It just means more in the Southeastern Conference.
On Tuesday, the SEC officially announced the matchups and pairings for each member with the newly updated nine-game conference schedule through the 2029 season, including who will be each program's three protected annual rivalry games.
The SEC announced in August that it was moving to a nine-game conference schedule starting next season, a decision that put them in line with the Big Ten and Big 12 and later had the ACC follow suit. Each SEC program will have three permanent rivals and six rotating opponents for the next four years, after which the SEC will revisit the schedule pairings and make potential changes to the three annual rivalry games.
Here's what to know about the SEC's schedule release through the 2028 college football season:
SEC football annual opponents
The SEC officially announced Tuesday the pairings of the three teams that each SEC team will face annually through 2029. The annual opponents for each team were determined with the following factors, according to the SEC: traditional rivalries, competitive fairness, geography and alignment with non-Conference home and away commitments.
Here's the pairings for each SEC team:
- Alabama: Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee
- Arkansas: LSU, Missouri, Texas
- Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt
- Florida: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina
- Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
- Kentucky: Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee
- LSU: Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
- Mississippi: LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma
- Mississippi State: Alabama, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
- Missouri: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
- Oklahoma: Ole Miss, Missouri, Texas
- South Carolina: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky
- Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
- Texas: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
- Texas A&M: LSU, Missouri, Texas
- Vanderbilt: Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee
SEC football 9-game schedules from 2026-29
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Oklahoma
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Here is Texas A&M's SEC schedule through the 2029 season:
Texas
Vanderbilt
Here is Vanderbilt's SEC schedule through the 2029 season:
SEC 9-game schedule format
On top of the three annual opponents that each SEC will play, the remaining six conference games each season will be comprised of a rotating schedule among the remaining conference schools. In other words, each team will face the remaining 12 teams in the conference once in a two-year span. Over a four-year span, every team will host and visit every SEC stadium (except in the case of neutral-site rivalries).
Additionally, another key component in the SEC's nine-game schedule is that each SEC team must annually schedule at least one additional high-quality non-conference game from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference or Notre Dame.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC announces 9-game football schedule, annual rivalries through 2029 season
Reporting by John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect