SEC Nearing Shift To Nine-Game Conference Schedule
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By Aidan Sidoti
The SEC is finally inching closer to the highly anticipated nine-game conference schedule, as sources told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.
SEC executives met earlier this week to discuss the future of the league's scheduling format, and it appears that a consensus is building towards a nine-game conference slate.
The shift would mark the end of the highly controversial SEC eight-game conference schedule which debuted in 1992.
Driving the transition for a nine-game slate, according to Dellenger, is “coinciding with emergence of a “4-4-2-2-1” CFP format,” introduced by the Big 10 for an expanded 16-team playoff that would award four automatic bids to the SEC and Big 10, two for the ACC and Big 12, one for a Group of 6 team or Notre Dame, plus three at-large selections.
SEC coaches originally rejected the format during a vote at spring meetings in May of 2023 with Kentucky coach Mark Stoops emerging as its most outspoken critic, citing the Wildcats’ annual rivalry game with in-state Louisville as the key reason for his opposition.
Seriously, Stoops? Playing LOUISVILLE every year is your excuse for dodging a nine-game conference slate?
Thank goodness your ass is getting canned once you go 4-8, again.
While no final decision has been made, SEC presidents are expected to meet in the near future to decide on the matter. If approved, as expected, we could see the SEC implement the nine-game conference slate as early as the 2026 season.
UPDATE: The SEC officially announced that the league will implement a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026.
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