The dates for the first nine-game SEC schedule were released Thursday, and all eyes are on Sept. 19, when Lane Kiffin and LSU return to Ole Miss after Kiffin's dramatic exit for Baton Rouge last month.
Among other marquee games scheduled for 2026: Georgia travels to Alabama on Oct. 10 after they split two matchups in 2025. Alabama won in Athens and Georgia won in Atlanta in the SEC title game.
On Nov. 14, Arch Manning returns to his home state of Louisiana with Texas to face LSU, as former USC and Alabama colleagues Steve Sarkisian and Kiffin face off.
On Nov. 21, Kiffin leads LSU into Knoxville against Tennessee, which also was jilted by Kiffin after one season in 2009.
Kiffin is one of six SEC coaches in new places: Pete Golding at Ole Miss, Will Stein at Kentucky, Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas, Alex Golesh at Auburn and Jon Sumrall at Florida.
Stein debuts in the SEC's first league matchup on Sept. 12, when Alabama travels to Kentucky. There are two other marquee matchups that week, when Oklahoma travels to Michigan and Ohio State visits Texas. The following week, Alabama gets a home rematch against Florida State, which beat the Tide in Week 1 of the 2025 season, and Sumrall and Golesh meet in the first Florida-Auburn game on the Plains since 2011.
On Rivalry Week, Texas at Texas A&M remains on Friday, Nov. 27, but the Egg Bowl moves to Saturday, with Mississippi State facing Golding and Ole Miss in Oxford, along with the Iron Bowl, with Auburn visiting Alabama.
The new format also allows for some new fan experiences. On Sept. 26, Texas visits Neyland Stadium and Tennessee for the first time in history for a battle for UT supremacy. On Oct. 17, Kentucky visits Oklahoma for the first time in 46 years, and the Sooners travel to Mississippi State for their first meeting. Texas A&M rekindles an old Big 12 rivalry against Oklahoma in Norman, the first time the two have met since 2011.
In order to work out the new scheduling rules, some teams will play road games for a second straight year against the same team, such as Arkansas, which returns to Texas, and Texas A&M, which returns to Missouri.
The additional conference game has limited the amount of programs playing smaller teams in nonconference matchups in Week 12, traditionally a tune-up game before rivalry week. This year, there are just four such games on Nov. 21: Alabama (UT-Chattanooga), Auburn (Samford), Ole Miss (Wofford) and Mississippi State (Tennessee Tech).
The league also sought to preserve three annual rivalries for each team, with the remaining six games rotating among the remaining schools. Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent in a home and away over a four-year span.
As part of the restructured schedule, the league said each school will be required to schedule at least one Power 4 opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Notre Dame.
The top two teams in league standings based on winning percentage will play in the SEC Championship in Atlanta on Dec. 5.