As discussions continue about what changes the College Football Playoff will see, the SEC is also beginning to debate changes to the format of the SEC Championship game.
While nothing is set in stone yet, it is likely that the CFP will expand once again to 14 or 16 teams beginning in 2026. On top of expansion, the SEC is also pushing for the conference to receive four automatic bids into the playoff which is much larger than the one spot they are guaranteed in the current CFP.
If these changes are put in place, how would the SEC determine who their four teams will be that go to the playoff? The easy answer is just basing it off the regular season standings and sending the top four teams to the playoff, but that option is not even being discussed according to On3's Pete Nakos.
As future CFP formats are examined, conferences are looking into reinventing championship weekends.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) February 21, 2025
Sources confirmed to @On3sports that early discussions for the SEC have included the possibility of 3 and 4 games. We mocked them w/2024 rankings.
Read: https://t.co/iaJWuh9VCJ pic.twitter.com/j4aVuG5kWs
Potential New SEC Championship Weekend
According to Nakos, the SEC is discussing two options for their SEC Championship game weekend if the CFP does expand in 2026 and the conference gets four automatic qualifiers. The first option is the first image above where the top two teams in the conference still play in a traditional SEC Championship game. The winner would be crowned champions of the SEC, but both teams would still get in the CFP regardless of the result.
The other two games that would take place this weekend would be to determine who the other two SEC representatives are in the CFP. The 3-seed would play the 6-seed and the 4-seed would play the 5-seed with the two winners earning their spot in the College Football Playoff.
The second option in the bottom image is similar to the first, except there is no longer an SEC Championship game. The SEC Champion would likely be determined solely off the regular season results with the No. 1 team winning the conference. During conference championship weekend however, the top eight teams in the SEC would all play one game where the four winners would earn a spot in the CFP. The 1-seed and 8-seed would play as well as the 2-seed and 7-seed and so on.
There's no indication which option the SEC is leaning towards, but hopefully it is the first option listed. That way there can still be a traditional SEC Championship game with the top two teams getting in the CFP no matter what. If the SEC picks the second option, then Georgia football would not have won the SEC, which based on how last season played out doesn't seem right.
But with how crazy the sport is now, who knows what's going to happen. The only thing that is a guarantee right now is that there will be drastic changes, so we'll just have to wait and see what the powers at be fall on.