The Southeastern Conference will officially switch from an eight-game league schedule to a nine-game schedule in 2026, the league announced Thursday.
The Southeastern Conference will officially switch from an eight-game league schedule to a nine-game slate in 2026, the conference announced Thursday. Inside Texas has long written about growing support for the nine-game league slate, including support from Texas, for the measure.
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The decision was approved by the SEC’s presidents and chancellors following a recommendation by the league’s athletic directors, per release.
“Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “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.”
The league will continue to have no divisions, and each school will play three annual opponents “focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries.”
According to the release, each school’s six other games will “rotate among the remaining conference schools” and “each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.”
The league also said that the SEC will require its members to schedule at least one opponent from the ACC, Big 10, or Big 12 or Notre Dame.
Texas has long been in favor of a nine-game conference schedule and has pointed to the 2025 slate as to why. Texas has just three conference home games this season in Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Texas A&M and all are in the month of November.
The Longhorns will get four home SEC games, four road SEC games, and then the annual rivalry game with Oklahoma in Dallas under this new system.
Scheduling strong out of conference games to satisfy the league’s requirement for another contest versus a Power Four team will be no problem for the Longhorns. Texas plays Ohio State in 2026, hosts Michigan in 2027, begins a home-and-home with Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. in 2028, and has a home-and-home with Arizona State beginning in Tempe, Ariz. in 2032.
With this announcement and Texas’ other non-conference games already scheduled out through 2029, the next five football seasons are completely filled for the Longhorns barring any unforeseen changes to college football or any decision to buyout one of the opponents.
The SEC has added games to the schedule before. There was no requirement for member institutions to play a certain number of league games until 1974 when the SEC set six as the standard for the 10-team league. That increased to seven in 1988, and rose to eight in 1992 when Arkansas and South Carolina joined the league to make it a 12-member body. Even with the additions of Texas A&M and Missouri in 2012 and Texas and Oklahoma in 2024, the league remained at eight.
That changes next year.
“The SEC has established itself as the leader in delivering the most compelling football schedule in college athletics,” Sankey said. “Fans will see traditional rivalries preserved, new matchups more frequently, and a level of competition unmatched across the nation.”
Category: General Sports
