In yet another move to help secure a bigger place in the College Football Playoff, the SEC has moved to a nine-game conference schedule for football.
In expanding from an eight-game slate per team, in place since 1992, the SEC will match formats used by the Big Ten and Big 12. The move arrives as the College Football Playoff also said this week that it will take strength of schedule into greater account in its rankings.
The new SEC format will see the conference continue to have a single-standings, non-divisional structure. Teams will each play three fixed annual opponents, with an eye toward preserving traditional rivalries, while the remaining six conference games per year will rotate among the other members. Each SEC school will face every other one at least once every two years, and in both home and away settings every four years.
Given the regular placement of SEC teams in national college football rankings, expanding the amount of in-conference play is the simplest, and likely most effective, way to amplify that strength-of-schedule metric. SEC teams, however, will still be required to schedule at least one game per year against a team from the ACC, Big Ten, or Big 12—unless they play independent Notre Dame.
“This format protects rivalries, increases competitive balance, and paired with our requirement to play an additional Power opponent, ensures SEC teams are well prepared to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff,” conference commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
The new football schedule will take effect in 2026. Leaders within the SEC and the individual schools had been debating the structure for several years. With the switch, however, the SEC is in line to receive additional rights fees from ESPN, with estimates hovering around $5 million per school, per year.
Bigger Considerations
The move, however, is also happening as the SEC, like other major conferences, tries to secure maximum positions within the CFP, and potential moves there helped prompt the SEC’s internal move. While there is general consensus for increasing the current 12-team format to 16, disagreement continues over how automatic berths would be allocated.
Fellow power conference the Big Ten, meanwhile, has informally considered a CFP structure as large as 28 teams. While that idea has drawn widespread rebukes, it would also bring college football closer to the March Madness elements of college basketball.
The ACC still has its teams play eight games per year within the conference, but according to multiple reports, that conference is expected to follow suit and move to nine games as well. With 17 teams in the ACC, however, the math around enlarged in-conference play is more complex, and commissioner Jim Phillips has said some traditional rivalries between SEC and ACC schools could be at risk.
