SEC to Eliminate Cupcake Week Beginning in 2027

May 27, 2026 Michael Brauner Alabama, Alabama, Auburn, Auburn, Featured News
ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 06: Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne leaves the field following the conclusion of the SEC Championship college football game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs on December 6th, 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)

One of the most deeply unpopular weeks of the year in college football, especially in the SEC, has historically come the week before the best week of the year, but it sounds like this is no longer going to be the case.

The week before rivalry week in late November, which has become known in the SEC as “cupcake week” as teams routinely play FCS or non-power four opponents as one final tune up before going at it with their biggest rivals the following week.

According to an announcement from Greg Sankey at the SEC Spring Meetings this week in Destin, the SEC athletic directors have voted to play conference games on this week, with Sankey actually declaring the end of cupcake week.

“Our ADs voted that our schools will play a conference game the next-to-last weekend, beginning in 2027,” Sankey told media in Destin. “We have had a rotation that’s had four teams with non-conference games or even open dates in that next-to-last weekend. I think that’s the end of Cupcake Weekend in late November.”

When asked why this decision was being made, the commissioner cited the new nine-game conference schedule meriting a need for the open week of SEC play moving forward.

“It’s nine conference games and a recognition that you’re populating more weekends,” he said. “So, you really cannot have odd numbers of open or non-conference dates later in the season. Because then that has a backward domino effect in terms of where you place games early. We ran into some of that in the 26th season. This allows more of the back-end scheduling. It opens some things up so you don’t have that late conflict with either open dates or non-conference dates.”

With Alabama taking on Chattanooga and Auburn taking on Samford in this year’s edition — which will take place the week before the Iron Bowl on November 21 — fans will know that it will be the last edition of these games at this point of the season and get moved to earlier in the year.