they could fix the end of year competitions so all four teams aren’t sometimes going simultaneously and sometimes no one is competing. Seems easy enough – I’d prefer one at a time, but you could at least have two events alternating like in a dual meet so no more than two routines are simultaneous.
Thanks for doing this Spencer. You’ve kept us engaged throughout all of Worlds and you’re immediately back in the groove for NCAAs. Thanks for your hard work.
My prediction for the “concentration pause” deduction is that it will be applied a bit at the beginning of the season, but it will be entirely ignored by the end of the season. I feel like NCAA gymnastics wants to fix the scoring issue in theory, but the reality is that it will never happen until everyone has a change in mindset where they no longer believe that every routine that starts from 10.0 that doesn’t have any one major error should score 9.7+ (or sometimes it seems like maybe even 9.8+).
I’m fine with higher scoring in NCAA overall, but it should be somewhat reasonable.
1. I don’t want judges taking an insane amount of time tabulating a score.
2. Most fans in the crowd are NCAA fans first and gymnastics fans second. Keeping them there requires some excitement, 9.9s do that.
3. The main issue, to me, is consistency around the country. LSU, UCLA, Florida, and Oklahoma had some crazy meets last year. The top teams get the benefit of the doubt, but throwing out 9.975 and 10 for routines with issues is ridiculous. Not sure how to fix this issue, but I definitely think judges should have consequences if they make big mistakes. Other NCAA sports suspend crews for errors or publically acknowledge the error, but gymnastics never does that.
I agree with the notion that NCAA scoring should be higher than JO. I know I’m in the minority on this, but my biggest frustration isn’t the number of 9.975s and 10s that get thrown around. Although there are routines every year that are getting 10s that probably should have gotten a deduction, it’s still generally the case that a routine that gets a 10 is a pretty darn great routine. If it gets people excited about the sport, I’m okay with routines that have a questionable deduction in them getting a 10 occasionally. I get far more frustrated by the inconsistency of routine quality in the 9.75-9.875 range. Particularly amongst the top 10-15 teams, I see routine after routine in which there are many small errors from beginning to end, but the routine still goes 9.80-9.85. Then you see other routines that are pretty clean throughout with one or two errors, and they get the same scores. I definitely don’t think they should score it like JO and give 9.2s for hit routines, but I also don’t think a gymnast should be able to miss multiple handstands in a bar routine, have flexed feet on her release, take a step on the dismount, and still score 9.8+.
And I completely agree on the consequences thing. There have been multiple meets over the last several years that have had a ridiculous number of heavily inflated scores. There should be a consequence when that sort of thing happens. And I don’t know if this is true or not, so I could be completely wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that coaches have some control over who judges their meets. That’s wrong. Judges should be assigned to meets by the NCAA, and coaches should have absolutely no control over the assignment of judges.
The fact that the gymternet did a better job hunting down Carol and holding her accountable for her for her scoring then the NCAA basically sums up everything
The ‘concentration pause’ could also be deemed a safety issue for gymnasts who are used to a certain amount of time before doing a difficult skill.
I say deduct from the freshman and sophomore scores all year for pausing too long, while take the deductions from juniors and seniors at the start to see if they can change, but drop the requirement (within reason) if they deem it a safe issue and something the upperclassmen can’t do anymore.
Since the seniors are graduating then you’d only have one class of gymnasts to be ‘charitable’ with in 2020, and after that the rule can be applied across the board.
Safety is more important than a .2 second pause. Plus other sports have a ‘grandfather clause’ for rule changes. Eventually the grandfathered players age out.
I would have no problem scoring freshman and sophomores tougher while being more charitable for juniors and seniors because it’ll only be for two years.
But that’s super unfair for teams with lots of underclassmen. Plus I could see some teams only putting upperclassmen on beam to get around the rule, so that underclassmen don’t get the experience they need for the future. I think if you’re worried about safety, a better solution would be to propose this rule but then wait a season or two to start applying it. That way, teams are aware of the coming change and can plan/practice accordingly.