The SEC cares so deeply for its rivalries that it once built its interdivisional schedule model around preserving the Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee games. And those matchups don’t even rank as the No. 1 rivalry for those schools.
Then, the SEC built an eight-game conference schedule model for the 2024 and 2025 seasons that retained primary and prominent secondary rivalries after the conference expanded to 16 teams.
The two-year schedule format to accommodate Oklahoma and Texas joining the league served as a stop gap while conference brass continued to mull a long-term schedule plan.
SEC officials have, for years, debated increasing from an eight- to a nine-game conference schedule. The league membership consistently decided to stay at eight.
The SEC must soon consider that age-old question again, with a scheduling solution needed for 2026 and beyond.
The SEC spring meetings, which begin May 27, offer a stage for the schedule debate to revive. Oklahoma and Texas could help tip the vote to approve expansion.
The rivalry tentacle attaches to the debate. A nine-game conference schedule offers avenues to annually retain not only primary rivalries, but also secondary rivalry games. Continuing with an eight-game schedule probably would mean dialing back secondary rivalries that the SEC steadfastly protected for so long.
Some matchups like the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl and Red River are non-negotiable. They’re going nowhere, no matter the format. The importance of other rivalries varies based on factors such as your age, where you’re from, and the extent to which history matters to you.
Here’s how I rate the conference’s 10 best rivalries, some of which likely would go on the chopping block if the eight-game schedule persists in perpetuity.
1. Alabama-Auburn (Iron Bowl)
Instate rivalries hit differently, especially when that state is football-crazed Alabama. As an Auburn fan once said, the Iron Bowl isn’t life or death. It’s much bigger than that. There been national title implications and memorable moments that serve to add to the lore.
2. Oklahoma-Texas (Red River)
When the SEC added Oklahoma and Texas, the conference didn’t just gain two iconic brands, it acquired one of college football’s best rivalries. Most games are better when played on college campuses, but this one at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas stands as an exception to that rule.
3. Mississippi-Mississippi State (Egg Bowl)
Mississippians’ chosen side in this rivalry points not just to their allegiance, but to their identity. Opposing sides don’t just dislike each other. They despise each other. This rivalry often features a dash of zaniness. When Ole Miss won the game in 1926, fans of both teams stormed the field. Rebels fans went for the goal posts, and Mississippi State (then Mississippi A&M) fans rushed to fight Ole Miss fans.
4. Florida-Georgia
This rivalry touts its own hall of fame dedicated to the series. The longtime designation of this rivalry as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” sums up the vibe for this game played in Jacksonville, Florida.
5. Texas-Texas A&M
Thanksgiving week felt incomplete during the 12 seasons this rivalry went dormant after the Aggies left the Big 12 for the SEC. The SEC’s addition of Texas rekindled the series. This game packs its stiffest punch when scheduled for Black Friday, like it is this year. The Texas fight song and the Aggie War Hymn each includes a line needling their in-state rival.
6. Alabama-LSU
LSU counts as many rivals as any SEC team, but none is more collectively hated than Alabama. You can thank Nick Saban (and copious amounts of liquor in Louisiana) for that. LSU fans even burned Saban in effigy in 2008. Vitriol for Saban aside, this game became one of the nation’s most influential clashes throughout the 2010s.
7. Auburn-Georgia
As the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry,” no SEC series touts more history. Georgia’s stretch of 11 victories in the past 12 matchups dulled the luster of a series that once delivered such thrills as the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare.” Throughout its history, this ranks as one of the SEC’s most evenly matched rivalries.
8. Alabama-Tennessee
Saban’s dominance took some shine off this series, but the Vols renewed vigor to “The Third Saturday in October” after they upset Alabama in 2022, then tore down the goal posts and baptized them in the river. This rivalry features a distinct smell. When cigar smoke wafts through the stadium, you know the outcome has been decided.
9. LSU-Mississippi (Magnolia Bowl)
The rivalry that supplied Billy Cannon’s Halloween run and “The Night the Clock Stopped” found its peak stride the past few seasons. Fans from the winning side stormed the field in each of the past three years. This rivalry is not as heated as some others, but its games usually supply rich entertainment value.
10. Florida-Tennessee
This rivalry lacks the tradition of others, but at its crescendo in the 1990s and early 2000s, this September clash charted the course for SEC supremacy. The game peaked when it pitted Steve Spurrier against Phillip Fulmer, but, even now, animosity lingers between these fan bases.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com. Follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC football’s rivalries ranked as schedule expansion debate looms
