re: The 14th team must come from the east

I personally think GT would be awesome to have in the SEC. Although, I think they are just about the only major east team to not be mentioned. Hell, even Louisville got mentioned.

i guess i should say welcome to A&M.

though not long ago, they were calling the SEC trash and talking all kinds of shite about it. and next thing you know, they'd give 2 left nuts to join it.

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My earlier point was this could cause an issue. Alabama and Auburn would like to keep their game at the end of season. In such what would happen if both Alabama and Auburn had clinched their respective divisions title. They would end up playing each other twice in a row. I know the B1G let this happen with Michigan and Ohio State, but I don't think the SEC would want this situation to happen.

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I doubt they would want this. I wouldn't want it.

They also wouldn't let a team keep 2 permanent opponents.

So, unless 1 team is added to the East, keeping the status quo, some of these "rivalry" games are going bye bye.

If Auburn goes to the East, one of those will.

Or the SEC will have to set up everyone with 2 permanent opponents. With a 9 game conference schedule, 6 Division opponents, 2 Perm. Opponents, and 1 rotating opponent...means that it would take about a decade to rotate around the other division.

If expasion has to happen (and it looks like it will), then I'd really prefer to add another East team so the divisions can stay the same.

If two west teams are added, Auburn probably makes the most sense to move over to the East. If that happens, I hope they expand to two permanent opponents so we can keep Iron Bowl (this will be kept no matter what) and the Auburn-LSU game, which is IMO the most enjoyable game of the last twenty years. It would suck for us to lose the LSU rivalry, but I think that is a real possibility. I guess losing that game would make our season a bit easier. Having to play all five of the other "Big Six" SEC teams every season would be tough.

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The 14th team must come from the east

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If the Big 12 is destined to collapse (big if) then I can see the SEC picking up as many as 4 teams but I would start with 2 and go from there. Say A&M and Missouri come on board, Auburn would likely come to the East to balance the divisions. UGA already plays Auburn every season in the South's Oldest Rivalry so it would have minimal impact on our schedule.

However, the Big 12 could lose 2 teams and still hold together by adding say TCU and BYU. If Texas and OU are smart, they will do everything possible to keep the Big 12 in tact because they will retain a relatively easy path to a BCS game. If that doesn't happen then the lesser teams in the Big 12 will likely be relegated to lesser conferences.

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what if oklahoma decided they wanted in (purely hypothetical)? would we keep them out because of not wanting to realign the conference?

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If Oklahoma came in, I would create an SEC North and an SEC South:

SEC North
Arkansas
Georgia
Kentucky
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

SEC South
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Texas A&M

AL-AU, Ole Miss-MSU and TN-Vandy rivalries stay intact. Georgia, South Carolina and Ole Miss are roughly on the same longitude line, so just put Ole Miss in the South so you can keep the Ole Miss-MSU rivalry.

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SEC South
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
LSU
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Texas A&M

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I would presume though that Georgia and Tennessee are going to rise again, offsetting the strength in an SEC South. And it wasn't that long ago that Alabama wasn't so great, like Florida is now. Long term, I think the South would be slightly better from top to bottom, but not by much.