ESPN’s Paul Finebaum Believes SEC Will Move to a Nine-Game Conference Schedule

The topic of nine-game schedules has been a hot one in college football, as the SEC uses its current eight-game model to gain an advantage over other leagues.

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, a well-plugged-in individual in the league, believes that change is coming as the College Football Playoff bracket continues to evolve.

“I think it’s a combination of two things,” Finebaum said. “It’s where the CFP is, and how does that or does it not equate to the SEC likely going to a nine-game schedule? They are intertwined, and I know you guys saw the commissioner the other day. That certainly seemed to be on his mind. But the CFP is clearly topic No. 1.”

“I think the nine-game schedule will come first,” Finebaum said. “I think a week from today, as people start showing up in Destin, that will be almost done. And then it’s ’26, as everyone knows, when the contract changes or expands. That’s when the CFP expands and gets away from this brief 12-game setup. So I think it has to go then. There’s no reason for it to go any earlier or later. So I think it’s pretty cut and dried, and that will be it.”

While the SEC’s current model features just eight league games, they also have a weak non-conference game set for the second-to-last game of the regular season, which helps the league get a cupcake win as playoff rankings take shape.

Despite the SEC being a common enemy for most college football fans, adopting a nine-game schedule goes a long way toward improving the public perception of the conference.