SEC bends the knee to the Big Ten, changes Georgia's future schedules forever

Changes are coming to SEC football in 2026 that will significantly impact the college football landscape for years and years to come. The Big Ten has been attempting to convince the SEC to join them in playing nine conference games every season, and unfortunately the SEC has finally caved.

According to multiple reports, the SEC has announced that they will start playing nine conference games every season beginning in 2026.

SEC follows Big Ten's lead by playing 9 conference games

There are a lot of reasons why this decision from the SEC makes no sense. But the biggest reason is because the SEC already has more difficult schedules than the Big Ten every season. This year alone the SEC has 15 of the 16 most difficult schedules in the country, so adding a ninth conference game will make the SEC and Big Ten schedules not even comparable.

The other problem with this that is going to significantly impact Georgia is that they now have to make some tough decisions with their future nonconference schedules. Georgia already has four nonconference opponents scheduled for the 2026 season, so they are going to have to drop one of those games. More than likely they will cancel their road game at Louisville because why would they want to play 11 power four opponents in one season after accounting for their annual rivalry with Georgia Tech.

So the Bulldogs unfortunately won't play as many fun and new nonconference matchups anymore because of this decision by the SEC.

Key features of SEC schedule change

There were a few other key details shared by the SEC when it comes to how they will structure their 9-game conference schedules. Every team will play three opponents every season to help keep rivalries in tact. Georgia likely will get Auburn and Florida as two of their three annual opponents, but the third opponent could be any other team in the SEC.

The other six conference games will rotate between the rest of the SEC teams every season meaning Georgia will face every SEC school at least once every two years. This structure also means that Georgia will play at least one home game against every SEC team every four years.

Eventually this change will become normal, and some fans may even end up enjoying it. But it is unfortunate that the SEC decided to do exactly what the Big Ten has been begging them to do for years.