Division Realignment

[Aavoxx]

If Missouri, or any other team that would fit in the West, is added as the SEC's 14th team there has been talk of moving Auburn to the SEC East to even things out. This of course has resulted in an outcry worrying about The Saturday in October ceasing to be a yearly venture as Auburn would request Alabama as their permanent West opponent.

If moving Auburn east became necessary, why not move both Alabama and Auburn to the East and move Vanderbilt to the West with Vandy being Tennessee's new permanent opponent? It would make sense from a geographic standpoint and preserve two of the biggest rivalry games in the SEC.

The permanent opponents would look something like this:

Tennessee and Vanderbilt
Florida and LSU
Kentucky and Mississippi State
South Carolina and Arkansas
Georgia and Ole Miss
Alabama and Texas A&M
Auburn and Missouri

This would also give the new teams a better chance to compete in the SEC right away. The only drawback I see is possibly a less compelling SEC Championship Game with Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida in the same division. That could be corrected when the SEC goes to 16 teams however with the creation of four team divisions, making this only a temporary solution to a temporary problem. This layout would also call for 9the conference games per year.

 

[TrueOrange]

...why does noone think of pushing one or both of the Miss schools to the other divisions (rather than the Bama ones)

They have like the weakest ties of all
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[tvolsfan]

It's for the purpose of preserving rivalries.

 

[UTCVol]

Easiest solution is just to put Missouri in the east. Doesn't make much sense, but it would preserve things for now.

 

[TrueOrange]

It's for the purpose of preserving rivalries.

And the only rivalries those two have are with each other and ole miss has a dieing one with LSU

Both Alabama and auburn seem to have many more rivalry ties in-division than either of those teams, yet they're the two teams everyone seems so adamant about moving
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[TrueOrange]

Easiest solution is just to put Missouri in the east. Doesn't make much sense, but it would preserve things for now.

I imagine UF and USCe are the only one's who'd have an issue with that
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[tvolsfan]

And the only rivalries those two have are with each other and ole miss has a dieing one with LSU

Both Alabama and auburn seem to have many more rivalry ties in-division than either of those teams, yet they're the two teams everyone seems so adamant about moving
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What? With the exception of Bama, all of Auburn's main historical rivals are in the East. If Auburn moves, both Bama's biggest rivals are in the East.

 

[TrueOrange]

What? With the exception of Bama, all of Auburn's main historical rivals are in the East. If Auburn moves, both Bama's biggest rivals are in the East.

I was under the impression that auburn's rivalries with Bama and lsu (i feel there might be one more I'm missing) had grown to be larger than any of their historical but no longer active rivalries with the east
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[Aavoxx]

I was under the impression that auburn's rivalries with Bama and lsu (i feel there might be one more I'm missing) had grown to be larger than any of their historical but no longer active rivalries with the east
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Alabama and Georgia.
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[UTCVol]

I was under the impression that auburn's rivalries with Bama and lsu (i feel there might be one more I'm missing) had grown to be larger than any of their historical but no longer active rivalries with the east
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Barn fans are longing for the UT and UF rivalries to come back from what I've seen.

 

[Velo Vol]

Having

Georgia
Auburn
Alabama
Florida
Tennessee

in the same division seems a bit unbalanced. I know LSU and Texas A&M are ranked pretty high right now, but what happens if/when they revert to their mediocre normal selves?

 

[TOP]

Having

Georgia
Auburn
Alabama
Florida
Tennessee

in the same division seems a bit unbalanced. I know LSU and Texas A&M are ranked pretty high right now, but what happens if/when they revert to their mediocre normal selves?

And South Carolina. Currently #10 team in the country

 

[checkerboards09]

UT and Bama are gonna play every year regardless so i don't really give a **** who goes to the east or west. Our rivalry will remain with Bama and you can bank on it.