The Southeastern Conference will institute a nine-game conference schedule in football beginning in the 2026 season.

The vote taken Thursday, Aug. 21 by the conference’s university presidents and chancellors came on the recommendation of the league’s athletic directors and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. In a statement, Sankey says adding a ninth conference game will increase competitive balance and better prepare the conference’s teams to compete and succeed in the College Football Playoff, while also protecting historic rivalries.

Each school will play three annual opponents that the conference says will be focused on maintaining many traditional rivalries, while the remaining six games will rotate among the remaining schools. This will ensure that conference schools will face each other on the gridiron once every two years, resulting in a visit to every conference campus once every four years. The SEC will continue its recent pivot away from divisions, and schools are required to schedule one of their three non-conference matchups against a “high quality” opponent from the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, or Notre Dame.

The move means that Mizzou will have to either reschedule or cancel a non-conference game in each the 2027 through 2031 seasons, as well as 2033.