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.
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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 tough nonconference opponents. So, make those marquee games mandatory by adding more conference games. There’s not much better drama than SEC vs. SEC.
Later in the episode
∎ Adams and Toppmeyer rank the SEC’s top four men’s basketball national championship contenders.
Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC football going to nine conference games? Wait! Here’s a better idea
