re: Would Auburn Give Up The Iron Bowl To Move East?

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There is no reason for Auburn to move to the east. Not sure why everyone wants to

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It's really not that hard to comprehend. Despite being in the West for a quarter of a century, Auburn has still played far more games against the East than the West:

Auburn's most common SEC opponents:

111- Georgia
89- Mississippi State
84- Florida
74- Alabama
51- Tennessee
49- LSU
40- Ole Miss
38- Vanderbilt
33- Kentucky
25- Arkansas
12- South Carolina
6- Texas A&M
2- Missouri

It will take another decade+ of Iron Bowls before Auburn's series with Alabama surpasses the number of times they've played Florida.

Despite only playing Tennessee 9 times since 1992, Auburn has still played the Vols more often than they've played LSU.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that Auburn's historical rivals are all in the East with the exception of Alabama and Mississippi State. Prior to expansion in 1992, Auburn had almost zero history with Ole Miss and very little with LSU.

Even outside the SEC, Auburn has always identified with teams to the East of them. Auburn has played Georgia Tech 86 times in their history... 3rd most of any opponent for them (behind Georgia and Mississippi State). They've played Clemson 48 times... more than Ole Miss and only one fewer game than they've played against LSU. They've played Florida State 19 times... 2nd most of any SEC program, behind only Florida of course.

I'm not sure why so many of you are trying to deny the fact that Auburn's traditional rivals are in the East. I completely understand folks not wanting to shake up the divisions, but to say Auburn is wanting to switch because they are "scared" or don't want to compete is ludicrous. There is no denying the fact that Auburn has way more history with the East compared to the West.

As a Georgia fan, as long as we continue playing Auburn annually I have no real issue. However, I do think Auburn just fits better in the East, so I would personally like to see them switch divisions.

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So just move Alabama and Auburn to the east and let LSU get the easy path to the SECCG every year?

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But it's fair for LSU to have to play the West and the strongest team in the East every year? Sounds like you guys are more scared that you will lose your easy schedule than do what is fair for everyone.

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All this while the east has Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, and Florida. Makes perfect fricking sense.

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LSU plays Alabama, Auburn and Florida every year then throw the years in we play Georgia or Tenn it's not that much different.

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111- Georgia 89- Mississippi State 84- Florida 74- Alabama 51- Tennessee 49- LSU 40- Ole Miss 38- Vanderbilt 33- Kentucky 25- Arkansas 12- South Carolina 6- Texas A&M 2- Missouri

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So according to your post, excluding Georgia which everyone agrees is important, AU has played about as many games against west teams than east. They have played MSU mire than UF, Bama more than UT, then it follows that LSU and Ole Miss are next. It seems like they have historically played as much against the West. UF skews the numbers but as many the of their historical games, sans UGA, has been basically been against the western teams.

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we have more history with the Tennessee's and Florida's of the SEC than we do with the western teams not named Bama.

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Specious.

AU is harping on an annual series started in 1956 being some sort of "historical rivalry". Auburn played UT 7 times before starting a yearly series in 1956. LSU played UT 12 times before 1956.

From 1950 to 1992 AU played UT 36 times. In that same time span LSU played Alabama 35 times, yet LSU and Alabama are NOT to be considered historical rivals. LSU also played Florida 37 times in that same time span, yet people only consider LSU-UF a recent 'rivalry', only since the 92 expansion.

LSU played UK 42 times from 1950-1992, but no one really considers LSU and KY to be historical rivals.

Also, from 1950-1992, Auburn played State 41 times. Hell, all-time State is Auburn's second most played rivalry behind UGA. So that is another West team that Auburn has more history with than any other team not named Georgia or Alabama.

Late to the thread, but what would switching divisions have to do with these teams ending the Iron Bowl?

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So according to your post, excluding Georgia which everyone agrees is important, AU has played about as many games against west teams than east.

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You can't remove the team at the top and then compare numbers. That's absurd. Even going one-by-one, like you do, its obvious:

#1 most played team in each division: 111 Georgia, 89 Mississippi State
#2 most played team in each division: 84 Florida, 74 Alabama
#3 most played team in each division: 51 Tennessee, 49 LSU
#4 most played team in each division: 38 Ole Miss, 33 Vanderbilt
#5 most played team in each division: 33 Kentucky, 25 Arkansas

The Eastern team trumps the Western team in 4 of the 5 slots.... despite Auburn being in the West for the past quarter century.

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It seems like they have historically played as much against the West.

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It seems you aren't good at math: 331 games played against the East; 283 games played against the West

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UF skews the numbers but the of their historical games, sans UGA, has been basically been against the western teams.

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You can't throw out the rivalry with Georgia, then admit that a ton of games have been played against Florida... but then say "but after that they've played more games against Western teams". You are throwing out the top 2 rivalries out of the East in order to try to justify your argument. And even then you are failing because that leaves no explanation for how Auburn has played Tennessee more times than LSU... Kentucky more times than Arkansas... and Ole Miss only two times more than Vandy... all despite not playing any of them annually for a quarter of a century.

Sorry, your argument fails.

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Late to the thread, but what would switching divisions have to do with these teams ending the Iron Bowl?

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Because the SEC is set up with only one permanent cross division opponent. Bama plays Tenn so Auburn would be one the rotational opponents instead of permanent.

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The thought process is Bama would keep UT over AU. I highly doubt it though

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No way this would happen. The Iron Bowl would become permanent, and Alabama would lose its rivalry against Tennessee.

At the time the Auburn-Florida game ceased to be played annually in 2002, Auburn and Florida had played 81 times since Florida football began in 1904. Tennessee and Alabama played 83 times between 1904 and 2002.... only two more times.

Why is is preposterous for Alabama to be asked to give up its rivalry against Tennessee when Auburn had to do so with Florida?.... when they had essentially played the same number of times for 100 years.

Auburn and Alabama should still play annually, but Auburn should be in the East.

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Excluding Georgia, you played 163 games against the west (MSU, Bama) and 133 against east

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Excluding Georgia? Since when do you get to throw out the most common statistic in a data set in order to prove a point? That's not how it works in the real world.

You could also keep Georgia and throw out Mississippi State from the West and then show an even BIGGER advantage for Auburn playing in the East... but of course that would be stupid. Just like your argument by throwing out Georgia.