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A Stab at the SEC Divisions After Adding Mizzou

From what I have read and learned, it is imminent that the SEC will add Missouri as its 14th member. The SEC will need to quickly determine how it will divide up the teams, given that its two newest members will be coming from the West.

If you sit down and try to figure this out on your own, you need to operate with the following parameters:

1. Each team will play an 8-game schedule
2. Each team will have a fixed opponent from the other division
3. The following rivalry games must take place every year:

Alabama/Auburn
Auburn/Georgia
Georgia/Florida
Tennessee/Alabama
LSU/Ole Miss
Ole Miss/Miss State
Alabama/LSU
Texas A&M/Mizzou
Arkansas/Texas A&M
LSU/Texas A&M

The least disruptive move would be use the current divisional alignment and put Texas A&M in the West and put Missouri in the East. You could pair the Aggies and Mizzou together as cross-division rivals and be done with it. Mizzou gets its yearly game against a school from Texas and all the major rivalry games are preserved.

For those that scoff at the idea of Mizzou being in the SEC East, I would propose the following realignment:

SEC East:
Florida
Georgia
Tennessee
South Carolina
Miss State
Kentucky
Vanderbilt

SEC West:
LSU
Auburn
Alabama
Arkansas
Mizzou
Texas A&M
Ole Miss

Miss. State would move to the East and Mizzou would move to the West. Permanent cross-division games would be:

LSU / Florida
Auburn / Georgia
Alabama /Tennessee
Arkansas / South Carolina
Mizzou / Kentucky
Texas A&M / Vanderbilt
Ole Miss / Miss State

This alignment keeps the traditional rivalries intact and also creates a much better balance from a geographical standpoint.

What do you think? Could this alignment work for you? Let me hear your thoughts.

Filed Under: SEC Sports

58 Comments

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diddydirtyAubie•150 months

I would rather Auburn have an easier West division opponent as their cross division rival. Not fair that some teams get easier opponents every year.

Froman•150 months

I will first say I just do not like the idea of adding a team that brings nothing to the conference and just makes things more difficult for current SEC teams. But I also don't like the idea of not playing Auburn every year. They are the school I hate the most, in fact, I hate no other entity in sports as much as I dislike Auburn, and would love the chance to beat or get beaten by them once a year.

jrodLSUke•150 months

Why the move with Tenn and Miss State? It seems to cause more problems than reduce them. I think the best solution is to move Auburn as you suggest, but keep UT and MSU where they are.

Chicken•150 months

jrodLSUke, you can't leave Auburn and Tennessee in the same division, and have Alabama in another division. Alabama/Auburn and Alabama/Tennessee are two of the untouchable rivalries that must take place every year. Since Alabama has to play both each year, you must have Bama in the same division with one of them.

Bayoutigre•150 months

very simple,A&M west, mizzou east ,rotate 2 teams every year from opposite division,take 2 drop 2

lewisvilletxtiger•150 months

I agree I don't care for the addition of Missouri. But as far as rivlaries being kept Tenn and Auburn used to play every year and that went away after 92 as well as the fact that we've gone on without Oklahoma and Nebraska playing. But if they do add Missouri i am for sticking them in the East

Chicken•150 months

ok, I made a very simple change...my new proposal is just to move Miss State to the East and put Mizzou in the West. Auburn stays in the West and Tennessee stays in the East.

SEC East:
Florida
Georgia
Tennessee
South Carolina
Miss State
Kentucky
Vanderbilt

SEC West:
LSU
Auburn
Alabama
Arkansas
Mizzou
Texas A&M
Ole Miss

Permanent cross-division games would be:

LSU / Florida
Auburn / Georgia
Alabama /Tennessee
Arkansas / South Carolina
Mizzou / Kentucky
Texas A&M / Vanderbilt
Ole Miss / Miss State

Thoughts?

rileytiger•150 months

I think you put Mizzou in the east. They border tennessee and Kentucky and they are closer to those schools from those states other than Arkansas.

bee Rye•150 months

west is WAY to loaded. no reason to scoff at Mizzou to the East. The 2 SEC schools closest to them are in the East already, and these aren't the days of busses and trains anymore, so travel considerations shouldn't be that big of a deal anyway.

Chicken•150 months

Actually, bee Rye, Arkansas is the closest SEC school to Mizzou.

P bean•150 months

Sec will move alabama to the east, and put tx a&m and missouri west They're tired of their best teams playin each other before the sec championship game... They will make auburn alabama's perm cross division rival and thats that...

First, this honestly makes the most sense...

Second, either Alabama or Auburn is the eastern most team in the west... It would be retarded to take one of the two teams furhest west (tx a&m and missouri) and put them in the east...

Miss state to the east is just frickn dumb...

P bean•150 months

Alabama moves to east, Auburn is perm cross division rival, Alabama is now playing tennesee every year cuz their in the east...

Lsu still fl.... Auburn will lose on their rivalry with georgia and we wont get to play bama every year, but other rivalries are still preserved...

Sec is smart... Lsu and bama are programs most well positioned to dominate at this point in time... Bama will be moved, and sec gets to promote the sec hampionship game harder than ever...

Besides, sec knows that talent is lopsided and that west is wayyyyy stronger than he east....

Bama will be moved

Chicken•150 months

P bean, get a clue. Auburn/Georgia is the oldest rivalry in the Deep South...second oldest in the South after North Carolina/Virginia:

"The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the college football rivalry between the Auburn University Tigers and the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The two schools first played each other on February 20, 1892 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia, with Auburn winning 10-0. The teams have played each other almost every year since 1898, with only World War I and World War II preventing games from being played."

Moving Alabama to the East will prevent Auburn from playing both Bama and UGA...try again.

Hausko57•150 months

Why not draw a line down the middle...West: A & M, Ark, Mizzo, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St., Bama East: Vandy, Kentuck, Tenn, South Car, Auburn, Georgia, Florida

crossover Bama/Auburn, LSU/Florida, which ever other rivalry you want...

eXfaktor•150 months

I will throw this out there. A North(dixie) and South(gulf) set of divisions for the SEC:
GULF DIXIE
Alabama Tennessee
Auburn South Carolina
Florida Georgia
LSU Arkansas
Miss Vanderbilt
Miss.St.Kentucky
Tx. A&M Missouri

Also, you could switch Arkansas and Mizzou to have LSU-Mizzou and TxA&M-Arkansas as rivalries.

Putty•150 months

A&M gets Vandy every year? They are the newcomer....stick them with Florida and we'll take Vandy year in year out. ;)

msb4lsu•150 months

bama and Auburn to the east Kentucky to west. aTm and Mizzu to west.

Mr. Shankly•150 months

I hate the thought of adding Mizzou. I just don't see what value they bring to the conference, sorry. I would much rather see a Clemson or Florida State. AtM has been added to the West so add a team from the East...make sense to me. Ready. Break!

Cecil D Diesel•150 months

Thanks Chicken, I was just about to bring that up about the UGA/Auburn rivalry.

Honestly, eXfaktor, the way that you said it would possibly work out. In saying that, there would be a fixed rival that each team plays every year.

Its definitely some good stuff being said, but there are rivalries that are historic and need to be preserved.

Auburn/UGA
Auburn/Alabama
Alabama/Tennessee
Florida/UGA
Miss/Miss St.
LSU/Arkansas
Tennessee/Vandy
South Carolina/Florida....believe it or not, is one of the more difficult games to get tickets for, involving two teams that aren't in the same state.

Level of difficulty of a conference shouldn't be taken to account as well. The west has been stronger in the past couple years, but the East eventually is going to be back. The times are always changing.

jrodLSUke•150 months

Chicken, I actually like first arrangement just a bit better; mostly because the second alignment seems too unbalanced.

I understand the Bama rivalries make it difficult just to move Auburn over to the east. So, I would propose two options: 1. Let every team have two permanent rivalries (not my favorite), 2. Everyone has one permanent rivalry - except Bama vs Tenn/Auburn.

Or 3. (this is my favorite) Time to kill the Bama vs Tenn rivalry.

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