Conference championship races in the SEC rarely stay tidy, and two teams that usually get treated like background noise could make the 2026 picture a lot messier.
David Kenyon of Bleacher Report put together a list of five under-the-radar teams that could shake up the Power Four championship races, and Missouri and South Carolina were the two SEC programs on it. Both have enough on their schedules - and enough uncertainty around them - to complicate the path for bigger names trying to reach Atlanta.
Missouri keeps getting overlooked, even after putting together a 29-10 record over its last three seasons under Eli Drinkwitz. The Tigers still don’t seem to get the benefit of the doubt around the league, especially with many of their wins over the last two seasons coming against Power Four teams that finished with six or fewer victories.
The biggest issue in Columbia is the defense, since a lot of last season’s production is gone. But the offense has a chance to move forward. Austin Simmons is set to take over at quarterback for Beau Pribula, and whether Ahmad Hardy is in the backfield or not, Missouri looks poised to field one of the SEC’s most dangerous rushing attacks.
The back half of the schedule is where Missouri can really do damage. The Tigers face four 2026 College Football Playoff participants and Texas, and three of those five games - against Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma - come at home. Those are the kinds of chances that can wreck someone else’s conference-title hopes.
South Carolina brings a different kind of danger. Shane Beamer’s run in Columbia has been all over the map: a five-win 2023 season, then a surprising nine-win jump in 2024, then a drop to four wins last season.
But November has been a different story. Under Beamer, the Gamecocks are 14-7 in the final month of the season, with six ranked wins mixed in. That’s the stretch where South Carolina has consistently found a way to create noise.
Texas A&M opens South Carolina’s two November home games. The Gamecocks beat the Aggies 44-20 the last time they played at Williams-Brice Stadium, and Texas A&M had to rally from a 30-3 hole at Kyle Field to avoid its first loss of 2025.
Georgia is the other home date that could matter. The Bulldogs rolled past South Carolina 48-7 the last time they met in Columbia, though that was four years ago and the game started at Noon ET.
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