AUBURN — The SEC will move to a nine-game conference schedule for the 2026 season, it announced Thursday, giving Auburn football an additional league foe.

Previously, the league had used an eight-game conference slate, which began in 1992 when it expanded from 10 to 12 members.

Officially, the new model will take a 3-3-6 format, with member schools playing three nonconference games, three permanent SEC opponents and six rotating SEC teams. Under the model, each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent home and away in four years.

“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 release. “This format protects rivalri

See Full Page