Report: Alabama Football's Permanent SEC Opponents for Next 4 Seasons Revealed

When the SEC moves to nine conference games starting with the 2026-27 season, its teams will have three annual contests against the same set of league opponents.

Per a report Monday from On3's Chris Low, Alabama will face Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State on a yearly basis starting next fall. The Crimson Tide has not played the Bulldogs since September of 2023, despite the close geographical distance between the two schools.

The SEC did away with divisions after the 2023 season, which was also the last for the four-team College Football Playoff format. That presented an immediate impact on Alabama's schedules. The Crimson Tide hasn't played former yearly opponents Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Texas A&M in the short time that has elapsed following that change.

Each conference team's three yearly rivalry games will be assessed every four years. Perhaps the most glaring ramification from Alabama's initial draw is the omission of LSU from the first set of protected rivalries. Mississippi State has not defeated the Crimson Tide since 2007, Nick Saban's first season. Matchups between Alabama and LSU have constituted some of the biggest games in SEC football over that span.

Low's report notes that under the incoming nine-game format, all SEC institutions will play each other at least once every two seasons, facing all league opponents at home and on the road in the course of four years. No longer will matchups between Alabama and Georgia in the regular season be a comparative rarity.

"There is a rigor here that is unique. In the SEC, we're not lacking for quality competition among our 16 football teams," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at SEC Media Days in July. "Understanding how the CFP will evaluate strength of schedule and even strength of record is critically important in our decision-making."

Some Crimson Tide fans have clamored for the swift return of the Alabama-Mississippi State series ever since it was first stripped of its annual status. The geography argument persists, while another viewpoint holds that the Crimson Tide's rivalry with LSU is more of the new-blood variety.

Full nine-game SEC schedules for all 16 schools that will be contested during the next four seasons are set to be announced by the conference at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday as part of a one-hour television special. That announcement is scheduled to air on the SEC Network as well as ESPN2.