The SEC Forum at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Yeah, I get that.  If aTm'ers have a large contingent that want LSU, that obviously has to factor as much as what LSU wants.  And to reiterate, I think a lot of LSU fans are happy with A&M, and I'm okay with it.  Just because they're below Alabama, Auburn, and Florida on my list doesn't mean they're not a preferred team.  I'm just noting that for my money, I'd take either of those three before A&M.  Which would've been possible without the Arkansas addition. 

What I try to remember is that in any given year, we'll probably get 1 or 2 out of Alabama, Auburn, and Florida, and it's not like it we'll never be playing any of them. 

Yeah the "new" scheduling system means you'll get to play every SEC team twice every 4 years.  So you'll still get to see Alabama, Auburn, and Florida regularly.

Which I think is a lot better than the previous methodology that ended up with A&M only playing Georgia once in 13 years or whatever it was.

Yeah the "new" scheduling system means you'll get to play every SEC team twice every 4 years.  So you'll still get to see Alabama, Auburn, and Florida regularly.

Which I think is a lot better than the previous methodology that ended up with A&M only playing Georgia once in 13 years or whatever it was.

I think what we've had since A&M and Missouri's entrance is "bridge" schedules, which were just made up every year by the SEC front office.  Would need to fact-check that.  I believe this will be the first time in a while that we're going back to an ordered rotation of teams.  

For all the wishes that the permanent rivals were different, this is the best scheduling methodology that the SEC has ever had.

That's my new-kid-on-the-block opinion, anyway.

Things were pretty solid in the pre-A&M/Missouri days where each division had just 6 teams.  Everybody pretty well had the annual games they wanted, the possible exception being LSU and Florida not wanting to play every year, but even still, the fans loved it regardless of what the schools wanted.  At least LSU fans loved the Florida game, and I was under the impression that most Florida fans similarly enjoyed the LSU game.  Everything got weird after A&M and Mizzou entered the picture.

This is even better though, from the standpoint of cycling through all teams.  In those days I believe it took 5 years for a team to play all other SEC teams home and away.  Now it will be every 4 years.  

There are some glaring losses though.  Such as--as a neutral observer--I'm still trying to wrap my head around no UT/UGA and UT/UF every year.  Those are always fun games to watch for having no skin in the game.  

Interestingly, and unexpectedly, I've heard a few older LSU fans (my dad being one) say they were rooting for an OU pairing.  

Things were pretty solid in the pre-A&M/Missouri days where each division had just 6 teams.  Everybody pretty well had the annual games they wanted, the possible exception being LSU and Florida not wanting to play every year, but even still, the fans loved it regardless of what the schools wanted.  At least LSU fans loved the Florida game, and I was under the impression that most Florida fans similarly enjoyed the LSU game.  Everything got weird after A&M and Mizzou entered the picture.

This is even better though, from the standpoint of cycling through all teams.  In those days I believe it took 5 years for a team to play all other SEC teams home and away.  Now it will be every 4 years. 

There are some glaring losses though.  Such as--as a neutral observer--I'm still trying to wrap my head around no UT/UGA and UT/UF every year.  Those are always fun games to watch for having no skin in the game. 

Interestingly, and unexpectedly, I've heard a few older LSU fans (my dad being one) say they were rooting for an OU pairing.

I remember hearing/reading of SEC teams that would go a decade or so without playing each other during the with-Arkansas-pre-A&M & Mizzou period.

I looked up how often Arkansas played Vanderbilt. Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992. They played Vandy in 1994 and 1995. The two programs didn't play each other again until 2005 and 2006. Then they played each other in 2010 and 2011. They've played once since then--in 2018.

OTOH, Arkansas and LSU have played each other every year, starting in 1992. And Arkansas played Auburn every year. And Alabama every year. SEC West teams, I guess.

Per the Font of All Wisdom and Knowledge:

From 1992 through 2002, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU, and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the number of permanent inter-division opponents to one starting in the 2003 season. The TV networks televising SEC games were also pressuring for the change so attractive match-ups between non-traditional opponents would happen twice every five years instead of twice every eight years.

There's the 5-year cycle you described.

Georgia Tech played neither Miss. school for decades, they refused to visit or host.  The head coaches ruled the roost in effect.

The odd history between Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Ole Miss

During his legendary 22-year tenure as Georgia Tech coach, Bobby Dodd took his team across the Southeast, to Dallas to play SMU, to South Bend, Ind., for Notre Dame and across the country to play USC.

But, though Tech was an SEC member for most of Dodd’s career, he never deigned to play Mississippi State, the Yellow Jackets’ opponent in the Dec. 31 Orange Bowl. Tech played Ole Miss but twice, once in a bowl game and once in a regular-season game scheduled by Dodd’s predecessor, William Alexander.

Yeah, something like that.  And it seems much of the time it was the same handful of schools.  There are other SEC schools that LSU hardly ever played.  For example, LSU has met Tennessee a shockingly low number of times considering we've purported to be in the same conference with them for, like, 100 years or something. 

That's why the A&M lock-in makes some sense and I consider it fine.  Truth is we've played them way more than some SEC schools, such as Tennessee. 

I actually had no idea it was that low.  Knew it was lower than many others, but still, only 34 meetings?

I actually had no idea it was that low.  Knew it was lower than many others, but still, only 34 meetings?

Wow that’s crazy.