9 SEC games, starting in 2026

#177
#177
jbeeman85 said:
It should be Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Alabama if they are truly protecting traditional rivals.

Some people may say Florida and Georgia are traditional but those didn't really become rivals until the division split in 1992. Ole Miss and Auburn are both more traditional rivals than either Florida and Georgia. I think Vols have still played Ole Miss and Auburn more times than Florida or Georgia despite playing them 30+ years straight.
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Brother, they've played that game over 100 times lol
 
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#178
#178
Delmar said:
Rest assured there will be 3 Little Sisters of the Poor along with 9 conference games on most SEC schedules from 2026 on out. Unless of course the “super league” comes to fruition and then who knows how that shakes out.
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Nope. SEC mandated each team play 1 power 4 team (Big10, Acc, Big 12 in addition to the 9 game sec schedule. Tennessee had better strap it up, the schedule just got exponentially harder. 2 cupcakes and 10 that can beat you.
 
#179
#179
Vol_guy said:
Yall are focused too much on the 3 permanent opponents.

I'm more concerned about the rotating 6.

Could you imagine playing Texas, Georgia, LSU and Florida all in the same season?
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how is that any worse than how we've had to play Florida Bama Georgia plus a couple other top 25 teams every stinking year?
 
#181
#181
OmahaOmaha said:
Nope. SEC mandated each team play 1 power 4 team (Big10, Acc, Big 12 in addition to the 9 game sec schedule. Tennessee had better strap it up, the schedule just got exponentially harder. 2 cupcakes and 10 that can beat you.
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lol the only difference is going from 3 cupcakes to 2.

Tennessee has proven the other 9 teams could beat us 😂 😂 😂

things got really hard because of the expansion. adding Texas and Oklahoma make things way worse than this change does
 
#182
#182
jbeeman85 said:
Here's a list I came up with a few years ago. I tried to take into account tradition and geography. I looked at a all time head to head list for each team to determine some opponents (Bama vs Miss St at least at the time was one of the most played games).
No consideration was given to "strength" of opponents as that can swing over time.

Tennessee: Vandy, Ky, Bama
Alabama: Aub, Miss St, Tenn
Arkansas: Mizz, Texas, TXA&M
Auburn: Bama, Fla, Ga
Florida: Aub, Ga, SC
Georgia: Aub, Fla, SC
Kentucky: SC, Tenn, Vandy
LSU: Mizz, Miss St, Ole Miss
Miss St: Bama, LSU, Ole Miss
Missouri: Ark, LSU, Okla
Oklahoma: Mizz, Tx, TXA&M
Ole Miss: LSU, Miss St, Vandy
South Carolina: Fla, Ga, Ky
Texas: Ark, Okla, TXA&M
Texas A&M: Ark, Okla, Tx
Vanderbilt: Ky, Ole Miss, Tenn
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Mizzou/Scar. Battle of Columbia.
 
#183
#183
UTFranklinVol said:
because Tennessee has been plagued for years having to play both Florida and Bama on the road the same season which is almost always two automatic losses. we need to break that up.
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Or play better. Even so make one home and away. I just dont get the argument on how we'd be getting screwed when it's due to our own ineptitude and Bama might have UT, LSU, AUB, and Florida might have UT, UGA, LSU, etc.
 
#185
#185
Vol865 said:
Or play better. Even so make one home and away. I just dont get the argument on how we'd be getting screwed when it's due to our own ineptitude and Bama might have UT, LSU, AUB, and Florida might have UT, UGA, LSU, etc.
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"or play better" how has that worked out the last 20 years? 😂 😂 😂
 
#186
#186
UTFranklinVol said:
lol the only difference is going from 3 cupcakes to 2.

Tennessee has proven the other 9 teams could beat us 😂 😂 😂

things got really hard because of the expansion. adding Texas and Oklahoma make things way worse than this change does
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OK then. If you think the schedule going from 8 sec games to 9 and includes a mandated power 4 opponent matters less than Texas/Okie joining the Conference, Take a look at Tennessee's 2025 schedule. Tennessee has 6 probable wins . That will drop in 26. Adding another SEC game will take a toll on every team. They will be that much more beaten up. Wasted breath, I know. OH, and Tennessee will play EVERY sec team within 2 years and home/away every 4! That will be the most demanding schedule we have ever seen! Uga, Uf, Txs, Lsu, OM, Aub, Okie SC, Mzoo, Ark, every 2 years on top of bama every year. Plus a Power 4. Hello??
 
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#187
#187
OmahaOmaha said:
OK then. If you think the schedule going from 8 sec games to 9 and includes a mandated power 4 opponent matters less than Texas/Okie joining the Conference, Take a look at Tennessee's 2025 schedule. Tennessee has 6 probable wins . That will drop in 26. Adding another SEC game will take a toll on every team. They will be that much more beaten up. Wasted breath, I know.
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I didn't say that it mattered less. I said things had already gotten real bad with conference expansion. tennessee already played a power 4 non con game pretty much every single year so no change there. the only difference is losing one cupcake game. does that suck? yeah, but it already sucked real bad when you have 5 or 6 top 25 opponents on your schedule and 2 or 3 in the top 10. it was already brutal.
 
#190
#190
UTFranklinVol said:
I didn't say that it mattered less. I said things had already gotten real bad with conference expansion. tennessee already played a power 4 non con game pretty much every single year so no change there. the only difference is losing one cupcake game. does that suck? yeah, but it already sucked real bad when you have 5 or 6 top 25 opponents on your schedule and 2 or 3 in the top 10. it was already brutal.
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It's fixing to be 8 top 25 teams on Every SEC team's schedule. Plus a probable top 25 OOC opponent. Depth will be the key to success/failure.
 
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#192
#192
OmahaOmaha said:
OK then. If you think the schedule going from 8 sec games to 9 and includes a mandated power 4 opponent matters less than Texas/Okie joining the Conference, Take a look at Tennessee's 2025 schedule. Tennessee has 6 probable wins . That will drop in 26. Adding another SEC game will take a toll on every team. They will be that much more beaten up. Wasted breath, I know. OH, and Tennessee will play EVERY sec team within 2 years and home/away every 4! That will be the most demanding schedule we have ever seen! Uga, Uf, Txs, Lsu, OM, Aub, Okie SC, Mzoo, Ark, every 2 years on top of bama every year. Plus a Power 4. Hello??
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We are going to have a 16-team playoff. It's not like we are doing this in the BCS era.
 
#193
#193
zjcvols said:
We are going to have a 16-team playoff. It's not like we are doing this in the BCS era.
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Exactly. Fans are going to have to understand that it’s not 1989 anymore where anything less than a 1 loss season is a failure. There is going to be a 9-3 team make a playoff run and win a national title in the not too distant future.
 
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#194
#194
zjcvols said:
We are going to have a 16-team playoff. It's not like we are doing this in the BCS era.
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this is true but imagine playing a brutal regular season schedule and then having to survive possibly 4 more games against the best teams in the country.

all of a sudden the odds go way down fo any one team to win it all vs the days when you could have a fairly easy schedule and walk into the BCS championship and play one good game and win it all. this new system will be way WAY harder
 
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#196
#196
zjcvols said:
Brother, they've played that game over 100 times lol
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We would still see Florida and Georgia every other year anyways.

Ole Miss and Auburn were apparently rivals at one time that were lost with the divisional split.

I feel like Arkansas and Missouri were also pretty good rivals/opponents for us. I love to hate both of them.
 
#198
#198
Voltopia said:
Now you watch. Tennessee will have to surrender one of its oldest rivalries - likely Kentucky - so big baby Bama can be happy too. "What!? They get Vanderbilt and Kentucky? That's not fair!"

That means that this -
View attachment 765850-will go away as a rivalry so those loathsome gumps will shut up about it.

(Georgia would probably complain too, but, you know, TSIO, until the end of time).
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Tennessee and bama will find a way to hate each other after humanity is gone. This is the way.
 
#199
#199
zjcvols said:
Tennessee, Bama, Auburn, Vandy

South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky

Mississippi, Miss State, LSU, Missouri (or Arkansas)

Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Arkansas (or Missouri)
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Swap vandy for ole piss and you got a deal. I know I'm in the minority but I don't care if we play vandy every year. My first memory as a vol is ole piss in Memphis. I miss ole miss
 
#200
#200
dobre_shunka said:
SCAR also considers Tennessee a rival and the SEC has to find 3 teams for them to play. So losing UK as an annual opponent seems likely
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I think you are more likely to lose Alabama than Kentucky and that would suck. I want to go back to the old conference of when I was a kid in the 80s. I miss the bowl games and conference tie ins.
 
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