SEC football going to nine conference games? Wait! Here’s a better idea

We’re doing this again.

SEC brass are debating whether to go to a nine-game conference schedule, up from eight, for the 2026 season and beyond. The SEC has considered adding a conference game for more than a dozen years but has never made the move.

Commissioner Greg Sankey wants an additional conference game – just look at the interest SEC games generate, he says – but some athletics directors within the league are hesitant, wondering if adding another tough game is worth the risk of a loss that could damage postseason hopes.

On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams go inside the debate and offer the upsides and downsides of an additional conference game.

TOPPMEYER: Kalen DeBoer plan to revive Alabama football follows Nick Saban example

ADAMS: If Texas must raise ticket prices, what does that mean for the rest of the SEC?

So, should the SEC add a ninth conference game?

Toppmeyer: I’ve long favored a nine-game conference schedule, but I could be talked off that idea if the SEC embraced this: Everybody in the conference agreed to play a minimum of 10 Power Four opponents, including at least one game against a Big Ten team. So, you’d have eight SEC games, one game against a Big Ten foe, and one other Power Four matchup, leaving just two cupcake games. I still like a nine-game SEC schedule, but I could be persuaded to stay at eight if it means more top-shelf nonconference clashes, like this year’s matchup of Texas at Ohio State in Week 1. I’d rather see Texas-Ohio State than Texas-Kentucky in a ninth SEC game.

Adams: Why stop at nine conference games? I like 10 SEC games. Point taken about those marquee nonconference games, but, left to their own devices, I just don’t trust enough coaches and athletics directors to schedule…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/sec-football-going-nine-conference-111012938.html

Author : The Tennessean

Publish date : 2025-03-07 11:10:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.