New SEC schedule is like continuous 'car wrecks' that could lead to a three-loss title contender

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Jon Sumrall opened his weekly team meeting Monday by showing the Southeastern Conference standings.

It was an unusual move with four games left in the regular season. But Sumrall’s reasoning was sound.

He wanted to make sure the 25th-ranked Gators understood their current position and that — even with three losses — they are still in the mix for a spot in the conference title game and, depending on what could unfold elsewhere, the College Football Playoff.

Sound like a reach? Maybe. After all, no three-loss team has ever made the SEC championship since its debut in 1992. But no one should be surprised to see it happen in 2026, not with the way the first two months of the college football season have unfolded and not with SEC teams playing nine-game conference schedules for the first time.

“If we find a way to just go 1-0 every week for the next four weeks, who knows where you stand at that point in the chaos we’re all in in college football right now,” Sumrall said. “If you could find your way to 9-3 at the end, there’s a lot of possibilities that can happen with what else is going on in the world.”

The first 10 weeks have provided countless upsets from coast to coast, with some of the most stunning outcomes coming in the SEC:

Unranked Auburn upset unbeaten Georgia; Alabama dropped back-to-back games for the first time since 2007; middling Oklahoma stunned then-No. 1 Texas; and Kentucky made 2-point conversions in consecutive overtime games to beat South Carolina and LSU.

“The SEC, the schedule, it’s daunting,” first-year Kentucky coach Will Stein said. “There’s great teams every single week, so you have to bring it every single day. … Playing like you’re in a Super Bowl every single Saturday.”

No. 2 Georgia and eighth-ranked Kentucky are the only one-loss teams remaining in the league. The Bulldogs close out SEC play with three ranked teams: at No. 12 Ole Miss, against 19th-ranked Missouri and at No. 23 South Carolina.

Kentucky has an equally challenging slate: at No. 16 Tennessee, against 25th-ranked Florida and at Mizzou.

No. 15 LSU, meanwhile, could be the league’s biggest disrupter in November. Coach Lane Kiffin and the Tigers face the Crimson Tide, the Longhorns and the Volunteers in consecutive weeks, with all of them trying to avoid a third loss.

“You’re going to see really good football teams in this conference 9-3, like really good teams end up 9-3 some years, like teams that in the past may have been 11-1 because you’re adding a game,” Sumrall said. "And it's not just the one game that you add, it’s how it affects your football team’s health and availability for the rest of the year.

“Every SEC game we’ve played, we’ve walked out on Sunday, and I’m like, ’Well, the injury report got a little longer.' … Every week guys don’t realize how beat up they are and then they wake up the next morning like, ‘Oh my gosh, I feel this or feel that.’ It’s like you get in (weekly) car wrecks.”

SEC coaches reluctantly agreed to a nine-game league schedule this season and did so thinking the CFP would expand to 16 or 24 teams. It didn’t happen, leaving coaches facing tougher paths to earning one of the 12 playoff spots.

But the CFP is on the verge of adopting a 24-team playoff beginning in 2027, a move that likely would end the SEC title game. The SEC could be among the biggest beneficiaries; just look at the initial CFP rankings.

The SEC landed 10 teams in the top 24, with Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina and Florida all making the cut. It’s a sign of what could be in store in future years, especially with the selection committee emphasizing strength of schedule.

But getting through November will always be the toughest test. Dealing with roster attrition is just one challenge. Agents are negotiating for more money for players to re-sign and “tampering season’s in full force,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said.

“Players, coaches, everybody is getting bombarded by what are the possibilities at the end of the year,” he added.

Potentially the most eye-opening possibility: a three-loss SEC team playing for a championship. It could happen in 2026 and beyond.

“This league, it’s brutal," Sumrall said. "I’m not making excuses, but we play Florida State every year and then nine. Man, the schedule for everybody is like that. So it’s a different beast.”

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