The SEC presidents voted to keep the conference schedule at eight games for the 2024 season during the latest meetings. Texas and Oklahoma join that season, making the SEC a 16-team league. Still, a lack of extra investment and pushback by at least half of the league kept the group from moving to nine games. 

The major difference between a potential eight- or nine-game conference schedule is a matter of permanent opponents. In the current eight-game setting, only one team would be a permanent fixture on each team’s yearly schedule. For Texas, that would be Oklahoma. For Texas A&M, LSU would likely the be the yearly matchup. 

A nine-game schedule opens the league to adopt a 3-6 model of three fixed opponents and six rotating games each year. That would allow each team in the SEC to play the other 13 non-fixed opponents at least twice every year. It would also allow rivals such as Texas A&M and Texas to play on a yearly basis. The reports suggest that the rivalry between the Aggies and Longhorns will be renewed in 2024 even in an eight-game schedule. 

The most likely scenario is that the SEC eventually moves to a nine-game schedule in 2025 and beyond with a 3-6 model ultimately preferred when ESPN decides to pony up to the table. It seems unlikely that ESPN, or the SEC, would allow secondary rivalries such as Alabama vs. LSU to only be played twice every four seasons.