Trev Alberts Talks on SEC's 9-Game Schedule, Importance of Regular Season
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
The SEC's move to a nine-game regular season was a highly questioned one, especially with discussions of playoff expansion threatening the overall importance of both the regular season and conference championship games.
The 2025-26 College Football Playoff resulted in a contentious online debate, as onlookers questioned the decision-making process of the playoff committee in terms of some teams that were selected for playoff berths. With teams like Notre Dame, Texas and Vanderbilt left out in favor of G6 schools and others with weaker schedules, the need to win every possible game in the regular season is currently top priority.
That also means that the SEC set itself up for a grueling regular season that could result in more teams being knocked out of playoff contention if the bracket doesn't soon expand. Teams within the SEC will be playing fiercer competition for a longer period of time, giving an advantage to other conferences that don't face those same terms.
Texas A&M's Trev Alberts Emphasizes Maintaining Importance of the Regular Season
On the first day of SEC spring meetings, Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts discussed the importance of the regular season in the looming insignificance that a heavily-expanded college football playoff bracket would result in, as well as the move to a nine-game schedule that could possibly have a negative impact on the SEC's number of teams on the playoff bracket without an expansion this season.
Although the move to a nine-game regular season is questionable, Alberts hopes that it assists in emphasizing the importance of the strength that regular season wins should bring to a playoff resume – even in the face of expansion.
"I don't know that there's any regrets … Decisions were made, you move forward. There's lots of different reasons," Alberts said. "I think what people are interested in is, how does this all sort of impact holistically the overall strategy?"
Alberts didn't have a clear answer on how the nine-game schedule will affect that strategy in order to get into the playoff bracket, but said that members of the SEC are doing the research in order to answer that question.
"What is ultimately the number that we're going to end up on? We're getting lots of data, we're getting lots of information," Alberts said. "We're gonna try to consume it and hopefully try to make decisions about what's in the best interest."
In reference to the differences between conferences concerning the importance of the regular season and playoff expansion, Alberts referenced Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko's words: Every commissioner just wants what is best for their conference.
"Our chief challenge is, and Coach Elko is right, every commissioner is doing their job, they're fighting as hard as they can for their membership. Notre Dame's AD is fighting as hard as he can for Notre Dame," Alberts said. "So everybody is doing what they can to support those that they are responsible of serving, and sometimes those may cross purposes in terms of what is in the best interest. So how do you coalesce on something that's good for the enterprise, has increasingly been somewhat challenging to get to."
Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts, on if conference officials have any regrets on jumping to 9-game schedule, without an expanded playoff pic.twitter.com/0o1gzVMJex
– Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace) May 26, 2026
The lack of alignment from conferences in terms of what playoff expansion should look like is the topic of focus during these meetings, and has been throughout the offseason. Big 10 commissioner Tony Petitti has lobbied hard to gain support for the 24-team expansion, while SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is holding out on 16 teams maximum. The two must reach some form of agreement for any expansion to take place.
The SEC is increasingly concerned about the importance of the regular season and keeping the tradition of conference championships. Alberts is also focused on keeping the regular season in the spotlight.
"Sprinting to something else without a little bit more data, without understanding – and, by the way, I want to be very clear, I am not opposed to any number – but I do think it's fair, and I think Greg (Sankey) has been really good in that spot, to be deliberative and be careful, because you can't go back," Alberts said. "And so you got to make really smart decisions about protecting, and I think it's part of what's different about college football."
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tamu as Trev Alberts Talks on SEC's 9-Game Schedule, Importance of Regular Season.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos