CLEMSON — As everyone knows by now, the SEC is moving to a nine-game conference schedule, which the league announced Thursday night following the approval of the league’s presidents and athletic director. It will go into effect beginning in 2026.

What does this mean for Clemson?

Few teams have played SEC teams as much as Clemson has, as the Tigers have played 25 games versus SEC opponents in the College Football Playoff era, which began in 2014. Clemson is 15-10 in those 25 meetings against SEC competition.

By the way, the Tigers’ 60-percent win percentage against those SEC foes would rank fifth in the current SEC.

Of course, Clemson opens the 2025 season against LSU on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson. The Tigers also play archrival South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., in the regular-season finale.

Will they play the Bayou Bengals next season in Baton Rouge, La., which is currently on the schedule? Will they still play the Gamecocks on a yearly basis, which they have done every year since 1909, with the exception of the COVID year in 2020.

The South Carolina question is easy to answer – yes. It appears the South Carolina rivalry will not be affected by the SEC’s new conference schedule.

As for Clemson’s return trip to Baton Rouge in 2026? We will see, but it appears they will, based on what we are hearing.

However, Clemson’s future matchups against Georgia and Oklahoma could be on the chopping block, according to sources.

The Tigers are currently scheduled to play Georgia four times beginning in 2029. The two longtime rivals will also meet in 2030, 2032 and 2033.

Clemson is scheduled to play Oklahoma in a home-and-home series in 2035 and 2036.

But those games might never happen, according to our sources, and here is why.

In a story written by ESPN’s Heather Dinich this past Wednesday, she wrote the CFP selection committee will use enhanced metrics to help evaluate schedule strength and how teams perform against their slate.

In the current schedule strength metric, more weight will now be applied to games against strong opponents. A new, added metric of “record strength” will help the committee determine how teams performed against their schedule, rewarding those that beat high-quality opponents while minimizing the penalty of losing to one. These changes will also provide minimal reward for beating a lower-quality opponent while imposing a greater penalty for losing to one.

Historically, the selection committee typically has evaluated in this manner but adding it to a computerized metric should help codify the process publicly.

With these new metrics, we are told Clemson wants to keep the Georgia and Oklahoma series on the schedule. The ACC—at the moment—is the only power conference with eight league games. Because of their annual rivalry game with South Carolina, plus the 12-year Notre Dame series which was announced in the Spring and begins in 2027, Clemson will have 10 Power 4 games every year until 2029, when it will have 11 for the first time.

The Tigers are scheduled to play Georgia, Notre Dame and South Carolina in 2029. It will be the same for Clemson in 2030, 2032, 2033, 2035 and 2036, with Oklahoma scheduled to replace Georgia in 2035 and 2036.

In the years it plays Clemson, Georgia will have 11 Power 4 games. The Bulldogs will play their nine SEC games, Clemson, plus Georgia Tech.

However, our sources tell TCI, if Georgia wants to play 11 Power 4 games, then Clemson will oblige because it does help Clemson’s strength of schedule metric.  But if Georgia does not want to play 11 and everybody else is playing 10 or less, then Georgia will probably call and cancel the series, and Clemson would mutually agree to it if that happens.

But as one sources told TCI, who knows what the college football world will look like by 2029.