With the SEC seemingly unwilling to commit to adding a ninth conference football game until it has clarity about upcoming changes to the College Football Playoff, doomsday might be arriving soon for some of the league’s most storied rivalries. Among them: Alabama and Tennessee’s Third Saturday in October game.

Speaking to reporters at SEC spring meetings on Tuesday, league commissioner Greg Sankey was asked whether the league could protect two rivalries per team.

“I’m not committing to that,” Sankey said. “But we’re attentive to real key rivalries and have models that can accommodate those that have been shared and will continue to be shared.”

The SEC is locked into its current format for the 2025 season. The league’s teams will play their same opponents from 2024, with Alabama seeing Tennessee on the schedule.

Sankey said that the league has discussed models that would keep key rivalries in an eight-game format before.

“We’ve been protected in these two years,” Sankey said, of the seasons following Texas and Oklahoma joining the league. “So the conversation about annual games that need to be played has been a focus since August of 21 when we had our first gathering of athletics directors and talked about what the schedule might look like. We have a renewal of a rivalry (Texas- Texas A&M) as well. So it’s not only those that have always been played.”

Most publicly known long-term models for an eight-game schedule would see schools keep one yearly game on their schedules. For Alabama, that will likely be the Iron Bowl against Auburn.

The Crimson Tide’s long-standing games with Tennessee, along with LSU, could be left with more sporadic meetings. It’s a possibility that UA athletics director Greg Byrne also acknowledged on Tuesday.

“The rivalries mean a lot to all of the institutions involved,” Byrne said. “The Iron Bowl, Third Saturday in October, those are times that all the fan bases identify with at the institutions. And (in) reality, when we went to as many teams as we have now in the SEC, one of those would probably suffer if we have to stay to eight.”

Alabama and Tennessee wouldn’t be the only game on the chopping block. Tennessee’s rivalry with Florida might not make it, alongside Auburn and Georgia’s yearly game and more.

Under a nine-game format, teams could have three yearly opponents.

“If you go to nine, you might have some more flexibility with what that looks like,” Byrne said “But I wouldn’t like to see (the Tennessee rivalry go away). But I also realize that things are going to evolve and change. It would be a sad time if that were to happen, but also, you have to deal with reality.”