On Thursday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced a ninth conference game will be added to SEC schedules starting in 2026.

Earlier this week, the College Football Playoff Committee announced that a team’s strength of schedule will take higher precedence when deciding who makes the playoff this season.

The big knock on the SEC in recent years has been that its eight-game in-conference schedule allows teams to add an FCS opponent late in the season to rest key contributors.

I tend to give a lot of grief to the SEC, as the league tends to be sanctimonious when discussing its strength. Fans always have to hear about football running through the SEC, and how it “means more” to those teams. However, I respect the decision to even the number of in-conference games with the Big Ten and Big

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