What does a 9-game SEC schedule imply for Georgia soccer? Listed here are three to issues to know – On-line Athens

Georgia football and the remainder of the SEC will play 9 convention video games beginning within the 2026 season.
The announcement by the league on Thursday, Aug. 21, got here after years of debate about whether or not the convention schedule ought to enhance from eight to 9 video games.
SEC athletic administrators beneficial the transfer to 9, which was accepted by SEC presidents and chancellors, the league introduced.
“Shifting to a nine-game schedule is the fitting transfer in sustaining the SEC’s place because the chief in faculty sports activities,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks stated in a press release. “I wish to thank Commissioner (Greg) Sankey for his super management. His mission of accelerating aggressive steadiness, whereas defending rivalries which are vital to all our followers aligns with our targets on the College of Georgia.”
So what does it imply for Georgia, which has gained the SEC championship 5 instances because the SEC went to eight video games in 1992, together with final season?
Listed here are three issues to learn about Georgia and the nine-game schedule
Florida and Auburn are secure bets.
Sankey stated the nine-game “format protects rivalries.” The league assertion stated the three annual opponents are “targeted on sustaining many conventional rivalries.”
The opposite six video games will rotate among the many remaining convention colleges. Each SEC workforce will go up in opposition to each different SEC program not less than each two years and each opponent residence and away in 4 years.
The ‘Cocktail Get together’ in opposition to the Gators has been a 3:30 p.m. fixture in late October/early November. It’s transferring to Atlanta in 2026 and Tampa in 2027 because of stadium building in Jacksonville.
The Auburn recreation — the Deep South’s oldest rivalry — goes again to 1892.
Below a nine-game SEC schedule, that leaves three nonconference video games for the 12 common season video games.
The SEC mandates every workforce should play an ACC, Large Ten or Large 12 opponent or Notre Dame every season.
Georgia yearly performs in-state rival Georgia Tech.
The Bulldogs have scheduled not less than two nonconference energy convention video games yearly by means of 2034, so changes will probably be within the offing.
In 2026, the Bulldogs even have video games lined up with Louisville, Western Kentucky and reportedly Tennessee State. Georgia has P4 groups in 2027 in opposition to Florida State and Louisville, in opposition to Florida State once more in 2028 and Clemson in 2029. Ohio State and Clemson are each on faucet for 2030.
The Aggies began SEC play in 2012, however the Bulldogs nonetheless haven’t performed their first league recreation in School Station and it’s not on the schedule this season.
There was hope that after Texas and Oklahoma joined the expanded 16-team league in time for convention play final season, {that a} street recreation in opposition to the Aggies was coming.
It didn’t occur. SEC groups are enjoying the identical opponents this season, simply with the areas flipped.
So perhaps, simply perhaps, we’ll get Georgia at Texas A&M in 2026. It has to occur, proper?

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