The SEC will play conference games in the next-to-last weekend starting in 2027 instead of FCS and weaker FBS teams
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The SEC is done filling up on late-season cupcakes.
The conference’s athletic directors voted Tuesday at its spring meetings to all play conference football games on the second-to-last week of the regular season beginning in 2027. It ends the traditional warm-up weekend when most SEC programs played inferior FCS or lower-tier FBS opponents before their typical rivalry games on the final week of the season.
“That’s the end of cupcake weekend,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey joked. “We never got that one sponsored, though.”
SEC leaders have discussed moving away from late-season “cupcake” games for the last several months, Sankey said. The conference is set to expand its conference schedule from eight to nine games with the upcoming season, making it crucial for the SEC to capitalize with bigger games later in the schedule.
“It’s nine conference games and a recognition that you’re populating more weekends,” Sankey said. “And so you really cannot have odd numbers of open or non-conference 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.”
Loading up on cupcakes
Nonconference results for SEC teams last season and scheduled for this season on the penultimate week of the regular season.
| 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Alabama 56, Eastern Illinois 0 | UT-Chattanooga at Alabama |
| Auburn 62, Mercer 17 | Samford at Auburn |
| Georgia 35, Charlotte 3 | Wofford at Ole Miss |
| LSU 13, Western Kentucky 10 | Tennessee Tech at Mississippi State |
| South Carolina 51, Coastal Carolina 7 | |
| Texas A&M 48, Samford 0 |
The schedule on that weekend has never been impressive in the SEC. Over the last three years, the SEC played 17 nonconference games and only 13 conference games. The SEC was 16-1 in those nonconference games, which all featured FCS or Group of Six opponents.
Last season that weekend featured only four conference games and six “buy games” against inferior opponents. Three SEC teams played FCS opponents, highlighting the noncompetitive nature of the weekend with an average score of 55-6. Three more SEC teams scheduled Group of Six schools. Those games ended with an average score of 33-7.
The four conference games in the SEC that weekend featured only one ranked-against-ranked matchup: No. 8 Oklahoma‘s 17-6 victory against No. 22 Missouri.
In contrast, the Big Ten has played 23 conference games and zero nonconference games on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season over the last three years.
The SEC announced in August its decision to move from an eight-game conference schedule to nine beginning with the 2026 season. Each school will play three annual opponents, including traditional rivals, with six games rotating against the remaining schools in the 16-team conference. SEC teams are required to schedule at least one nonconference game against a power conference opponent.
The move naturally led to the cancellation and rescheduling of several high-profile nonconference games. Alabama canceled a home-and-home series with West Virginia, and Florida canceled series against NC State and Cal to prepare for the nine-game SEC schedule. Texas also canceled a home-and-home with Arizona State that was set to begin in 2032.