The SEC waited too long to implement a nine-game conference schedule.
By next year, once the 24-team playoff arrives, it’ll be outdated.
Back to the drawing board?
The conference’s membership dragged its feet for several years before finally adding the ninth conference game this season. The format is perfect for this final year of the SEC Championship and last installment of the 12-team College Football playoff.
With SEC divisions extinct and the conference at 16 teams, the addition of a ninth conference game increases the chance that the two-best teams will gravitate to the top of the SEC standings.
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The ninth conference game also gives the SEC extra muscle in strength of schedule debates that are critical to determining the seven at-large bids within the 12-team playoff.
Once this season ends, though, the SEC would be smart to dial back to eight conference games.
Yep, I said it.
9-game SEC schedule not built for 24-team playoff era
I long advocated for the SEC to add the ninth conference game, but that was before college football’s postseason format made a hard pivot.
This schedule format was not designed with the extinction of the SEC Championship game and a 24-team playoff in mind.
In this bold — and stupid? — new postseason future, fewer conference games and more meaningful nonconference clashes could buoy the SEC.
Might be a worthy idea for the Big Ten, too.
Back in the four-team playoff era, an extra conference game wouldn’t have hurt the SEC. The SEC champion was always going to make the four-team bracket. Anyway, Nick Saban could’ve handled nine SEC games. After all, Saban handled 10 during the pandemic. Alabama in 2020 disproved any notion that an SEC team couldn’t survive a beefed-up conference schedule and rumble through the playoff.
When divisions went away and the conference swelled to 16 members, I thought a ninth conference game made even more sense.
How could you select two teams for the SEC Championship with a straight face when each team played only half the conference?
But, after this December, Atlanta becomes a chapter in the SEC history book. Scheduling strategy should change accordingly.
Big Ten, SEC could battle it out on field, rather than relying on debate
Within the landscape of a 24-team playoff, when the selection committee must sift through handfuls of 9-3 and 8-4 teams to determine the final bids, a second Power Four nonconference game for every SEC team could be a more useful measuring stick than a ninth conference game.
Think about it, what better way for the SEC to assert its claims of superiority than to play more regular-season games against the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12?
We’re already seeing that boost the SEC this season.
So far, the SEC is 10-2 in games against the ACC, Big Ten or Big 12. That’s reflected in the CFP rankings, with the committee giving the SEC lots of love.
Double down on that record next year, and the SEC would take a 24-team playoff by storm.
SEC vs. SEC is great for ESPN, the conference’s media partner. That’s the main argument to preserve a nine-game conference schedule.
But, viewed strictly from a playoff standpoint, more Power Four nonconference games could further the SEC’s bid-stacking goals.
We’ve seen how this works in college basketball. In 2025, when the SEC qualified 14 teams for March Madness, it dominated its Power Four peers in nonconference play, including a 14-2 record in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
The selection committee took notice.
[ This column first published in our SEC Unfiltered newsletter. Want more commentary like this? Sign up here to get the newsletter delivered free to your email inbox. ]
If the CFP committee must decide between an 8-4 Big Ten team and an 8-4 SEC team for the final spot next year, what would help the SEC more, a ninth conference game or a 14-2 record in a B1G-SEC Challenge?
You don’t need me to tell you the answer.
Also, if the Big Ten wants more respect from the selection committee, shouldn’t it crave more opportunities to prove itself against the SEC in September and stuff a sock in the “Just Means More” battle cry?
With a 24-team playoff on the horizon and conference championship games going away, the Big Ten and SEC should increase their number of interconference clashes.
Eight conference games + two Power Four non-conference games + two cupcakes.
That’s the savvy strategy.
Why beat up on each other within the same conference, when the SEC and Big Ten could otherwise prove themselves against each other on a field in September?
Why rely on brand and propaganda, when you could point to a head-to-head interconference record?
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: I used to love SEC football schedule. Now, it's out of date | Opinion
