to be announced Tuesday. Full schedule and dates announced in December. Get your final predictions in now.
OM
Kentucky
Bama
OM
Kentucky
Bama
SEC 2026 permanent opponents and schedule rotation
- Thread starter Tractorman
- Start date
Permanent opponents, yes.
A fixed rotation, NO! There's no benefit to the league/tv providers in doing that. Select a new unique schedule every year for the other 6 games. The NFL doesn't have set rotations and it's the most popular sport in America.
A fixed rotation, NO! There's no benefit to the league/tv providers in doing that. Select a new unique schedule every year for the other 6 games. The NFL doesn't have set rotations and it's the most popular sport in America.
I think it's pretty much a done deal that there will be a fixed rotation. And the NFL does use a schedule rotation formula.
Ole Miss, Alabama, Kentucky. My overall guess:
I wanted to find a way to avoid Florida-Oklahoma due to distance, but that's all I could fit and make it semi-fair. Seems like Arkansas-Oklahoma should play but I also wanted to preserve Arkansas-LSU.
| Teams | Opponent 1 | Opponent 2 | Opponent 3 |
| Alabama | Auburn | Tennessee | Mississippi State |
| Auburn | Alabama | Georgia | South Carolina |
| Mississippi State | Ole Miss | Kentucky | Alabama |
| Ole Miss | Mississippi State | LSU | Vanderbilt |
| LSU | Ole Miss | Arkansas | Texas A&M |
| Arkansas | Texas | LSU | Missouri |
| Texas | Texas A&M | Arkansas | Oklahoma |
| Texas A&M | Texas | Missouri | LSU |
| Oklahoma | Missouri | Florida | Texas |
| Missouri | Texas A&M | Arkansas | Oklahoma |
| Tennessee | Vanderbilt | Alabama | Kentucky |
| Vanderbilt | Tennessee | Ole Miss | South Carolina |
| South Carolina | Georgia | Vanderbilt | Auburn |
| Kentucky | Tennessee | Mississippi State | Florida |
| Georgia | Florida | Auburn | South Carolina |
| Florida | Georgia | Oklahoma | Kentucky |
I wanted to find a way to avoid Florida-Oklahoma due to distance, but that's all I could fit and make it semi-fair. Seems like Arkansas-Oklahoma should play but I also wanted to preserve Arkansas-LSU.
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Serious question. Do the people predicting Alabama seriously think they're getting anything other than Auburn, Tennessee & LSU? That one is the most set in stone of any team in the league.
The NFL rotates your non-division opponents, but it's a different division every year. It's not like a home/home over 2 years versus non-divisional opponents. For example, Dallas plays at Chicago this week. That doesn't mean they turn around and host Chicago next season.
NFL rotates the divisions one year at a time. If Dallas plays Chicago this year, they will play Chicago again in 2028. If Dallas plays New England this year, they will play New England again in 2029 (takes 4 years to rotate through the opposite conference and only 3 to rotate through your conference). And of course they would face those teams even in the "off" years if they finish in the same position in their respective divisions.
Nothing wrong with rotating opponents. That's how it should be done. The NFL definitely rotates opponents consistently.
I’m predicting OM / Kentucky as near guaranteed, with the 3rd team being one out of Auburn, A&M, and South Carolina. Probably Auburn, they are likely to get someone in the “have-not” tier, given that they are guaranteed to draw Bama and UGA as permanents. MSU makes the most sense, based on history. Vandy and UK don’t make any sense at all as their 3rd, and I think OM gets Vandy to go along with State / LSU.
I don't think bama is going to get all 3. They will raise hell having the toughest 3 permanents by a mile. I could be wrong just think it will be UT, Auburn and a weaker opponent.
Agree. Publicly they'll say they want LSU but behind doors they are lobbying for us.
TV will be fine because they still get LSU/Bama twice every 4 years, along with all the other good games.
And for us, now that Saban's gone, and the Bama advantage has been neutralized, it may not be all that bad to have them as our 'tough' opponent.
We are
% getting bama, take that to the bank. Hopefully, we’ll get Ark, Vandy or UK as our third. OM is going to be good for a while.
They have assigned 2 tiers for the SEC. Each team will play 2 from their own tier and 1 from the other. The ultimate question is who is the 7,8,9 teams. In Alabama's case, is Auburn tier 1 or 2? That would determine if the third opponent is LSU or MS State. In State's case is OM tier 1? If so, we get 2 tier 2 opponents. If they are tier 2, we will get A&M or Bama depending on how their tiers work out.
Yep, this will determine a lot.
For sure top 6: Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee
Middle group: A&M, Florida, Auburn, OM
For sure bottom 6: State, USCe, Missouri, Kentucky, Vandy, Arkansas
So what two from the middle group get classified as Tier 1?
Tiers were based on conference record for last 10 years. Tennessee was Tier 2 and Auburn & LSU were Tier 1. But Tennessee & Auburn were #8 and #9. If Tennessee moves up, Auburn will move down. Either way, Bama still has 2 Tier 1 and 1 Tier 2 opponent.
I'm sure that the SEC will screw us.
um permanently at their place.
Philly Eagles
KC Chiefs
um permanently at their place.
Philly Eagles
KC Chiefs
The good and bad news is that outside of Ole Miss, we don't have any must have rivalry. If they have to keep TV happy, we'll probably end up with Ole Miss, and either TA&M or Bama and UK or Arkansas. With Saban gone and Bama not dominant, I think TV will be more likely to accept Bama having us a a permanent and having Bama drop either UT or LSU as a permanent rival.
depends on whether the SEC office want home and homes or not.
Given their past scheduling, I would expect the rotation to be two year chunks of home and homes.
And this is why there's so much differing speculation. There's really only one game we have to play and all the rest really don't even matter much. Much easier to figure out Mississippi's permanents: have to play MSU, pretty much have to play LSU, and UM & Ark would really like to play each other but could live with not playing if they had to.
It's probably going to be Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Texas A&M.
It's possible that Auburn or Arkansas gets in there, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Alabama is only possible if the SEC no longer considers Tennessee to be in the "lower half" of the conference, which they still clearly are unless the lookback period is just a couple of years.
It's possible that Auburn or Arkansas gets in there, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Alabama is only possible if the SEC no longer considers Tennessee to be in the "lower half" of the conference, which they still clearly are unless the lookback period is just a couple of years.
Even with those 3 permanents, they still have an easier than average schedule because they never have to play Alabama.
Northern Miss
Bama
LSU or TAMU
That's the SEC office making sure all the big boys have at least one win on the permanent opponent list.
Northern Miss
UK
Bama/aTm
I think something like this is more likely if they're trying to stick to more traditional rivalries. We know they'll keep the Iron Bowl, Bama vs TN, Barn vs UGA, UGA vs FL, Texas vs aTm, and the Red River Rivalry on the permanent schedule. I think they'll want to keep TX and Arkansas together if they can, along with FL vs TN, FL vs UGA, and LSU vs Bama, but I think those will be secondary. Going to be interesting to see what they decide.
Bama
LSU or TAMU
That's the SEC office making sure all the big boys have at least one win on the permanent opponent list.
Northern Miss
UK
Bama/aTm
I think something like this is more likely if they're trying to stick to more traditional rivalries. We know they'll keep the Iron Bowl, Bama vs TN, Barn vs UGA, UGA vs FL, Texas vs aTm, and the Red River Rivalry on the permanent schedule. I think they'll want to keep TX and Arkansas together if they can, along with FL vs TN, FL vs UGA, and LSU vs Bama, but I think those will be secondary. Going to be interesting to see what they decide.
Do we really want Vandy at this point?Ole Miss
Kentucky
Vanderbilt
Meh. Vandy is Vandy. They've always been Vandy, and at some point, they'll once aGAIN be Vandy.
I just hate that they dropped off Ole Miss's schedule during their little run of competitiveness.
