re: Here's the solution to the "permanent opponent" BS....

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yahoo. i agree. i would LOVE to hear the bama fans whine over that one.

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Exactly. It's always LSU or whoever that's not in "lock-step" with Bama's desires is told to just play your schedule and other such crap.

Hell, if it doesn't matter who you play then why not move to the East and keep your permanent opponents? Hey, it doesn't matter. Remember?

The SEC scheduling is ridiculous and these last couple of years have been so obvious that the SEC is stacking the deck against LSU while lightening the load for Bama. I mean Ray Charles & Stevie Wonder can see it.

So you put all the crappy teams except Lsu in the west and all the great teams except ut And Vandy in the east. This just sounds like your effort to make sure Lsu can play for a title almost every year.

LSU gets 1 tough game while Bama UF UGA USCe have at least 3 tough games every year.

Love it. Myself and everyone I know would love to go eastern as early as this year. This solves everyone's problems and keep 2 games intact. Everybody's happy. As long as we keep AU and UT on the schedule the rest can be whatever it is. UGA , Florida, whoever. Those would be great games. I do not understand why this hasn't already been done especially with the move of the SEC westward.

If they have to play each other, they can schedule as a non conference game in those years when they are not matched...simple.

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So you put all the crappy teams except Lsu in the west and all the great teams except ut And Vandy in the east. This just sounds like your effort to make sure Lsu can play for a title almost every year.

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So A&M is a crappy team now? Ole Miss is now non-competitive? Arkansas has beaten LSU several times recently. Maybe you have forgotten that?

In addition, I guess you think that rotating Bama, Florida, UGA, and USC won't happen? Add 2 of those East teams to any LSU schedule and then look at it. When the SEC goes to a 9 game schedule (& it will) you would add 3 of the SEC East teams on a rotating basis. Let's say LSU plays A&M, Arkansas, & Ole Miss from the West along with the other SEC West teams and also adds
Alabama and UF from the SEC East. Are you telling me that LSU automaticly wins the SEC West? Guess what LSU lost to both teams last year. What if a 3rd SEC East team was added to a 9 game schedule? Then you would add Vandy, Ky, USC, Auburn or Tennessee. None of which are much stronger than say Arkansas. The strength of one division over the other would be reduced by the proper use of rotating teams. The current 8 game schedule allows for 6 division teams and 1 East Permanent team (UF)and ONE rotating team. That's simply ridiculous in a 14 team league.

I don't think that playing any SEC game as non-conference game is the answer either. I also think that playing these traditional games as divisional games adds to their appeal and adds to the value of these "traditional games". To play these games and say they don't count in the conference standings is a joke. That will never happen and certainly not on a recurring basis.

It is so obvious that if these traditional games are so important to those fan bases then those teams should be in the same division. It's a no-brainer.

I agree with this, though I would swap Vandy and Kentucky since Vandy is actually more westward than Kentucky. I think it actually makes sense to look at a Map and put the western most teams in the western division and the eastern most in the eastern division. You can draw a straight line from just East of Kentucky to just East of LSU and make a logical division. A true north/south division would put Alabama in the West and Auburn in the East but that doesn't solve the current problem that the "permanent opponents" seeks to remedy.

Moving Auburn and Alabama east allows them to keep their games against Georgia and Tennessee each year. Then I'd propose going to 9 SEC games with three rotations (no perms) to allow the maximum number of cross divisional games so that the conference feels like one conference rather than two. Sure there may be a year when LSU gets Florida, Alabama and Georgia and Alabama gets Vandy, State and Arkansas but rotating three teams yearly is more equitable that one permanent opponent and one "random" team under the bridge schedule.

My hope is the abortion that is the current "bridge" schedule is to tide us over until we add two more teams to get to 16. Depending on where the SEC moves the east/west divisions could vary. Hopefully that happens soon.

This is separate from the "bridge" schedule being developed by an Alabama alum and benefitting Alabama. Hopefully that will be addressed long term but it sure stinks short term. I too find the "roommate swap" schedule interesting...