The SEC has, for years, enjoyed a significant non-conference schedule advantage over its competitors in college football.
The former iteration of the Pac-12 played nine conference games, as does the current Big Ten. The Big 12 is requiring its teams to play nine conference opponents. But until now, the SEC allowed its schools to play just eight. Four non-conference games, eight against other SEC opponents.
Some schools took advantage of this by giving themselves a “free” win with that extra non-conference game. In fact, in a recent interview, Lane Kiffin bragged about his scheduling of practices while at Ole Miss. His teams went 20-0 in non-conference games, because he specifically avoided tougher opponents.
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That strategy meant his teams started each year 4-0. That meant his teams needed to go just 5-3 in the SEC to win nine games, or 6-2 to reach 10 and put themselves in position to reach the College Football Playoff. Even more impressive was that Kiffin and others in the SEC frequently scheduled an FCS opponent for late November. Essentially giving his team an extra late-season bye, while avoiding the pitfalls of recency bias among poll voters that can stem from a November loss.
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Well, those days are now officially over. The SEC is moving to nine conference games going forward, creating tougher schedules in the process, and a more consistent comparison with its competitors. And the coaches aren’t happy about it.
In fact, some said this week that they felt “misled” about the results of voting for a nine-game conference slate.
“Talking to the other coaches, they felt like by going to nine games, they felt like it would shift the playoff model (to 16 from the current 12), but it didn’t,” new Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall told Brett McMurphy. “They felt misled.”
Eli Drinkwitz, the Missouri Tigers head coach, said something similar.
“The discussion was about going to an eight or nine-game schedule,” he said about the SEC meetings in 2020. “I remember being so anxious thinking ‘When are we going to discuss this? When are we going to vote?’ And it took us six years to get to nine games.
“Shoot, I remember last year we were told if we went to nine games the Big Ten would vote for a 16-team playoff in 2026 and, I think, we’re still at a 12-team playoff.”
So SEC coaches voted to move to nine conference games on the assumption that the playoff would expand to 16 teams, giving them a greater likelihood of making it, even if their schedules were harder. And then the two power conferences couldn’t agree to it, leading to a stalemate and the continuation of the current playoff status quo.
There’s plenty to unpack about these arguments, and it’s also possible that this is post-hoc justification. Last season, for example, one weekend in November was loaded with awful games set up to give teams a breather before rivalry week.
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On Nov. 22, 2025, Texas A&M played Samford, Georgia played Charlotte, Alabama played Eastern Illinois, Auburn had Mercer, South Carolina played Coastal Carolina, and LSU played Western Kentucky. None of those are going to move the broadcast needle. With ESPN as a broadcast partner, it’s possible some pressure was applied to move away from this practice.
Now with nine conference games, and the end of cupcake weekend, November will be full of meaningful, must-see matchups. As it should be.
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Though the downside to nine conference games is that non-conference schedules are going to get dramatically less interesting moving forward. There’s little reward for Texas, say, to play Ohio State or Michigan, when they now have an extra SEC game to worry about. Particularly when coaches are now judged on making the playoff. So on the one hand, some SEC teams will no longer get that extra fourth free win. On the other hand, they’re going to be even more adamant about getting three free wins, because suddenly a three-loss conference season is a lot harder.
And good news for Drinkwitz and the other coaches is that we might be heading to a 24-team playoff anyway. At least if ESPN gets out of the way.