SEC Daily: SEC Football Inches Closer to Adding Ninth Conference Game

The 2025-2026 college football season is getting closer by the day. Week 0 kicks off this weekend, but the SEC kicks off to start Week 1 on Aug. 28 with Missouri taking on Central Arkansas.

As SEC fans get ready for a new season, big news dropped Thursday afternoon about the future of SEC football scheduling. Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that the conference is getting closer to adopting a nine-game conference schedule for football.

Among the power four conferences in college football today (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC), the SEC and ACC have long played an eight-game conference schedule while the Big Ten and Big 12 have been playing nine-game conference schedules.

Conversations about the SEC adding a ninth conference game have been going on for a few years now, but there has not been clear movement in that direction until now. The latest news comes in the wake of the College Football Playoff announcing that it will focus on new evaluation metrics this fall that are meant to reward teams who play a tougher schedule.

If indeed the playoff committee does take strength of schedule into account when it selects the 12 teams that will fight for the national championship, it would seem to make sense for the SEC to move to a nine-game conference schedule.

According to ESPN analytics, the hardest 11 schedules ahead of the upcoming college football season belong to SEC teams. If the committee were to focus on strength of schedule numbers in December when the playoff field is set, the SEC would almost certainly serve as a beneficiary.

Last season, the debate among fans was whether Alabama should have gotten into the College Football Playoff over SMU. The Crimson Tide had a strength of schedule of 18 while SMU had a strength of schedule of 57.

This is not to say that Alabama was “more deserving” than SMU on strength of schedule. After all, Alabama finished the regular season 9-3 and SMU finished 11-2 after losing the ACC Championship Game. But it is an interesting thing to think about if, or rather when, a debate for who gets the final playoff spot takes place given the new metrics the committee will evaluate teams by.

If the SEC were to go to a nine-game schedule, it would certainly create an extra week of potential blockbuster matchups and high-stakes games.

But there are risks involved. Adding a ninth game may help SEC teams strengthen their schedules, but it also heightens the probability of playoff-contending SEC teams losing the ninth conference game and thereby putting their playoff chances in jeopardy.

But one thing is a guarantee: the SEC going to a nine-game conference schedule would make the sport and conference even more entertaining for the audience rather than fans seeing their teams play against smaller out-of-conference games early in the season.

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