SEC going to 9 conference games starting in 2026
- Thread starter MStateDawg
- Start date
Again, there's no chance that Georgia is one of our permanents. None at all. They are a lock for Auburn and Florida, and their third will either be South Carolina, Kentucky, or Vanderbilt. Literally 0% they pass up on all 3 of those to take us.
I think Texas A&M-Mississippi State and Texas-Arkansas are likely matchups, but it's also possible that they flip those to Texas-Mississippi State and Texas A&M-Arkansas, so I'll say Texas is a maybe, not probably not.
Florida? Not happening, if they get a "low tier" opponent, it will be South Carolina, Kentucky, or Vanderbilt, not us.
Going by recent success, why does ole miss get an easier schedule than us. We should have- ole miss, ark, ky
Never mind. I know. We just let them screw us just like the current two years of the hardest schedule then it changes format again so we don't get the rewarded easier schedule the next two years.
Never mind. I know. We just let them screw us just like the current two years of the hardest schedule then it changes format again so we don't get the rewarded easier schedule the next two years.
Why do you keep talking anout who wants us? Of course they want us, we’re an easy win most of the time. They don’t give a 17 about the TV, they want to win. They get the same money no matter who they play and are already saddled with enough hard opponents.
I hope, truly, that the list you linked is right, but that’s just the initial rumors. It’s hard for me to imagine they make all the blue bloods play each other and then let all the little brothers play each other.
Bama would still play LSU twice every four years.
I think you can dang near take it to the bank that we will get Alabama.
There's been a major shift on the Ole Miss boards this afternoon: Apparently, we are their rival. 
We all knew this was coming. We’ll get UMiss, Arkansas & A&M almost for certain. Not great, but could be worse.
There's been a major shift on the Ole Miss boards this afternoon: Apparently, we are their rival.
I think more likely SEC and ESPN pushed each other to the brink & SEC finally caved. An 8-game schedule with only 1 permanent opponent was never going to happen. The flip side of 2024-2025 schedules was never an option and ESPN knew it.
Guys, there’s no way ESPN is going to allow for State-Bama, State-LSU, State-UGa to be an annual game. We were always going to get OM and two mids. The question is what combo of UK/Ark/A&M is it going to be. Ole Miss’ resurgence under Kiffin, makes it much easier to justify now.
So… we have Washington State on our 2030 & 2031 schedules. They’re no longer considered a “Power” opponent. That means we’re very likely either going to have to buy those games out or keep them and add a Big Ten/Big 12/ACC opponent unless we get some waiver from the league.
I don’t think they are that strict about it. BYU has served as our “power” non-con in the past when they were independent. Washington State is Ole Miss’s “power” non-con this season.
Whoever it is, The SEC-ESPN conglomerate should have to PAY the buyout since this is what THEY forced on us!
So the rumor/"inside info" from a couple years ago is that the schedules would be made like this:
Higher prestige teams - Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M
Lower prestige teams - Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Everyone would get 2 permanent opponents in their own tier and 1 permanent in the other tier. So in the higher tier, the matchups might be:
Higher prestige teams - Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M
Lower prestige teams - Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Everyone would get 2 permanent opponents in their own tier and 1 permanent in the other tier. So in the higher tier, the matchups might be:
- Oklahoma-Texas
- Texas-Texas A&M
- Texas A&M-LSU
- LSU-Alabama (highest rated TV game)
- Alabama-Auburn
- Auburn-Georgia
- Georgia-Florida
- Florida-Oklahoma (this one is kinda random, but Oklahoma has to get somebody)
- Missouri-Arkansas
- Arkansas-Ole Miss
- Ole Miss-Mississippi State
- Mississippi State-Kentucky
- Kentucky-Vanderbilt
- Vanderbilt-Tennessee
- Tennessee-South Carolina
- South Carolina-Missouri
- Alabama-Tennessee
- LSU-Ole Miss
- Texas-Arkansas (could be Texas A&M-Arkansas instead)
- Texas A&M-Mississippi State
- Oklahoma-Missouri
- Georgia-South Carolina
- Florida-Kentucky
- Auburn-Vanderbilt (they deserve a break after getting Alabama and Georgia as their other 2)
This is a sign the playoff is being expanded. There will be no undefeated teams in the SEC. Most teams will have two or more losses every year. You don't have to look far past last season on how many SEC teams that could have made a go of it in the playoff got left out because they had two loses.
As far as ESPN knows our game is Ole Miss Vs Ole Miss. They aren't really sure if there are two teams from Mississippi. They heard a rumour there might be, but that's all they can confirm.
Fair. The article I read specifically said “one additional high-quality nonconference opponent from the ACC, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences or Notre Dame each season”, but you’re right, there’s probably some leeway there.
Would be kinda cool if we added Texas Tech those seasons and then Texas Tech scheduled Washington State. We could have a Mike Leach round robin.
We need to get a rotation of Rutgers, Purdue, and Northwestern going
That would be pretty close to ideal. I'd love to sub Vandy in for A&M just because Nashville is a superior destination and that's traditionally a more winnable game, but no UGA Bama or LSU is a positive.
The SEC already went through this exercise in 2023 when they first debated 8 or 9 game schedules - they ultimately went with 8 because the CFP announced it would expand to 12 and they wanted to see how it went.
I went back and looked and the leaked SEC 3-team permanent opponents for State were OM, Ark and A&M. I don't see that changing.
I went back and looked and the leaked SEC 3-team permanent opponents for State were OM, Ark and A&M. I don't see that changing.
Everyone needs to read this post. This decision was made 2 years ago. All they did for 24 & 25 was drop 1 rotating team to get to 8 games.
Don't see how they'd do that. Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Florida are pretty locked into the ACC.
Of course two of those may soon be in the B1G or SEC, but that's still a number of years away.
I think we still have WSU scheduled for a home and away in a few years - hope that counts
First off, whatever is decided initially should be taken with a grain of salt. It won’t last longer than 5 years, as there will definitely be more realignment before then.
But, I think we get OM, UK, Auburn. We’ll definitely get at least one traditional SEC West opponent besides OM. I think networks are going to want Bama-LSU as an annual game, meaning Bama has LSU, TN, Auburn as their 3. That should be fine with them since Auburn has been trash for the better part of a decade now.
Auburn needs a 3rd permanent on top of Bama / UGA, and it should also be a traditional West opponent. OM is out, they’ll have us, LSU, and probably Vandy. I think Ark, A&M, OU, and Texas are going to be paired up to take advantage of the SWC / Big 8 historical rivalries. Texas gets A&M, OU, and Arkansas. A&M gets Texas, LSU, and Arkansas. OU gets Arkansas, Texas, and possibly Missouri. Arkansas gets Texas, Texas A&M, and OU. They may swap some things around and give Mizzou another one of the southwest teams, maybe keep LSU and Ark as permanents, but the overall situation is that I don’t see any out of Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, or Oklahoma being available as a permanent opponent for Auburn. That leaves only MSU. Then also it makes sense to give us UK, as that game has been played almost every year in the modern SEC, and those are similar stature programs. Same w/ OM and Vandy.
2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 |
| @ Kentucky | Kentucky | @ Kentucky | Kentucky |
| @ Ole Miss | Ole Miss | @ Ole Miss | Ole Miss |
| Texas A&M | @ Texas A&M | Texas A&M | @ Texas A&M |
| @ Alabama | Georgia | Alabama | @ Georgia |
| LSU | @ Texas | @ LSU | Texas |
| @ Oklahoma | Florida | Oklahoma | @ Florida |
| Auburn | @ Tennessee | @ Auburn | Tennessee |
| @ South Carolina | Missouri | South Carolina | @ Missouri |
| Vanderbilt | @ Arkansas | @ Vanderbilt | Arkansas |
Who's old enough to remember when we had five permanents (Florida, Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss) and rotated one of the other four on every 2 years? With our luck, we will get Georgia, Bama, and Texas. . .but
IF the rumors above are right, the full rotation could look something like the above. I am assuming you would have to rotate six off/on every year to meet the "play everyone every two years" stipulation. Still looks brutal, but better and more fair than the current schedule.
It’s also reasonable to assume that there wasn’t a lot of support for the 3 permanents that were suggested then for each team.
Really hard to say “I don’t see them changing anything from this proposal that they couldn’t get passed 2 years ago”. The CFP deal was a red herring. Ultimately they wanted the increase in revenue per school from ESPN to justify the change. And 2 years ago, ESPN was lowballing them in hopes that they would cave in and start the 9-game format in 2024.
Our permanent rivals will likely be Ole Miss, Arkansas, and TAMU.
Although I wouldn't be totally surprised to see this SEC schedule next year:
@Tennessee
@georgia
@Texas
@LSU
Alabama
Auburn
Oklahoma
Missouri
@ole Miss