Ranking the Top SEC Matchups for the 2026 Season

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The SEC has set the conference games for the 2026-2029 seasons to much fanfare. The conference has reset its scheduling with three permanent league opponents per team, and has now filled out the rest of the conference schedules for each league member.

While we don't have dates for these games yet, we do know that they'll be taking place.

Red River is always a special rivalry, but the 2026 edition has a chance to be one of the best quarterback matchups we've seen in the showdown in a decade.

At the time of writing, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is flying up draft boards. But he also just had surgery on his throwing hand and is expected to miss some time due to the injury. If he's out for an extended period, could he consider returning for his senior season?

Texas will run Arch Manning out for what is expected to be his final season of college football in 2026. It's been an up-and-down season for Manning in his first year as a starter in 2025, but he has all the tools to figure things out quickly.

This has a chance to be a showdown of two of the best quarterbacks in college football next season - and perhaps two of the top NFL draft prospects as well.

The 2026 edition of Georgia and Alabama will mark just the fifth time since 2010 that these two teams have met in the regular season. All indications are that these two teams will be among the SEC's best in 2026.

It will likely be the final season of Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams at the college level, and he'll certainly be looking to leave his mark on the rivalry.

The 2024 tilt between the two schools was a thriller - won by the Crimson Tide in large part due to the play of the freshman Williams.

This year, the 2025 matchup on Sept. 27 is one of the most highly anticipated contests of the season in the SEC.

Expect the 2026 game to bring similar juice.

Like many of the top SEC games in 2026, this one also centers around quarterback play. Texas A&M's Marcel Reed (should he return to school) should be one of the best the conference has to offer. As will Missouri's Beau Pribula, who has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league thus far in 2025 in his first year with the Tigers.

This is an old Big 12 rivalry renewed in the SEC, and it's great to have it back. The 2026 edition should be a good one, especially if Mizzou's Eli Drinkwitz continues his prowess in the transfer portal to keep up with the expensive rosters like the ones we've seen at A&M.

Speaking of Big 12 rivalries renewed, the 2024 tilt between Texas and Texas A&M at the end of the regular season gave the Aggies an opportunity to play spoiler in their once annual rivalry game. In the first matchup between the schools in 13 years, the Longhorns survived a rock fight, 17-7, and lived to tell the tale as they punched their ticket to the SEC title game.

The teams are set to meet at the end of the 2025 season once again, and while there's a lot of football left to be played, there's a chance this year's game could be for a berth in the SEC championship.

With A&M's Reed and Texas's Manning in tow, the 2026 contest could be every bit as good in an annual rivalry renewed.

Assuming Lane Kiffin is still in Oxford (keep an eye on Florida), the matchup between the Rebels and Georgia Bulldogs in 2026 could be one of the most exciting games of the season in the SEC.

Georgia hangs its hat on winning in the trenches and running the football, while Ole Miss runs a wide open spread offense with plenty of offensive playmakers under Kiffin. It's a clash of styles between an offensively minded head coach in Kiffin and a defensively minded head coach in Kirby Smart.

Ole Miss won decisively in 2024 in Oxford, and Georgia will try to exact some revenge in an important game in the middle of league play this season on Oct. 25.

Expect the 2026 meeting to once again play a role in the pecking order of the SEC.