SEC announces massive scheduling shift that will likely impact Rivalry Week

One of the best parts about college football is the fact that each and every week, fans get to have their pick of marquee matchups to watch. Because of how much parity there is week in and week out, there are a multitude of interesting games to see during most weekends. 

But of course, there are few weekends during the regular season which are what we like to refer to as snooze-fests. Although there are typically one or two weekends during the regular season, there are a few slates of games that are largely forgettable. A big one is the weekend before Rivalry Week, usually sometime in mid to late November. 

Virtually every year, SEC teams use this week to schedule smaller, usually FCS or non-power schools to play. The week has garnered the nickname "cupcake week" because it allows teams to play what's considered an easier opponent ahead of facing their heated in-state rivals. It also gives teams an opportunity to get key players healthy, and give some reps to players who haven't gotten many during the season.

But that is about to change, as the SEC announced on Tuesday evening that the conference voted to schedule in-conference opponents that week moving forward, starting in 2027. 

While the games against non-power opponents are not going away—the matchups are vital for smaller schools' athletic budgets—they will likely be shifted to earlier in the season. 

For example instead of the Gamecocks playing Coastal Carolina and Wofford before Clemson like they did the last two seasons, South Carolina will play an SEC team moving forward instead. 

Although South Carolina will face its two non-power conference opponents in Kent State and Towson in the first two weeks of the season in 2026, other SEC teams will play their last "cupcake" opponents ahead of rivalry weekend. Before they meet in the Iron Bowl, Alabama will play Chattanooga at home and Auburn will host Samford. Ole Miss is playing Wofford and Mississippi State is playing Tennessee Tech before the two programs clash in the Egg Bowl. The Gamecocks are already scheduled to take on Furman and Appalachian State in Weeks 1 and 2 in 2027.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN that the decision came as a result of the league moving to a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026.

"If we didn't make the decision at this point or decline that, then we'd have to make some nonconference date adjustments," Sankey said via Heather Dinich. "It was timely, that's why it happened now."

"So you really cannot have odd numbers of open or nonconference dates later in the season, because then that has a backward domino effect, and where you place games early, and we ran into some of that in the '26 season," Sankey added. "So this allows more of the backend scheduling, open some things up, so you don't have that late conflict with either open dates or nonconference dates. I think that's the why."

Before South Carolina plays Clemson this year, the Gamecocks are scheduled to take on the Georgia Bulldogs at home. That's far from a cupcake game, to say the least.

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