Texas A&M and Georgia are in the same conference and have been in the same conference since 2012, yet their Week 13 meeting in Athens will be their first-ever meeting as SEC foes. And they won't meet again until 2024 when Georgia visits College Station for their first-ever road game vs. Texas A&M as conference foes.
Since Texas A&M and Missouri arrived in the SEC for the 2012 season, the conference has used a 6-1-1 scheduling format: Six divisional games, one rotating non-divisional opponent, and one permanent non-divisional opponent. Texas A&M plays their permanent non-divisional opponent each year (South Carolina) and plays one other SEC East team each year.
"I know they're looking at some formats going forward that keep the three main and rotate five," Jimbo Fisher said when asked if he'd like to play more non-divisional games. "Three main" and "rotate five" suggests SEC teams wouldn't play each of their divisional foes each year, which would make the SEC the only FBS conference to do so. If that's what Fisher means, what could SEC scheduling look like? Who are the "three main" for each team?
My guesses (ping me on Twitter to discuss):
Alabama: Auburn, LSU, Tennessee
Arkansas: Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky
LSU: Alabama, Mississippi State, Ole Miss
Ole Miss: Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State
Mississippi State: Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss
Texas A&M: Arkansas, Florida, Missouri
Florida: Georgia, South Carolina, Texas A&M
Georgia: Florida, Auburn, South Carolina
Kentucky: Auburn, Mississippi State, Tennessee
Missouri: Arkansas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
South Carolina: Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt
Tennessee: Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky
Vanderbilt: Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee
