REPORT: LSU to play Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Arkansas as annual opponents

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

By Hunt Palmer

LSU and Alabama won’t play annually moving forward.

According to On3’s Chris Low, the Tigers’ annual opponents in the initial nine-game SEC schedule will be Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Arkansas. The annual opponents are to be reevaluated every four years according to the league.

BREAKING: Annual SEC College Football opponents for the next 4 seasons per @clowfb👀 https://t.co/nm9NpSUTc2 pic.twitter.com/G0X3qkgJq7

— On3 (@On3sports) September 22, 2025

LSU and Ole Miss have met annually since 1945, and the rivalry dates back to 1894. The Tigers and Aggies met in the season finale every year from 2014 through 2023 with the exception of the 2020 COVID season. LSU and Arkansas battled for The Golden Boot in season finales for two decades prior to that.

Long-standing rivalries like LSU-Florida and LSU-Alabama will be played every other year so that every SEC school visits every other opponent once in a four-year cycle.

HUNT’S THOUGHTS

This is a favorable draw for LSU, relatively speaking.

Ole Miss has been a fantastic program under Lane Kiffin’s direction. The Rebels have finished with a .500 or winning SEC record every season since 2020 and are 43-10 over the last four and a half seasons. Still, the program has never played in the SEC Championship Game and is not one of the eight SEC programs with a national title in the last 30 years.

Texas A&M has seemingly limitless resources but has also never played for the SEC title and hasn’t won a conference title of any kind since 1998.

Arkansas is in a deep rut currently and is going to make a coaching change at some point in the next 10 weeks.

There are no easy draws in an SEC schedule, and three games is just a third of the gauntlet LSU will have to run. Considering all possibilities and rivalries, it could have looked more daunting for Brian Kelly’s program.