re: It pays to have the SEC office in Birmingham

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From the article:

Since 1992, Alabama has played more games against Vanderbilt (14) than Florida and Georgia combined (12). Auburn, which plays Georgia annually and used to have an annual series against Florida, has faced the Bulldogs and Gators a total of 35 times.

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Up until 2002, Bama play both Tennessee and Vanderbilt each year as they were out 2 permanent east rivals.

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From 1992 through 2001, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the permanent inter-division opponents to only one per team starting in the 2002 season.

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