After years of discussion, debate, and deliberation, the SEC will finally debut its nine‑game conference football schedule this season. The league will also maintain its long‑standing requirement that every program play at least one non‑conference Power opponent annually.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey argues that this combination produces the toughest path in the sport.
“We and I recognize that a nine‑game Southeastern Conference football schedule, coupled with our expectation that we maintain a high‑quality non‑conference opponent, creates one of the most— in fact, I’m going to scratch what I wrote,” Sankey said. “It creates, without question, the most demanding sets of football schedules in all of college football.”
SEC fans will likely nod along. Followers of other leagues will likely roll their eyes.
Like it or not, the numbers back Sankey up. The ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) agrees, placing Arkansas atop its 2026 preseason strength‑of‑schedule rankings. SEC teams occupy the Top 7 spots, nine of the Top 10, and 14 of the Top 15.
“The nine‑game schedule reflects confidence in our universities, our student‑athletes, and in our football programs,” Sankey said. “It preserves great rivalries—historic rivalries—many of which are played every year. It creates more compelling conference matchups and reinforces our long‑standing commitment to competitive excellence.”
Phil Steele, whose annual preview magazine has been a staple since 1995, also leans heavily toward the SEC. Steele ranks Texas’ 2026 slate as the nation’s toughest and his strength of schedule formula places 14 SEC teams inside his Top 25.
“When you look at our schedule, no one has created the kind of weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey added. “It’s competition that our fans will experience every week because we believe we’re the best conference in college football.”
With just over a month until kickoff, the strength‑of‑schedule debate will only intensify as college football marches toward the third edition of the 12‑team College Football Playoff.
Any ranking system that ranks you higher because of the conference you’re in instead of how good your football team is is a bad system. FPI is garbage.
SEC Nine game conference schedule will very much help preserve fantastic & historic rivalries.
Georgia Tech is Best non-conference power meeting for Georgia.
Sankey says he loves and wants to protect college football. Having your conference cancel intersectional games left and right is not good for college football. Newbies Oklahoma & Texas are playing highly anticipated intersectional games. Relying on ACC long standing rivalries and staying close to home does not cut it.
The current system of playing the same non-conference teams year after year is boring. At least the SEC went to a system of playing all conference teams 2X H/A in a 4 year time frame.
The SEC & Big 10 want to control media rights and not have media money spent all over the country in an equitable/uniform fashion.
Yawn. Always crying these guys. Always have to cry for attention. We play the toughest teams, we deserve 8 CFP bids.
Our 8-4 team is better than your 10-2 team.
It never ends.
It’s college football. Every game should be tough
Would love to see Sankey put his money where his mouth and break away from the NCAA.
Then, they could play 12 games amongst each other, have an 8 team SEC only playoff, crown their champion, and then beg the Associated Press to vote their champion #1.
Yes, that’s absurd, but that’s the format he’s laying if Congress passes the PCSA Act and forces them into pooling media rights money.
Laughable, but they may do it.
I’d love to see the SEC pick up their football and do this. It would be terrific. They would quickly realize the mistake they made and beg to come back.
So this is what’s going to happen. Next year, 2027, the SEC’s ESPN FPI is going to be average, because they will have more losses on their schedule. Then everyone will finally realize the SEC has been rigging its schedules for years to gain favorability using distorted data. Don’t believe me? It’s because you don’t know math. FACTS!
Also, good luck ever seeing 5 teams in a 12 team CFP. Will never happen again and rightly so.
Every conference has a “Bell Curve”. 2-3 good teams, 2-3 bad teams and everyone else in the middle.
The best players come from the SEC. That’s a fact.
More teams from the SEC have players that get drafted. Also a fact.
So, when you’re in the SEC and you’re competing agains the best every week.
Last year, Indiana played against six teams that would end up having no players drafted. NONE. Three of those were in conference. None of the teams Indiana played out of conference had a player drafted.
Half they year, they were able to take off.
Missouri, a middle of the pack SEC team only played two teams with no players drafted.
They played two teams with ten players drafted.
Again, the SEC is better top to bottom. They play the toughest opponents. They play the best players week in and week out. For 20 straight years.
To Mr SEC SEC SEC –
Indiana smoked an SEC team 38-3 in the playoffs that had 10 players drafted. If you can’t make cohesive arguments with facts to back them up, you should probably log off and try again later.
Talk to me after the Big Ten has done it for 20 years.
The SEC has done it 20 years. That’s the facts.
If you can’t understand them, that’s on you.
Would love to see them break away….it would be suicide and they know it.
The SEC “HAD” done it. HAD. Not HAS… HAD.
They are a conference of the past. Who cheated for years by paying players.
Now, the present, all other teams can do what they did. Because of that, the SEC is irrelevant (outside of Texas and Oklahoma who aren’t even real SEC teams).
The Big 10 owns your ass. LOL.
Also, for the last 20 years, your teams have taken 4 weeks off each season playing the worst OOC schedules imaginable plus ONLY 8 CONFERENCE GAMES.
Loser.
The irony in calling yourself FACTS and then posting OPINION.
The SEC has dominated college football for the last 25 years.
That’s the fact.
Last year Indiana took six weeks off. This year they’ll do the same. Play nobody when it comes to out of conference and then play a weak conference schedule.
WEAK.
The Pac-10/12 played 9 conference games and didn’t cancel tough non-conference series.
The simple reason most of these are being canceled is because of the 5/4 or 4/5 imbalance of a nine-game conference schedule.
In 2030, LSU will have 5 away SEC games. Playing at ASU in 2030 would mean 6 away games, and only 6 home. Power teams want 7 home games most seasons, sometimes 8 home, in order to pay the bills.
So the easiest thing to do is scrap the series and start over.
SEC fans will likely nod along. Followers of other leagues will likely roll their eyes.
Like it or not, the numbers back Sankey up. The ESPN Football Power Index (FPI) agrees, placing Arkansas atop its 2026 preseason strength‑of‑schedule rankings. SEC teams occupy the Top 7 spots, nine of the Top 10, and 14 of the Top 15.
Not a fan of the SEC but Sankey’s assertion is accurate. That said ESPN isn’t quite an unbiased observer here
You don’t know how the FPI is created.
Now that the SEC plays 9 conference games, you are going to see NEXT YEAR how much lower their FPI is.
It will be in line with everyone else.
Sorry but that’s the truth. Numbers back me up. You’ll see.
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