re: When the SEC goes to 14 or 16

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other than with Florida, i don't feel a connection to the other East teams as it is with 12 teams.

there's sorta something there with Georgia, from 2003, 2005.

after that, there's that whole Kentucky miracle, game, the USCe Flynn Flip, umm, that's about it.

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But that's something, and we've only gone through two rotations of the 5-year cycle. If we kept that up for another couple of rotations, it would grow.

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i don't think much will change IMO, with 14 or 16. we'll all still keep up with whatever is going on in the other division about like what we do now. there will be great games going on over there, we'll all recruit the same base players, etc

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As it stands right now, no player (or student/fan) can go through four years at an SEC school without his team playing every other SEC team at least once. If he redshirts (or matriculates slowly) and has a 5-year career, his team will face every team twice, once at home and once on the road. That kind of frequent matchup creates at least some rivalry and comradery. We certainly identify with Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, etc. more now than we do with, say, Virginia Tech. Moving to a 12-year rotation will kill that. If we end up playing Virginia Tech in a bowl or NC game within the next three seasons (counting this one), we will have played them more times in a 12-year time frame than we will Georgia, Tennessee, etc. in a 6-1-1 SEC scheduling format.

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So, is it your contention that the SEC had no conference identity back when scheduling was left up to the schools, and certain schools just never played each other?

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Yes. Hell, even Auburn and Alabama went for a long time (decades, in fact) without playing each other. In the 1970s, I was far more likely to pay attention to A&M and Rice than to Georgia and Vanderbilt.

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Personally, I think the TV people will eventually make it worth the SEC's while to play a 9 game schedule, and even with the permanent cross-over rival, that will allow you to play everyone in the league in a 3 year window

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I agree that it probably will happen, and frankly I think it has to. With 14 teams, 9 conference games and one permanent non-division rival, you would rotate six teams through two slots, so you'd be playing twice every six years, pretty close to what we're doing now with the twice-every-five-years rotation.