(05-09-2013 08:18 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(05-08-2013 11:00 AM)JRsec Wrote:  Until we get to 16 Bama just needs to relax and let Auburn move to the East and Missouri to the West. 9 conference games with two permanent rivals might get that done. We'll see.

Bama can relax with the current arrangement for right now. I think we need to see whether or not Mizzou in the East is a determent to the schools' integration into the SEC or if they need the western rival to gin up the necessary fan interest.

I've previously mentioned that there are only two permanent cross division rivals that matter, UT/Bama and UGA/Auburn. There is nothing stopping the other 10 schools to schedule however they desire while leaving these two games intact.

I would and could agree with you here but I'm too old to be able to do so. Before Arkansas and South Carolina joined the league Auburn played the following teams every year: Tennessee (third game of the year), Mississippi State (around the 5th game every year), Florida ( eighth game every year), Georgia (ninth game every year), and Alabama (tenth game every year. When we moved to 11 games you simply bumped the last three to 9th, 10th, and 11th respectively. For old time Auburn people those are the teams we want to play. The first realignment we were forced to the West and lost Florida and Tennessee out of our schedule on a regular basis. That moved cost us another dear rival, Georgia Tech. When Tech left the SEC in 1966 (two years after they gave notice of leaving) Auburn continued to play them annually. Why? It was the longest running rivalry in the Southeast until Tech ended it in the late 70's. Realignment ended the series officially.

So you might say that when you lose teams that you have played every year since 1892 that you have payed a high price for what the conference called progress. Bama gave up nothing and refused to allow Auburn to remain in the East with its natural rivals. The official reason was scheduling. Their real reason was to cut Auburn off from its recruiting roots in North Florida, Southern Tennessee, and Georgia. Those three areas once comprised nearly 45% of all of Auburn's recruits. Since the move it has dropped to less than 30% with the Georgia commits dropping to half of the former rate and the Florida recruits dropping by about a 1/4. Alabama has always dominated in state recruiting in Alabama. So the real reason for their insistence that Auburn move to the West was simply to gain another advantage.

So, there is a bit more to all of this than whether or not the new teams are comfortable where they are. When Mizzou was announced the Auburn president immediately offered to move to the East and Alabama immediately started whining. At 9 conference games they have no technicalities to hide behind and they'll have to admit their real reasons for not letting Auburn move back to its natural grouping.