The SEC on Thursday announced that starting in 2026, member programs will play nine conference games instead of the previous eight. With the new model, SEC teams will play a same three opponents every year to help maintain traditional rivalries that we grew to love in college football, but have become almost extinct because of conference realignment.
With the Oklahoma Sooners just now entering Year 2 in the SEC alongside long-time rival Texas, one annual opponent is already a lock, but the conference newbies have to find two more and maybe even create new annual rivalries with it.
Read more: Oklahoma’s SEC life gets even tougher with new 9-game schedule mandate
3 future Sooners SEC rivals
Texas Longhorns
Everyone knows the Sooners and Longhorns will still meet the second Saturday of October in the Cotton Bowl at the heart of the Texas State Fair. Even with so much change in college football, and OU and Texas even causing some of the major shifts, the Red River Rivalry still remains untouched.
But, now, Sooner Nation needs at least one more date to always circle on the calendar no matter the season.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Shortly after the news broke, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was on "The Paul Finebaum Show" on SEC Network and said that geography could be a factor when the conference chooses each team's three annual games.
Arkansas is the closest SEC campus to Norman, and for some OU fans in Green Country, Fayetteville might even be a shorter drive than Norman from home. In fact, Oklahoma State is the only Power Four program that's closer to OU.
This rivalry has made sense to me for some time now, especially since OU's move to the SEC. The Razorbacks have never been great, but will always have a passionate fan base and an incredible season every so often. For the most part, though, it will be a punching bag for the Sooners that will still always count as a solid win. Basically, this could be the Sooners' new Bedlam.
Alabama Crimson Tide
If we're looking to up competition and draw more eyes to the SEC, then why not pit two of the most storied college football programs in history against each other every single year? That would never get old.
While most rivals hate the other's color, this would be a battle of two crimson squads with timeless looks and programs. And although each program has its own long tradition, there's also now some history already between the two after OU's miracle upset last season in Norman. That's what college rivalries are supposed to be -- even when one team doesn't have a chance, there still is one.
Sooner Nation or Alabama fans would never have a problem getting pumped for this meeting, and the rest of the college football world would turn it on every year, too.
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