MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Light the cigars, folks, and score a noteworthy step toward the preservation of SEC rivalry games.
A longstanding discussion point around SEC circles has been that, unless the conference moves to a nine-game conference schedule, prominent secondary rivalry games like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia could fall off the annual schedule.
But, there’s a conference schedule model on the table that would preserve multiple annual rivalry games for at least some SEC schools, even within an eight-game conference schedule format.
The rivalry games for those teams would come in addition to other rivalries like the Iron Bowl, Florida-Georgia and Oklahoma-Texas.
“We’re attentive to real, key rivalries, and we have (eight-game) models that can accommodate those,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Tuesday.
The conference eliminated divisions after expanding to 16 teams with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas. That prompted a renewed look at schedule format and rivalry preservation. Debate on the SEC’s schedule continues among stakeholders this week at the conference’s spring meetings.
Two years ago, the conference considered two primary schedule models: An eight-game model that would preserve only one rival per team; or, a nine-game model that would earmark three annual rivals per team.
The nine-game model would have assured Alabama would keep playing the Iron Bowl and the “Third Saturday in October” game against Tennessee, after which the victorious team lights cigars.
For Georgia, the nine-game model would mean continuing to play Florida every year, but also keeping alive the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” against Auburn.
The SEC voted in 2023 to retain an eight-game conference schedule for two years. But, the conference devised the eight-game lineup so that it kept key secondary rivalries like Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee on the schedule.
Now, the SEC’s schedule is up for review again. The SEC has not voted on a schedule format for 2026 and beyond.
So, will it be eight or nine games? No verdict yet.
But, even if it stays at eight, that doesn’t mean Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia or Texas-Texas A&M must go on the chopping block. Sankey made that clear Tuesday.
Sankey wouldn’t commit to every SEC team being assigned two rivals within an eight-game schedule model, but keeping multiple rivalry games alive is an option for certain teams.
“We have ideas,” Sankey said.
Sankey would not commit to a timeline on when the SEC will vote on its schedule format for 2026.
One item affecting that decision: The College Football Playoff format for 2026 has not been approved. Multiple athletics directors and coaches expressed reluctance to determine a conference schedule model before the future CFP format is decided.
And, in fact, Sankey said the future playoff format might not be finalized until several months from now. The uncertain nature of the CFP “is a bit of an inconvenient reality, but that’s reality,” Sankey said.
Sankey, at least, sounded open to the SEC deciding the conference’s 2026 schedule format before the playoff format is hammered out.
“You can make decisions about what you can control,” like the conference’s schedule, Sankey said, “and then you can have influence over” the playoff format.
One element within the SEC’s control: Whether to retain primary rivalry games, plus at least some secondary rivalry games. And Sankey made clear that multiple avenues remain to retain some prominent secondary rivalries.
“The conversation about annual games that need to be played has been a focus” for several years, Sankey said.
That’s encouraging news for those wanting to smell the cigar smoke every year after the “Third Saturday in October,” or those who want to see Auburn and Georgia continue a rivalry that dates to 1892.
The rivalries continued throughout the conference’s division era, even though those rivals were in opposite divisions.
Even as the conference swelled to 12 teams, then to 14, and now at 16, Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee have remained a fixture of the SEC’s schedule in every season since World War II.
“We’ve presented (a model) to protect those in an eight-game schedule, going forward,’ Sankey said.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.