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

Originally published on SECRant.com

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will0637•162 months

The easiest thing to do is put Mizzou in the East and match them with TAMU for recruiting and Big12 familiarity reasons. Mizzou will actually play more schools that border the state of Missouri than if they play in the West. Those teams being UK, Vandy, and Tennessee. In the West, the only border school is Arkansas.

austintexastiger•162 months

Auburn has already said they will move to the East as long as they play Bama each year

lwest41•162 months

My proposal is Alabama and Auburn to the East and Tennessee to the West.

West East
LSU - Auburn
Tennessee - Alabama
Texas Am - Florida
Arkansas - South Car
Missouri - Georgia
Ole Miss - Kentucky
Miss State - Vanderbilt

Best way imo

Black Bengal•162 months

Why does ATM get to play Vandy every year but LSU has to play UF? Make ATM play a more traditionally difficult opponent.

CapitalCityTiger•162 months

I think the writer's solution is a great one. It is one of the few scenarios I have seen that I feel there would be very few complaints bout. MSU is the only team in the west I can think of that does not have multiple rivalries within their division. LSU, Bama, Auburn have a 3 way rivalry scenario. Ole Miss has 2. Arky is too far West to move cross-division and would result in LSU having to play only Arky OR Florida. MSU can maintain its 1 rivalry and actually have a chance to compete for a spot in the SEC championship game.

SureMissMyTigahs•162 months

Alabama and Auburn to the East, Missouri and TaM to the West!

LSUgrasshopper•162 months

North--South

Kentucky---Miss St
Mizzu------LSU
Arkansas---TAMU
Vandy------OM
Tenn-------Fla
SC---------Geo
UA---------AU

ElEsYouTigahs•162 months

I think it has to be Missouri to the East, which I am perfectly fine with. I saw a map, and a straight line can be drawn to seperate the two divisions geographically.

If not, I think Auburn goes East and we lose Bama-Tenn. Not ideal.

And you can't look at moving Bama or Auburn east as balancing powers. Florida, Georgia, and Tenn are down now, but they will be back. Sooner than you think. And a couple teams that are up in the west will be down sooner than you think.

jhoff247•162 months

Auburn to East; Mizzou and A&M to the West

P bean•162 months

All rivalries cannot be preserved... Either bama or auburb should goto the east, and somebody's gonna lose out either way....

Not to mention our sec divisions are the "east" and "west"

Also all teams in the west are located in west and vice versa, obviousla. It would make us look entirely retarded to move a more western located team to the east division over bama or auburn.

This is why if sec picks up missouri it will add it to the west, and move one of the teams furthest east in location, i.e. bama or auburn, to the eastern division... Might as well change to division names to heroes and legends or
something.... Our sec divisions are titled by location, and sec would look pretty dumb if its got western teams in the east and vice versa...

Its gonna be bama or auburn, and I think bama bc its most practical. Get your strongest teams out of the same division.

BRLawyer•162 months

I would be surprised if anyone moved from the West to the East.
Ignored in all this is the fact that LSU has played Miss. State for eons. There are some schools that don't really like the idea of Missouri. It would be much easier to suspend the "unwritten rule" about admitting teams from the same state as a current SEC school and admit Clemson or Florida State.

Lsupimp•162 months

Mizzou to The East(borders Kentucky and Tennessee), A & M to the West. NO PERMANANT RIVAL with other division, just a rotating schedule. Time to acknowledge the 21'st Century and shitcan these lame "rivalry" game nobody outside of Bama/Tenn, Georgia/Auburn gives a damn about.

rbdallas•162 months

LSU - TX A&M should be a permanent as there is history.
and we we both recruit heavily in TX

IMHO

SEC East:
Florida
Georgia
Tennessee
South Carolina
Auburn
Kentucky
Mizzou

SEC West:
LSU
Miss State
Alabama
Arkansas
Vanderbilt
Texas A&M
Ole Miss

DLauw•162 months

it could be an annual meeting in the SECCG ;)

RocknTiger•162 months

Gotcha Chicken. I meant closest that is currently in the EAST.

Chicken•162 months

Bama to the East would me that LSU would lose its annual game with Bama...do you really want that? I don't.

DLauw•162 months

thanks for education chicken. i tried to come up with an argument against the 9 game schedule myself. i never thought of the extra loss.

i have to align with others who have said it. as an LSU fan, the only move i really want is BAMA to the east just to ensure a balance of power in the SEC.

Chicken•162 months

Luke, do you really think the Bama, Auburn, the SEC and CBS will let the Iron Bowl rivalry end? Get real.

RocknTigerl, the East is WAY too strong in your set up. Also, for the record, Arkansas' campus is closer to Mizzou's campus.

RocknTiger•162 months

WEST DIVSION
LSU
Texas A&M
Arkansas
Mizzou
Ole Miss
MS State
Vanderbilt

EAST DIVISION
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
South Carolina
Georgia
Tennessee
Kentucky

This keeps Alabama and Auburn together. Also Vandy will be the closest school in distance to Mizzou.

Luke•162 months

Disagree... move AU to the east, Mizzou to the west, let bama keep Ut as a rival, and AU picks up 2 traditional rivals UT and UF, rivalries ended due to the original divisional split.

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