Report: Alabama, Auburn find out 3 permanent SEC opponents for next four seasons

The Southeastern Conference is set to officially announce football opponents for the 2026-2029 seasons using the new 9-game format on Tuesday.

But half of the news has already been reported with On3 getting an early scoop of each team’s permanent SEC opponents for the next four seasons. And there’s some surprises.

Of course, the Iron Bowl is one of the protected rivalries as are the Third Saturday in October series + the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. But the third protected opponent for both Alabama and Auburn may surprise you.

Here’s the “permanent opponents” for both teams:

• Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State
• Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt

The conference has said it will reassess the protected matchups every four years. The rest of the SEC matchups for the next four football seasons are expected to be announced Tuesday night.

SEC football schedules

The new schedule format dictates every team will play nine conference opponents and at least one other power-four conference (ACC, Big 10, Big 12 or Notre Dame) opponent each season.

Each school will have three annual opponents which will maintain most of the traditional rivalries.

The remaining six games for each team will rotate among the other 12 conference teams which means teams will face every SEC program at least once every two years along with hosting every SEC program every four years.

Here is the complete list of protected opponents reported by On3:

• Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State
• Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, LSU
• Auburn: Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt
• Florida: Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky
• Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
• Kentucky: South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida
• LSU: Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
• Mississippi State: Ole Miss, Alabama, Vanderbilt
• Missouri: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma
• Oklahoma: Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri
• Ole Miss: Mississippi State, LSU, Oklahoma
• South Carolina: Georgia, Kentucky, Florida
• Tennessee: Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
• Texas: Texas A&M, Arkansas, Oklahoma
• Texas A&M: Texas, LSU, Missouri
• Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn

While some of the bigger traditional rivalries like the Egg Bowl or the Red River Rivalry stay in place, there are some matchups that will be missing from the permanent rotation.

Alabama and LSU may be the most noteworthy one as the two teams have met every season since 1964. Kentucky and Vanderbilt extends even further than that, having faced each other each season since 1953.

The SEC will speak further on the protected opponents on the schedule + the remaining conference slate for each team during a special program on SEC Network scheduled for 6PM Tuesday night.

That’s when we’ll find out matchups and sites for schools’ SEC games over the next four years. The dates of games for the 2026 season will be announced in December.

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