Alabama Football to Play Additional Conference Game Starting in 2026

After long talks, the Southeastern Conference announced on Thursday that teams will play nine conference games apiece instead of eight starting in 2026.

“Adding a ninth SEC game underscores our universities’ commitment to delivering the most competitive football schedule in the nation,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.

“This format protects rivalries, increases competitive balance, and paired with our requirement to play an additional Power opponent, ensures SEC teams are well prepared to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff.”

The SEC has played eight conference games each season since 1992, when the conference first expanded from 10 to 12 teams with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina.

The conference laid out the effects of the new guidelines:

The SEC will continue with a single-standings, non-divisional structure.
Each school will play three annual opponents, focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries.
Each team’s remaining six games will rotate among the remaining conference schools.
Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.

Additionally, SEC teams are required to schedule at least one additional high-quality non-conference game against the ACC, Big Ten or Big 12 conferences or Notre Dame each season.

“The SEC has established itself as the leader in delivering the most compelling football schedule in college athletics,” Sankey said. “Fans will see traditional rivalries preserved, new matchups more frequently, and a level of competition unmatched across the nation.”

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne released a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday evening.

"The implementation of a nine-game Southeastern Conference football schedule illustrates our league’s commitment to evolving with the changing landscape and creating even more high-profile matchups," Byrne wrote. "This is a win for our program, student-athletes, fans and all of college football.

"With the addition of a ninth SEC game, we will evaluate our future nonconference schedules. Roll Tide."

This news comes just one day after the College Football Playoff committee announced that "the current schedule strength metric has been adjusted to apply greater weight to games against strong opponents."

SMU earned the last spot in the CFP over Alabama last season, but the Crimson Tide's strength of schedule far exceeded the Mustangs'. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and Byrne assessed the committee's decision on Dec. 8, 2024, and emphasized that the strength of schedule was not utilized enough, despite the committee stating its importance in the guidelines.

"We want to play competitive games, we want to play the best games and I understand how it didn't feel like that. It definitely wasn't rewarded," DeBoer said. "It felt like with our schedule and the wins that we had against teams that were ranked––now or even at the time––LSU was at the time, but not anymore.

"We have said that we would need to see how the strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP, " Byrne said. "With this outcome, we will need to assess how many P4 non-conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football."

The boost from eight to nine SEC games should help Alabama when the College Football Playoff committee deliberates strength of schedule prior to Selection Sunday on Dec. 7.

Read More: