Is The SEC Going To Play An Eight Or Nine-Game Schedule?

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey opened up the 2025 SEC Media Days with a nearly hour-long media session addressing a myriad of topics concerning the state of the conference and college football as a whole. One of the more prominent areas covered was the lingering debate of whether the SEC should play an eight or nine-game schedule.

"We have to make decisions about the '26 season and adjust," Sankey said. "If we're going to go to nine games, then there have to be games moved or rescheduled. If we stay at eight, probably a little easier on that part of the logistics. Once we make a decision in the conference office, we're pretty much ready to go."

The biggest argument for the SEC playing an eight-game schedule revolves around the idea that the SEC is the toughest conference in the nation, and teams' College Football Playoff resumes are harmed by playing an additional conference game. When accounting for the fact that just about every SEC team plays a Power Four nonconference game, notably South Carolina's annual game with Clemson and Florida's rivalry with Florida State, you have a situation where the entire conference is essentially playing top-shelf competition in 10 out of 12 games.

However, an eight-game schedule likely means the end of many rivalries that have shaped the conference over its history, with Alabama/LSU being just one of countless matchups that would likely go defunct under this system. A nine-game schedule appears to be the only way to preserve most teams' secondary conference rivalries. Whether or not that comes at the cost of potential playoff appearances will be essential to the conference's decision.

"There is a rigor here that is unique. In the SEC, we're not lacking for quality competition among our 16 football teams, but we're going to continue to evaluate whether increasing the number of conference football games is appropriate for us," Sankey said. "As I've said repeatedly, understanding how the CFP will evaluate strength of schedule and even strength of record is critically important in our decision-making."

Sankey is arguably the most powerful person in college football right now as the commissioner of the sport's premier conference. Every single thing he says holds immense weight on the landscape of the sport, and the decision the conference makes will have shockwaves on the rest of the country. For the time being, the focus remains on the season at hand, where the SEC looks to snap its two-year championship drought.

"If you watch the college football landscape change across the Southeastern Conference, we remain both proud of what we achieved and excited about our future," Sankey said. "That future is not something we wait for. It is something we seek to shape. We look forward to the year ahead with new opportunities, with new challenges, with certainly a set of new frustrations, with new faces, new results, and new hope."