Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Kentucky
LSU
Miss State
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
Lead Story: College Football Playoff Set to Double — 24 Teams Coming in 2027
The biggest news of the evening comes from outside any single stadium. The College Football Playoff has reached a "handshake agreement" with ESPN to broadcast a 24-team playoff beginning with the 2027 season, sources told ESPN on Friday. While the deal still has to be finalized on paper, the report marks a significant step toward doubling the current postseason field.
For the SEC, the implications are enormous. A 24-team bracket would dramatically expand postseason access for a conference that routinely stacks the top 25, turning November games that once decided bubble fates into seeding battles instead. Programs that have narrowly missed the field in recent years would suddenly find a much wider door — and the conference's depth would be on national display deeper into December.
There is still work to be done before the agreement becomes official, per ESPN's reporting, but the direction is now clear: the postseason as we know it is about to get much bigger, and the SEC is positioned to fill a healthy share of those 24 slots.
Quick Hits
Kentucky basketball tips off exhibition play tonight against Little Rock at Rupp Arena (7:00 PM ET, SEC Network+, stream only). It's the first live look at the Wildcats since last season's Round of 32 loss to Iowa State — a team led by now-Wildcat Milan Momcilovic, one of the best 3-point shooters the sport has seen in recent years. Momcilovic is healthy after a summer finger injury on his shooting hand, while Kam Williams (foot) and Trent Noah (hamstring) remain out and Jerone Morton (knee) is out indefinitely.
No. 4 Alabama men's golf opens tournament play Saturday at the three-day, 54-hole Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational on the par-72, 7,487-yard Tom Fazio-designed course in Mississippi, per the school. Meanwhile, No. 18 Oklahoma heads east for the Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C., running Sunday through Tuesday.
No. 5 Ole Miss rifle hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to face No. 11 Air Force on Saturday and Sunday in a ranked road test.
Florida diving opened at home with a win over Miami, with Miguel Tovar leading the Gators to a 3-meter victory. Florida finished top-two in both men's springboard events, and the women's springboard exhibition produced strong early-season individual scores.
Georgia soccer (5-4-5, 2-2-3 SEC) hosts Missouri (4-8-2, 1-5-1 SEC) in its home finale, while Texas women's basketball announced its Orange-White Scrimmage for Oct. 21 at 6 PM CT at Moody Center. In Nashville, Vanderbilt's Commodores went undefeated on day one of their 2026-27 season, per the school, and Vandy men's basketball junior guard Tyler Tanner met with the media ahead of the UAB exhibition.
Portal Watch
A quiet night on the transfer front — no new portal activity to report across the SEC in the last 12 hours. With football in the thick of conference play and basketball rosters locked in for exhibition season, expect the wire to stay slow until the calendar forces movement.
Recruiting Buzz
No new commitments came in over the last 12 hours. Georgia did turn up the pregame atmosphere, releasing its Football Game Trailer ahead of the Auburn matchup — the kind of production that doubles as a recruiting pitch every time it circulates.
Games to Watch
A loaded SEC football slate is on deck, headlined by two of the conference's oldest rivalries:
- Auburn at Georgia — The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry renews in Athens, with the Bulldogs rolling out the red carpet.
- Alabama at Tennessee — The Third Saturday in October delivers again as the Crimson Tide visit Neyland Stadium.
- Mississippi State at LSU — Football returns to Death Valley for a morning kickoff, a rare early start in Baton Rouge.
- Missouri at Ole Miss — A matchup with real stakes in the conference race.
- Kentucky at Oklahoma — The Wildcats head to Norman for an SEC cross-division test.
- Florida at Texas — The Gators visit Austin in a measuring-stick road trip.
- Arkansas at Vanderbilt — The Razorbacks and Commodores round out the slate in Nashville.
Per CBS Sports, Week 7's top-25 card is loaded — and the SEC owns the marquee windows. Check back tomorrow night for results from across the conference.
