The SEC moving to a nine game regular season schedule has been a conversation piece in college football for quite some time. Fans who go to games would much rather have the opportunity to see another high-profile game in November instead of basically a bye week playing an FCS opponent prior to rivalry week.
Before the announcement on Thursday honestly, I wasn't sure when the day would ever come where the SEC decided to move from an eight-game regular season conference schedule. There are obvious risks with adding an additional conference game with the biggest one being half of the 16 teams will get be guaranteed an extra loss each season.
Greg Sankey wasn't going to sign off on such a risky proposal of adding an extra conference game starting in 2026 without some huge payoffs for the SEC. I can only imagine how much more lucrative the ESPN TV deal will be for each school with adding an extra conference game which will be huge for tv revenue and viewership. I would assume also assume that the SEC moving to 9 conference games each season also means playoff expansion will be happening sooner than later. We have heard the talk of moving to a 16-team playoff as soon as 2026, and this move more or less confirms such a move in my mind taking place sooner than later.
Moving to 9 conference games will not only enhance the strength of schedule that will be a bigger part of the Selection Committee's criteria, but will give the SEC a much better chance of 9-3 teams getting into the field unlike last season. It will be interesting to see how that changes who teams scheduled for their out of conference opponents.
It looks like each team will have at least one Power Four non-conference team on the schedule, but the level of that opponent may change a little. We might not see as many games added against the likes of Ohio State, Florida State, or Clemson added to start the season.
The other major change we might see with the change in conference games is each team's guaranteed three games each season. Will we see the three guaranteed games follow what was put into place with the addition of OU and Texas before last season? Or will there be some changes since some teams have a much harder three yearly opponents than others.
We might see certain rivalry games be cut from being a yearly contest which might not sit well fanbases across the SEC depending on scheduling changes. Overall, it seems that the positives far outweigh the negatives for the conference from a financial, competitive, and fan perspective but it will be interesting to see how the plans are put into place before next season.
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