Missouri to the SEC possibly leads to A&M-LSU on Thanksgiving weekend?

I think Missouri coming in defintely opens up an intersting possibility for regarding LSU and Thanksgiving. If Arkansas is paired with Missouri as their cross divisional rival, they almost HAVE to play that weekend. Here's why:

Looking at the SEC schedule for Thanksgiving this year you've got 4 SEC matchups played on that weekend every year:

Ark vs LSU
Bama vs Auburn
Ole Miss vs MSU
Tennessee vs Kentucky

There are three annual OOC in-state rivalries played that week by SEC teams:

GA vs Ga Tech
USC vs Clemson
Florida vs FSU

That leaves Vandy with a hole to fill, and they are playing Wake Forest that Saturday.

A&M, Missouri, and Vandy need to play someone that weekend. Since A&M would be in the West and the other two in the East, that rules out A&M playing either Missouri or Vandy annually on that weekend. It also wouldn't work out for A&M to simply rotate between the two with a 14 team league since there is no guarantee that at least one of them will be on A&M's schedule every year. And, an annual Missouri-Vandy tilt on Thanksgiving wouldn't be attractive to either school. A Missouri-Vandy matchup would leave A&M having to fill a non-conference slot that weekend--and the prime suspect for that has already declined. In fact, Bill Byrne indicated yesterday that if A&M and Texas do play in the future, it likely will be in September, not on Thansgiving, so he obviously believes that A&M will have a conference game that weekend.

The problem that everyone faces on Thanksgiving is having an attractive enough game to get students and season ticket holders to give up part of their Thanksgiving weekend. That's why you see so many big rivalry games that weekend. That's also one justification Arkansas has used for playing in Little Rock when they host a game that weekend--students are at home and Fayetteville is a ghost town.

I just can't see the rationalization for having A&M, Missouri, and Vanderbilt left hanging, when the SEC can have only one school left with an open dance card that weekend (Vandy), as they do now. If Arkansas is going to claim Missouri as their cross-divisional rival, they almost HAVE to play Missouri so that both Missouri and A&M (LSU) have suitable opponents that weekend. Of course, the negative is that as a cross-divisional game it would set up a possible rematch in an SEC title game, but what are the odds of that happening.

Of course, if Missouri is NOT paired with Arkansas as a cross divisional rivalry, then that changes all of the above. A&M and Missouri could play that weekend if that is the pairing, so that Arkansas and LSU could stay that weekend.