Alabama

Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia could be kept in smaller SEC schedule

Published

9 months ago

May 27, 2025

Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia could be kept in smaller SEC schedule

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Light the cigars, folks, and score a noteworthy step toward the preservation of SEC rivalry games.

A longstanding discussion point around SEC circles has been that, unless the conference moves to a nine-game conference schedule, prominent secondary rivalry games like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia could fall off the annual schedule.

But, there’s a conference schedule model on the table that would preserve multiple annual rivalry games for at least some SEC schools, even within an eight-game conference schedule format.

Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia and Texas-Texas A&M are among the rivalry games that could be preserved within a continued eight-game format.

The rivalry games for those teams would come in addition to other rivalries like the Iron Bowl, Florida-Georgia and Oklahoma-Texas.

“We’re attentive to real, key rivalries, and we have (eight-game) models that can accommodate those,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Tuesday.

The conference eliminated divisions after expanding to 16 teams with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas. That prompted a renewed look at schedule format and rivalry preservation. Debate on the SEC’s schedule continues among stakeholders this week at the conference’s spring meetings.

Two years ago, the conference considered two primary schedule models: An eight-game model that would preserve only one rival per team; or, a nine-game model that would earmark three annual rivals per team.

The nine-game model would have assured Alabama would keep playing the Iron Bowl and the “Third Saturday in October” game against Tennessee, after which the victorious team lights cigars.

For Georgia, the nine-game model would mean continuing to play Florida every year, but also keeping alive the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” against Auburn.

The SEC voted in 2023 to retain an eight-game conference schedule for two years. But, the conference devised the eight-game lineup so that it kept key secondary rivalries like Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee on the schedule.

Now, the SEC’s schedule is up for review again. The SEC has not voted on a schedule format for 2026 and beyond.

So, will it be eight or nine games? No verdict yet.

But, even if it stays at eight, that doesn’t mean Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia or Texas-Texas A&M must go on the chopping block. Sankey made that clear Tuesday.

Sankey wouldn’t commit to every SEC team being assigned two rivals within an eight-game schedule model, but keeping multiple rivalry games alive is an option for certain teams.

“We have ideas,” Sankey said.

Sankey would not commit to a timeline on when the SEC will vote on its schedule format for 2026.

One item affecting that decision: The College Football Playoff format for 2026 has not been approved. Multiple athletics directors and coaches expressed reluctance to determine a conference schedule model before the future CFP format is decided.

And, in fact, Sankey said the future playoff format might not be finalized until several months from now. The uncertain nature of the CFP “is a bit of an inconvenient reality, but that’s reality,” Sankey said.

Sankey, at least, sounded open to the SEC deciding the conference’s 2026 schedule format before the playoff format is hammered out.

“You can make decisions about what you can control,” like the conference’s schedule, Sankey said, “and then you can have influence over” the playoff format.

One element within the SEC’s control: Whether to retain primary rivalry games, plus at least some secondary rivalry games. And Sankey made clear that multiple avenues remain to retain some prominent secondary rivalries.

“The conversation about annual games that need to be played has been a focus” for several years, Sankey said.

That’s encouraging news for those wanting to smell the cigar smoke every year after the “Third Saturday in October,” or those who want to see Auburn and Georgia continue a rivalry that dates to 1892.

The rivalries continued throughout the conference’s division era, even though those rivals were in opposite divisions.

Even as the conference swelled to 12 teams, then to 14, and now at 16, Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee have remained a fixture of the SEC’s schedule in every season since World War II.

“We’ve presented (a model) to protect those in an eight-game schedule, going forward,” Sankey said.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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Alabama

Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch

Published

10 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.

No. 17 Alabama has won seven straight games and is eyeing an eighth on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Tennessee. This is the second time that Crimson Tide will face the Volunteers, as Alabama lost in Tuscaloosa in January.

The loss a month ago to head coach Rick Barnes and company brought UA’s losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It’s the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974). It’s why Oats is not treating Tennessee as a faceless opponent or like any other team the Tide has faced.

“Every year we’ve been here they’ve caused us issues,” Oats said during Friday’s press conference. “Our players, are fully aware that we’ve lost five in a row. They’re fully aware of what happened out there last year. I’ve taken ownership for my share of what happened up there last year.

“We’re fully aware that they beat us at home. We haven’t lost very many home games in conference, period, really since we’ve been here, and they handed us one this year.”

After falling to Florida on Feb. 1, Alabama moved down to the ninth spot in the conference standings, and the college basketball world started to question whether or not the Crimson Tide would be a threat in the postseason.

But a switch flipped after that loss, and the current winning streak has Alabama tied for the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings. Everything seems to be trending in the Tide’s direction, as there are only three games remaining on the schedule.

Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama’s head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.

Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference’s regular-season champions in 2023-24.

“So our guys know, but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of respect for how they play and what they do. We’ve got to come in with a healthy amount of respect for them, but we got to try to win this game.

“There’s a lot riding on this game. What happens in Arkansas-Florida, you’re either going to be all alone in second place if we could get a win, or you’re going to be one game out first. If you take a loss, now you’re in danger of losing a top-4 seed. They’ll be tied with us if we take a loss.”

“So there’s a lot riding on the SEC standings in this game here. They know that. They know what our struggles against Tennessee have Been as well.”

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Alabama

Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city

Published

22 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city

SELMONT, Ala. (WSFA) – An unincorporated community in Dallas County is seeking to establish itself as an independent city, hoping to gain control over local government services and community priorities that have long been managed at the county level.

Selmont, located across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, is home to approximately 2,700 registered voters and carries a significant place in civil rights history.

The community was the site of a pivotal moment during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, when roughly 600 civil rights marchers were tear-gassed by Alabama state troopers, including 13-year-old Mae Richmond.

“People ask us ‘Were we afraid?’ No. We were not afraid. We were not afraid, first of all, even as a 13-year-old child, we knew that we were doing what God was permitting us to do,” Richmond, a 60-plus year resident of Selmont, said of the historic event.

As an unincorporated community, Selmont lacks its own municipal government. Residents must contact the Dallas County Commissioner for public works services. It’s a situation that community leaders say limits responsiveness to local needs.

Erice Williams, a community activist leading the incorporation effort, said the change would fundamentally alter how the community operates.

“It would give us decision power and allow us to get funding that we can allocate to our own community that we can make our own priorities be clear and resolved at the same time,” Williams said.

Williams also highlighted the strain on current county services. “Connel Towns (county commissioner) is the only person we have to call, and the resources and time that he would have to serve our community is very limited,” he said.

Operation Selmont, the group spearheading the incorporation effort, is currently gathering signatures on a petition to present to the local probate judge. The organization needs approximately 500 signatures to move forward with the incorporation process and has already collected 40 percent of its goal.

The next meeting for Operation Selmont is scheduled for March 6 at 6 p.m.

For longtime residents like Richmond, incorporation represents an opportunity to ensure Selmont’s future and maintain its identity for generations to come.

“That we will be able to teach and train our children to give them the strength that our foreparents had that they will be able to stand up for justice and for equality,” Richmond said of her hopes for the community’s future.

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Alabama

Report: Sen. Tuberville, Speaker Ledbetter uniting behind proposal to close Alabama party primaries: ‘Democrats shouldn’t be voting in our elections’

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Report: Sen. Tuberville, Speaker Ledbetter uniting behind proposal to close Alabama party primaries: ‘Democrats shouldn’t be voting in our elections’

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville and Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) announced support on Thursday for closing Alabama’s primary elections to only registered members of each party.

Alabama does not currently have party registration. Instead, voters choose a party ballot at the polls. State law also bars voters from switching parties between a primary and that cycle’s runoff.

Tuberville (R-Auburn) said during a press call with in-state reporters that Democrats have no place voting in Republican elections in Alabama.

“There’s a lot of talk about this,” Tuberville said.
“I’ve spoken with Speaker Ledbetter and we agree that we have to do something about Democrats voting in our elections. They shouldn’t be doing it. I know he’s moving a bill forward very very soon as we speak, and if we can get that done, I think it’s gonna help the cause of the conservative Republicans in the State of Alabama.”
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Under Alabama’s current open primary system, any registered voter can participate in either party’s primary without declaring a party affiliation.

Voters simply choose which party’s ballot they want at the polls. Alabama does not require partisan voter registration, meaning residents register without declaring themselves a Republican or Democrat.

The push to close the Republican primary is not new.

The Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) passed a resolution in 2022 calling on the Alabama Legislature to require party registration before voters can participate in a party’s primary, but the Legislature did not act on it at the time.

Closing the primary would require changing state law under Ala. Code 17-13-7, which governs the existing open primary system.

“I am proud to work with Coach Tuberville to begin the process of closing Alabama’s primary elections,” Ledbetter said in a statement on Thursday after lawmakers adjourned from the 17th day of the 2026 legislative session.

“Alabamians have made it clear that this is the direction our state needs to begin moving in, and I am committed to doing just that. Whether it was passing school choice, banning DEI, or making Alabama the most pro-life state in the nation, the Alabama Legislature has consistently delivered on its commitment to conservative governance, and we will do the same on this issue. We are in the process of reviewing the proposals before us and are eager to get the ball rolling.”