AUBURN — The SEC finally made a long-awaited shift to its scheduling model Thursday, announcing the league will have a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2026, moving on from the eight-game model it had since 1992.

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, and the new format is built to "protect rivalries," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a release.

That last detail is vital for Auburn football , which would've faced a daunting crossroads had the league permanently stuck with an eight-game model, which was expec

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