re: Will Alabama continue to fight against the 9 game schedule?

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I'd also easily trade Florida or UGA long term as a permanent because of the SEC CG battles.

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UGA and Bama makes as much sense as Bama vs LSU. UGA and Bama have played 73 times despite not being in the same division the last 30+ Seasons. Both teams are pretty big names.

Bama and LSU have played 88 times being in the same division.

Despite playing 15 more times, LSU has one more win in their series with Bama than UGA does in theirs.

UGA vs Bama makes more sense for having a top flight matchup yearly for networks and it's historically a better matchup. UGA is also a better team than LSU right now.

But I still believe the third team for Bama will be MSU, not LSU or UGA. They've played 107 times. The last time they didn't play was 1947.

UGA on the other hand will get SC to go with Auburn and Florida. UGA and SC played a ton prior to SC joining the SEC and UGA is the SEC team that SC has played the most in their history because of it.

Preserving those kinds of matchups are why there are 3 permanent opponents for each team. LSU has played both MSU and Ole Miss more often then Bama. Arkansas has played them more than any other SEC team. LSU is also geographically closer to the Texas schools and Oklahoma than any other SEC team from the original SEC schools. They simply have better matches available than Alabama.