The SEC Championship game will officially be a thing of the past, beginning in 2027. Thanks to the College Football Playoff officially moving to 24 teams starting next year, the 2026 edition of the SEC title game in Atlanta, Ga. will serve as the game's final chapter.
SEC Football Championship Game to conclude historic 35-year run as College Football Playoff expands: https://t.co/vAmplVAnW7 pic.twitter.com/ZRatt5BrvB
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 9, 2026
Florida has played in the game 13 times, including the five-straight appearances from 1992-1996. The Gators won seven of those 13 appearances, with the last coming in 2008. It's only Jon Sumrall's first season at Florida in 2026, and the Gators are out of the SEC title game hunt.
Jon Sumrall will never get to experience his team reaching or playing in the SEC title game
The SEC Championship Game has produced some great games over the years, several of which included Florida. By far the most memorable was the 2008 game, when Tim Tebow and the Gators upset the undefeated Alabama Crimson Tide 31-20 on the way to a national championship.
There was also the 2020 thriller, which saw the Gators go down 52-46 to Alabama, despite Kyle Trask throwing for 408 yards and three touchdowns. Of course, there were some lows, like the 2016 shellacking against the Tide, and the 2009 32-13 loss to Alabama in the 2008 rematch. Coach Sumrall was asked during his weekly presser about his thoughts on the game going away:
"I haven't put a ton of thought into that yet. I haven't cast out that far. I did have a conversation a while back with [general manager] Dave Caldwell of, like, would you ever see a team that's 10-1 in college football going into game 12 rest players? I don't know if that will happen or not in a year or two from now. But Dave's got that NFL background. And so we sat down, I don't know, a couple weeks ago, and he's like, do you think this ever happened in college?
And I'm like, well, when you're playing a rivalry game at the end, no. I don't think so. But if somebody ever made it to where their schedule, like say game 12, they made their FCS game, some people might start doing some of that kind of stuff as it goes to 24. I'm not saying we're there yet, but we've got Florida State always staying right now. But I do think it will be interesting to see people change their scheduling model. And now that we're moving the season up to week zero, you're going to end up having two buys every year."
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While the CFP expansion made it a certainty that this game was going away, it is a bit sad to see the game coming to an end. Conference championship Saturday was one of the last opportunities for teams to make a lasting impression on the selection committee, and the games being spread out throughout the weekend only added to the drama. The tradition of the game itself also makes it unique, in addition to reaching and playing for the conference title game being a point of pride for players.
But don't take my word for it, here's former Alabama head coach talking about the games going away just last week on the "New Heights" podcast:
"Playing in the SEC championship was a big thing to our players, it was a big thing to our fans," Saban said. "It was a tradition, and it was a great venue. There's only two teams that can play in the national championship, but more teams can play in those kind of championship games, and there's a lot of pride in winning the conference championship."
Coach Sumrall doesn't sound too concerned about losing the chance to play for an SEC title. At Troy and Tulane, his teams played in four conference title games in both the Sun Belt and American Athletic Conference.
But as far as his Florida teams playing for a chance to make it to the SEC title game, Sumrall won't have to worry about that much longer.
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