- Many historic rivalries like the Iron Bowl are preserved, but others like Alabama-LSU will no longer be played annually.
- These annual opponent assignments are set for the next four years and will be re-evaluated afterward.
The SEC’s annual rivalries are set, at least for the next four years.
The SEC will move to a nine-game conference schedule beginning next season. Each team in the conference will be assigned three annual opponents, while the other six opponents will rotate.
Many of the SEC’s top rivalries will be preserved through the annual opponent assignments, but some rivalries, such as Alabama-LSU, will not be maintained on an annual basis.
The USA TODAY Network confirmed each school’s annual opponents with a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the schedule not being released publicly.
Here are each SEC school’s football annual opponents:
Alabama: Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt
Florida: Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina
Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
Kentucky: Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee
LSU: Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Mississippi: LSU, Mississippi State, Oklahoma
Mississippi State: Alabama, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
Missouri: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
Oklahoma: Ole Miss, Missouri, Texas
South Carolina: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky
Tennessee: Alabama, Kentucky, Vanderbilt
Texas: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M
Texas A&M: LSU, Missouri, Texas
Vanderbilt: Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee
Preserving prominent rivalries, as well as geography, were a priority in the assignment of annual opponents.
The Iron Bowl and Egg Bowl will continue to be played during rivalry week in the final week of the regular season.
The SEC will roll out its full conference schedule for the next four years on Tuesday. The annual assignments will undergo evaluation after the initial four years of the nine-game SEC schedule and could be changed after that four-year period.
The rivalry assignments will form one-third of the conference schedule. Every SEC school will play its non-rival assignments twice in a four-year span. While much focus will go on the varying strengths of the collections of three annual opponents assigned to each school, the SEC crafted schedules and evaluated competitive fairness by considering the overall strength of the full nine-game assignments.
Along with Alabama-LSU, rivalries that no longer will be maintained on an annual basis include Florida-Tennessee, a rivalry that peaked in the 1990s, as well as Florida-LSU. Those series will be played on an alternating-years basis within this four-year schedule block, with the home site flipping.
While Alabama-LSU, Florida-Tennessee and Florida-LSU stood out as notable rivalries dropped from the annual docket, Auburn-Georgia and LSU-Ole Miss were among longstanding secondary rivalries preserved by these assignments.
The SEC will join the Big Ten and Big 12 in playing nine conference games. The ACC plays eight conference games.
In addition to the nine-game SEC schedule, each school must schedule at least one nonconference game against an opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Notre Dame, for a minimum of 10 games against power-level competition.
The Big 12 and Big Ten do not not require their membership to play a nonconference opponent from a power league.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.