With the SEC Expanding to 9 League Games, Here Are Oklahoma's Best Options for Permanent Rivals

The Southeastern Conference will move from 8 to 9 games next year, and the Sooners will take on three permanent rivals every season.

Oklahoma Sooners take the field | BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN-Imagn Content Services, LLC

Thursday’s news that the SEC has finally decided to switch to a nine-game conference schedule from the long-standing eight-game format starting next fall with the 2026 season has rekindled a favorite topic among Oklahoma fans.

Who should the Sooners’ three permanent SEC rivals be?

With a nine-game schedule, the best working model is that the 16 SEC members play annual matchups against three permanent opponents and six rotating opponents among the league’s other 12 members.

🚨 @SEC to implement nine-game conference football schedule beginning in 2026, reinforcing the SEC’s position as the nation’s leader in competitive excellence and fan excitement.

🔗 https://t.co/pMhRTuZGu0#SECFB x #ItJustMeansMore pic.twitter.com/NqzseBDd4E

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) August 21, 2025

The real appeal there is that in addition to each program either building new or adding to intense rivalries, every SEC member will play every other SEC member within a two-year span, and every team will play at every SEC venue at least once every four years. That’s appealing to the fans who enjoy traveling to opposing SEC venues, to the fans who enjoy welcoming enemy fan bases to their town, and to recruits and their families who can leave their hometown and virtually guarantee they’ll be able to come back and play in front of friends and family (if only they’ll stay out of that darned transfer portal).

There’s one school that works best for Oklahoma in either of those models: Texas. Nobody with any level of intelligence would suggest putting the Red River Rivalry on even a one-year hiatus. Oklahoma-Texas are permanent rivals. The SEC, which can come across as a little arrogant at times telling everyone how great its many, many traditions are, has already acquiesced to not touching the annual showdown between its newest members.

But who else do OU fans want to see every year?

It’s a lively debate.

There seems to be an assumption that, because they were in the Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 for like, 100 years, that OU fans should view Missouri as a natural rival. Maybe. History can be important. And some in Sooner Nation probably do.

But when one team owns a series record 67-25-5 like Oklahoma owns the series with Mizzou, that’s not a rivalry. It’s an obligation. Last year’s crazy game in Columbia – which the Tigers won thanks to some last-minute heroics by Mizzou (and some last-minute chokes by the Sooners) was a good reminder of how inhospitable the Missouri fan base can be. They’re loud, and they’re excitable, and they can be a handful – especially when the opponent is wearing Crimson and Cream and displays an interlocking “OU” on the helmet.

Jackson Arnold's fumble in the final minutes cost Oklahoma the game against Missouri last year. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

But OU fans – probably something on the order of 80 or 90 percent – just don’t feel the passion for playing Mizzou in the same way that Tigers fans do playing the Sooners. To be honest, Sooner Nation seems pretty ambivalent about playing Missouri again.

Still, with Missouri and Texas A&M as the SEC’s most recent additions before OU and Texas – and with their most recent conference affiliation being with the Big 12 – the SEC has to look at the newcomers with practicality. The conference has a whole bunch of other traditional rivalries it feels the need to protect, so just in terms of seniority, Mizzou and OU rank at or near the bottom. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

A lot of OU fans won’t care for it, but that’s how it has to be.

They might rather play an annual matchup against LSU. And maybe that’d be a good one just for the spectacle of the game itself. OU fans generally enjoyed their visit to the Bayou last season – even if the team did not. The Tigers to the south have a tendency to put 5-star talent on the field and occasionally chase national championships, while the Tigers to the north don’t do much of either. Why not take what more often than not amounts to an easy win in a truly challenging conference schedule?

So pencil in Missouri for now.

Figuring out the Sooners’ third rivalry game gets pretty complicated.

Alabama?

Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings celebrates during the Sooners' upset victory over Alabama. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Last year’s home finale was fun for the fans who mobbed Owen Field, no doubt. But for a program that averaged 10-plus wins and routinely won the conference crown during its Big 12 membership, do you really want to have to face the Crimson Tide every year? Not that OU should be afraid of any program. Historically speaking, the Sooners are at the top of just about any discussion. But this would be two of college football’s bluest of blue-bloods – and, well, it would produce the opportunity for a lot of losses, even with Nick Saban comfortably in retirement.

Visiting Tuscaloosa would be high on the to-do lists of a lot of Oklahoma fans. Like OU fans learned when they recently visited South Bend or Columbus or Lincoln (or are making plans next year to visit Ann Arbor), it’s truly one of the cradles of college football. No doubt Tuscaloosa retailers would feel the impact of Sooner Nation descending on their burg.

Florida?

That seemed to be the team of choice as a third permanent opponent for OU any time the nine-game schedule was discussed in the interim period between 2021 and 2024. We know OU fans do enjoy a good trip to the Sunshine State, although that’s always been to the Orange Bowl and South Beach. Would they turn out for semi-annual visits to the north central part of the state? Gainesville is inland from the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not even in the Panhandle, like Florida State was in 2011. It’s kind of land-locked. To landlubbers from Middle America, would that even feel like Florida?

Oh, and then there’s the football. Urban Meyer showed what the program is capable of. But the Gators haven’t exactly been a buzz-saw since he left, posting nine winning seasons (four of 10 wins or more), five losing seasons and a record of 99-71 record. Florida is on their fourth coach since Meyer stepped away 14 seasons ago.

What about Texas A&M?

Well, it turns out that DeLoss Dodds’ long-ago prediction that A&M joining the SEC would open “just a sliver down the side” of the fertile recruiting grounds around Houston and South Texas was just a bit off. The SEC’s welcoming of the Aggies back in 2012 kicked open the door for the league to feast on all those talented recruits. OU has always had a recruiting pipeline to the area, but playing the Aggies every year would only widen that flow.

Among college football’s great underachieving programs, Texas A&M sits firmly at the top of the list. After going 68-61 in league play 16 seasons in the Big 12, the Aggies are just 57-48 in conference games in 12 seasons in the SEC – despite the largest alumni base and the wealthiest boosters. Why wouldn’t Oklahoma want open another recruiting vein while also beating up on a perennial underachiever?

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Why not Arkansas?

The Razorbacks are attractive because they’re just across the border and, honestly, there’s not much actual history between the two programs. Creating that rivalry from the ground up just for the sake of proximity is tantalizing. There’s some real opportunity there for just pure regional dislike.

Unfortunately, Arkansas as a region offers very little to Oklahoma in the recruiting game. The Sooners have certainly produced some good players who hailed from the Natural State (Keith Jackson, Jim Files, Ralph Neely, Danny and Mark Bradley stand out), but not many. Also, as a winnable game, Arkansas would top the list. The Razorbacks have just three 10-win seasons since joining the SEC in 1992, with a 104-152 conference record.

A&M would be the best choice for Oklahoma, but the Aggies already have built-in permanent rivals with Texas and LSU. Maybe the SEC would do them a favor and sprinkle in someone from outside the region. Alabama has a long line of teams who want to be the Tide’s permanent rivals. Arkansas offers little more than border hate.

So perhaps Florida is the team that wins this particular derby. The Gators already have one of college football's best rivalries with Georgia, and an annual matchup with LSU is strong. Alabama also fits their needs, but someone’s going to have to compromise.

Our pick? It’s Texas A&M.

What will the SEC decide? We think Florida.