Billy Napier gives take on SEC adopting 9-game conference schedule
What is Billy Napier’s approach to the Southeastern Conference adopting a nine-game league schedule? You guessed it … spot the ball.
“There’s positives and negatives that come from this,” Napier, the Florida Gators’ head coach, said. “But I do think in general, I have no control over it. So we’ll show up and play whoever they put out there.”
The SEC, which currently—and for many years—has played an eight-game league slate, announced last week it would move to nine games starting in 2026. Under the new nine-game conference schedule, SEC programs will have three permanent opponents each season—and six rotating opponents every year. Additionally, SEC teams will have to play at least one additional “high quality” non-conference opponent from among the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Notre Dame.
Like so much of what happens in college sports, money certainly was a driver behind this. Napier admitted as much Monday.
“I think our game continues to evolve,” Billy Napier said. “There’s a demand for revenue. Now that you have the burden of the rev-share from a budgetary standpoint, you’ve got to do some things to create more revenue. There’s certainly an appetite for it with the fans. And look, the game continues to be more popular than ever, and we’ve got a great league.”
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For Florida, playing difficult schedules is nothing new so the change probably won’t be much of an adjustment. The Gators have consistently had one of college football’s most challenging slates for decades. In addition to the eight SEC games UF has played annually, Florida faces FSU each year and often has a second Power 4 program on the schedule. This season, the Gators play both FSU and Miami.
As Nick Schultz of On 3 noted, “The SEC’s scheduling decision has been a key topic of discussion the last few years, and it became even more important around the College Football Playoff discussion. The SEC and Big Ten have most of control regarding the CFP’s future, and they were at odds about expansion. That’s where the conference schedule came into play.”
On3’s Brett McMurphy reported last week the Big Ten would not support a 5-plus-11 College Football Playoff format – the five highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large teams – if the SEC stayed with its eight-game schedule. That’s the format SEC schools seem to favor.
