Aug 22, 2025
Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) reacts throughout an NCAA school soccer follow in Austin, Texas, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (AP Photograph/Eric Homosexual)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Southeastern Convention is shifting to a nine-game convention schedule starting in 2026, ending a yearslong debate and doubtlessly easing a path towards one other enlargement of the Faculty Soccer Playoff.
The change was authorized by convention presidents and chancellors Thursday. It beforehand had been really useful by league athletic administrators.
“Including a ninth SEC sport underscores our universities’ dedication to delivering essentially the most aggressive soccer schedule within the nation,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey stated. “This format protects rivalries, will increase aggressive stability, and paired with our requirement to play an extra Energy opponent, ensures SEC groups are nicely ready to compete and succeed within the Faculty Soccer Playoff.”
The SEC has performed eight convention video games every season since 1992 when the convention expanded to 12 groups with the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Convention nonetheless performs eight league video games. The Massive 12 and the Massive Ten already play 9.
Attending to 9 ought to enhance energy of schedule arguments for the SEC shifting ahead, regardless that the convention has stated for years its eight-game slate is extra daunting than different leagues’ 9 video games. The change got here at some point after the CFP choice committee stated it should place extra emphasis on energy of schedule when figuring out which groups make the 12-team discipline.
The committee stated the schedule energy metric has been adjusted to use larger weight to video games towards sturdy opponents. A further metric, file energy, has been added to transcend a crew’s schedule energy to evaluate how a crew carried out towards that schedule.
Underneath the SEC’s new format:
— The league will proceed with a single-standings, non-divisional construction;
— Every college will play three annual opponents centered on sustaining many conventional rivalries;
— Every crew’s remaining six video games will rotate among the many remaining convention colleges; and
— Every crew will face each different SEC program a minimum of as soon as each two years and each opponent dwelling and away in 4 years.
SEC groups are required to schedule a minimum of one further non-conference sport towards a crew from the Atlantic Coast, Massive Ten or Massive 12 conferences — or Notre Dame.
“The SEC has established itself because the chief in delivering essentially the most compelling soccer schedule in school athletics,” Sankey stated. “Followers will see conventional rivalries preserved, new matchups extra incessantly, and a stage of competitors unmatched throughout the nation.”
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