The SEC is set to reveal its nine-game schedule for all conference teams in football for the 2026 season on Tuesday. It’s entirely new territory for the league, as it transitions from an eight-game slate alongside fellow Power Four conferences like the Big Ten and the Big 12.
As part of the new model, all 16 teams will have three protected rivals, referred to in this instance as “annual opponents.” But those three opponents will be reviewed every four years, which opens the door for further scheduling changes in 2030 and beyond.
It’s already known that traditional showdowns like the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma, the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn and the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, among others, will be sticking around. But there’s plenty of unknown as the SEC’s announcement nears.
So it felt appropriate to whip the crystal ball out and take a stab at predicting what the SEC will do with its new scheduling model. Preserving rivalries was important, but so was maintaining balance with the “annual opponents.”
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Some of this may end up being very wrong, but it was a fun exercise nonetheless.
Alabama
Annual opponents: Auburn, LSU, Tennessee
Alabama’s three annual opponents were quite easy to figure out. It’s a fairly tough trio, but these rivalries are absolute pillars in the SEC. Few feuds tend to get as crazy as the Iron Bowl, even if Alabama has dominated the modern results. Alabama and LSU used to battle frequently for the top spot in the now-defunct SEC West. Tennessee’s resurgence under coach Josh Heupel has made the “Third Saturday in October” — which isn’t always the third Saturday in October — significantly more interesting.
Annual opponents: LSU, Missouri, Texas
Conference realignment has brought its fair share of negatives to the game of college football, but it’s also revived some awesome historic rivalries. Case in point: Arkansas vs. Texas should be a yearly fixture, even when the SEC decides to rotate its schedule in four years. The Razorbacks and the Longhorns have met just seven times since the turn of the century, with the eighth installment in that span coming this November. They used to play annually as members of the Southwest Conference. Arkansas’ games against LSU and Missouri already have trophies involved and make sense geographically.
Auburn
Annual opponents: Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina
In case you missed the Alabama entry, the Iron Bowl must be preserved at all costs. So must a game known as the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” between the Tigers and Georgia. It’s tied for the third-most played rivalry game with 129 installments stretching back to 1892. For those curious, Auburn won the first meeting 10-0 as Georgia’s first live mascot, a goat named Sir William, watched over the proceedings. Recent times have often gone Georgia’s way. The Bulldogs have won eight in a row, dating back to a 2017 showdown in the SEC Championship Game. Auburn and South Carolina don’t have much history, but the Gamecocks are thrown in here to balance things out a bit.
Annual opponents: Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee
The rivalry game formerly known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” remains intact, even if it has been rather one-sided over the last decade or so. Georgia is 7-1 since 2017 and each of its last four wins have come by at least 14 points. Kentucky isn’t thought of as a top rival, but the Wildcats have closed the gap in recent years. As have the Heupel-coached Vols. The Tennessee-Florida rivalry was a pillar of the SEC in the 1990s and there’s been new energy added to it in recent years.
Georgia
Annual opponents: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
Georgia gets to maintain three of its most natural rivals moving forward. As detailed above, few feuds are as notable as those featuring Georgia against Auburn and Florida. The Georgia-South Carolina series was a lot more notable when Steve Spurrier led the Gamecocks. Still, the two teams regard each other as legitimate rivals, and Shane Beamer is constructing a solid program in Columbia.
Kentucky
Annual opponents: Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt
Florida and Kentucky have faced off against one another every year since 1967. In the 50 years between 1967 and 2017, Kentucky won just five times. Florida’s dominance during that span included a 31-game winning streak from 1987-2017. The Wildcats boast a 4-3 record (including their vacated win in 2021) since snapping that losing streak in 2018. All this to say, there’s a burgeoning modern feud in the works between those two teams. Vanderbilt is Kentucky’s second-oldest rival, behind Tennessee. The Vols’ absence is notable. Tennessee has a few games that make a bit more sense, while Vanderbilt has sufficient history with Kentucky and brings some balance to this projected slate for the Wildcats.
LSU
Annual opponents: Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss
LSU’s series against Alabama — the Nick Saban Bowl — is a staple game between two of the most recognizable brands in the sport. While it may not get the same level of national attention, the Magnolia Bowl is, at the very least, almost as important and more historic. The Tigers and the Rebels have alternated wins every season since 2021 as Lane Kiffin has built his program up in Oxford. Unfortunately, this format does not leave much room for the continuation of LSU’s annual, and often wacky, game against Florida.
Ole Miss
Annual opponents: LSU, Mississippi State, Texas A&M
The Egg Bowl should be protected at all costs. It may very well be the most underrated rivalry in the nation. The Rebels and the Bulldogs always play each other close, regardless of what their standing may be outside of the game. Five of their last six meetings have been decided by 10 points or less. Ole Miss and Texas A&M certainly aren’t traditional rivals, but they did get used to playing one another as former SEC West division-mates.
Mississippi State
Annual opponents: Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma
Outside of the Egg Bowl, it was hard to find protected rivals for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State also has beef with Alabama. There are a few games that seem more important to the Crimson Tide, though. Missouri and Oklahoma would be an interesting challenge on Mississippi State’s schedule.
Missouri
Annual opponents: Arkansas, Mississippi State, Oklahoma
Again, conference realignment isn’t all bad. Missouri and Oklahoma played almost every year from 1910-95 — there was a one-year pause in 1918 due to World War I — but when the Big 12 was formed in 1995, the Tigers and the Sooners ended up on opposite sides of the divisional split. That means their rivalry was relegated to the occasional home-and-home once every few years. It was put on ice altogether when Missouri left for the SEC in 2012 and subsequently thawed out when Oklahoma followed suit in 2024. It shouldn’t go anywhere.
Oklahoma
Annual opponents: Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas
The Red River Rivalry is untouchable. Oklahoma and Texas are intrinsically linked by one of the most storied conflicts in college football. The Cotton Bowl is iconic. The Golden Hat is iconic. The game itself is almost always thrilling. So, yes, Texas is a must on Oklahoma’s schedule. There’s plenty of intrigue between the Sooners and Tigers, as detailed above, and Mississippi State adds some equilibrium to the slate.
South Carolina
Annual opponents: Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky
South Carolina’s biggest rival (Clemson, for those out of the loop) obviously does not play in the SEC, although the future of the Palmetto Bowl seems secure amid all the schedule shuffling. South Carolina and Georgia have not played since 2023, as their yearly showdown was a casualty of the SEC’s decision to eliminate divisions. The league can rectify that with this new format.
Tennessee
Annual opponents: Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt
Tennessee still hasn’t won in Tuscaloosa since 2003, but the Vols are 2-1 over the last three years against the Crimson Tide. It’s a scarily similar story with Florida. No victories in Gainesville since… 2003… but the Vols are 2-1 over the last three years against the Gators. Tennessee will get a chance at those marquee road victories this season, as it plays both Alabama and Florida on the road. There should be plenty of opportunities under the new scheduling model, as well.
Texas
Annual opponents: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
As with Alabama, forecasting Texas’ fixed opposition was fairly elementary. There was no love lost between the Longhorns and Arkansas, even while their rivalry lied dormant. Again, Red River is never going anywhere. Perhaps the greatest thing to come from the SEC’s expansion is the resurrection of the Lone Star Showdown. It’s been lopsided in Texas’ favor since the turn of the century. The flames of hatred have not dimmed.
Texas A&M
Annual opponents: Ole Miss, Texas, Vanderbilt
Texas A&M’s abhors Texas so much that its official fight song, the “Aggie War Hymn,” explicitly calls out “Texas University.” That’s the only game the Aggies need as they navigate a nine-game conference schedule. It would have been nice to fit a team like LSU in, but Texas A&M and Ole Miss are similarly situated and should provide some thrilling contests if this projection comes to fruition.
Vanderbilt
Annual opponents: Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas A&M
Kentucky and Tennessee were natural choices here. The Commodores have a combined 216 meetings against those two teams and, with the way they are building under coach Clark Lea, they’ve got the potential to keep things interesting over the next few years. The gap between Kentucky and Vanderbilt isn’t even that large — the Wildcats lead the all-time series 48-44-4, but Vanderbilt has won two of the last three.
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