The Southeastern Conference announced on Sunday it has voted to preserve the existing eight-game conference format for football. Each school will face six divisional opponents and two non-divisional opponents, one of which will be permanent. Those permanent games are:
- Alabama (west) vs. Tennessee (east)
- Arkansas (west) vs. Missouri (east)
- Auburn (west) vs. Georgia (east)
- LSU (west) vs. Florida (east)
- Ole Miss (west) vs. Vanderbilt (east)
- Mississippi State (west) vs. Kentucky (east)
- Texas A&M (west) vs. South Carolina (east)
In addition, the league decided to add a strength of schedule component which requires each school to play one ACC, Big 12, Big Ten or Pac-12 opponent on an annual basis.
“The announcement from our conference office regarding future football scheduling assures that the Tennessee-Alabama game, one of college football’s most historic rivalries, will continue on an annual basis moving forward,” Tennessee Director of Athletics Dave Hart said . “Chancellor Cheek and I have strongly and consistently advocated that this rivalry be preserved regardless of any other outcomes resulting from conversations about football scheduling.”