The SEC just ended a tradition the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns, as newcomers to the conference, never actually embraced. But that's something to be proud of for two programs questioned if they were even SEC ready after leaving the Big 12 over two years ago.
This week during the annual spring meetings in Florida, the SEC after a vote from conference athletic directors decided it will play only conference games during the second-to-last week of the college football season, starting in 2027. That decision ultimately ended the infamous "cupcake week" for the SEC as conference members were known to schedule lesser FCS or Group of Six opponents that week before taking on a rival the next.
SEC ends infamous 'cupcake week' the Sooners or Longhorns never indulged in as newcomers
"That's the end of cupcake weekend," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey joked. "We never got that one sponsored, though."
"It's nine conference games and a recognition that you're populating more weekends," Sankey added. "And so you really cannot have odd numbers of open or nonconference dates later in the season because then that has a backward domino effect in where you place games early. We ran into some of that in the '26 season."
According to CBS Sports, during the three years with OU and Texas as members of the conference, including this upcoming season, SEC teams have scheduled 17 games against weak FCS or Group of Six opponents during that second-to-last week of the season. None, though, have included OU or Texas.
Week 12 last season featured six such games, including Alabama vs. Eastern Illinois, Auburn vs. Mercer, Georgia vs. Charlotte, LSU vs. Western Kentucky, South Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina and Texas A&M vs. Stamford. Only four conference games were played that week in 2025, with the Sooners' 17-6 home win against Missouri being the only ranked-vs-ranked matchup on the slate. Texas hosted Arkansas that week.
The Sooners and Longhorns bucked the SEC's embarrassing FCS trend so hard that they are the only two teams without an FCS opponent at all on their upcoming 2026 schedules as both programs scheduled two Group of Six opponents and a blue blood from the Big Ten to go along with the new daunting nine-game SEC slate.
OU will travel to Ann Arbor to play Michigan in a likely top-15 road game Week 2 and Texas will host Ohio State that same day. The Sooners will also host UTEP for their season opener and New Mexico Week 3 to round out their nonconference slate.
Read more: Oklahoma's 2026 schedule has all the makings for a nightmare but it's nothing new
As for that second-to-last week of the upcoming 2026 season, the Sooners will welcome Texas A&M for what is expected to be another ranked matchup. Texas, somehow, will again play Arkansas in Austin. Meanwhile, four SEC teams will take on FCS foes, including UT-Chattanooga at Alabama, Samford at Auburn, Wofford at Ole Miss and Tennessee Tech at Mississippi State.
The Sooners and Longhorns are very rarely on the same page, but this time they both added more meat instead of cupcakes to their schedule to show the rest of the SEC what it looks like to truly mean more.
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