The SEC made a historic decision to move to a nine-game football conference schedule on Thursday. It brings the conference level with the other three Power Conferences who have been using the nine-game model for quite some time now.
"Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities' commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a news release. "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."
Under the new format, each school will have three annual matchups that will not rotate in order to preserve historic rivalries as well as be required to schedule a high-quality non-conference opponent from the other Power Four programs.
Predicting which SEC rivalries will be preserved in the nine-game format
Now that the SEC is making a significant scheduling change for the first time in quite awhile, it's time to take a look at which traditional rivalries could be preserved as a result of the new format.
It should be noted that when the conference expanded to its 16-team membership ahead of the 2024 season it decided to protect the following rivalries: Florida-Georgia; Vanderbilt-Tennessee; Kentucky-South Carolina; Texas-Oklahoma (Red River Rivalry); Auburn-Alabama (Iron Bowl) and Mississippi-Mississippi State (Egg Bowl). However, it's unclear if those will remain protected under the new format.
Rivalry | Leader (all-time record) |
|---|---|
Alabama vs. LSU | Alabama (57-27-5) |
Alabama vs. Tennessee | Alabama (60-40-7) |
Auburn vs. Georgia | Georgia (65-56-8) |
LSU vs. Ole Miss | LSU (65-38-3) |
Texas vs. Texas A&M | Texas (77-37-5) |
Florida vs. Tennessee | Florida (33-21) |
Arkansas vs. Texas | Texas (57-23) |
Some of these games could have massive College Football Playoff implications year in and year out. The Lone Star Showdown (Texas vs. Texas A&M) and the Magnolia Bowl (LSU vs. Ole Miss) contain some of the most historic matchups in SEC and college football lore.
One rivalry not listed here is Alabama vs. Georgia. While that battle would be great to keep an annual tradition, they typically have been facing one another in the SEC Championship Game perennially. Granted, it won't always be the title game matchup but there's a greater chance than not the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs will be seeing one another just about every year in some capacity on the gridiron.
The SEC is making the right decision to preserve at least three permanent opponents per school in this new nine-game model. The conference's motto is literally "It just means more" so it would be pretty hypocritical to toss traditional rivalries in the name of staying relevant in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee.