The Three Permanent Conference Games

[vegasvolfan]

For me it’s an easy choice but I’m curious which way the winds blowing.

Bama because they are tier 1 and a huge rival. We don't need both them and Georgia on our schedule any longer. FL, because they are a huge rival and hover between tier 2 and 1 much like us. FL will drive more brand exposure and revenue than SC. It also doesn't look as bad losing to FL as it does to SC. Vandy, because they are an in-state rival and are the lower tier. I might even rather have Bama, FL, and KY simply for the sake of revenue. Do we generate more ticket sales, etc. for KY games than Vandy games? If it's not a considerable amount more, then Vandy. Let Missouri or Arkansas have Kentucky

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

I voted Bama, UGA and Florida. Yes Vandy is our "in state" rivalry but would anyone really miss it?

This.

I'm disgusted so many voted for Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Straight up loser mentality.

Give me Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

 

[LT21]

Heres my prediction for every teams conference opponents. Anyone have any suggested changes?

 

[VAVol85]

Tennessee	Vanderbilt	Alabama	Kentucky
Vanderbilt	Tennessee	Kentucky	Ole Miss
Alabama	Auburn	Tennessee	Mississippi St
Auburn	Alabama	Georgia	Oklahoma
Georgia	Florida	Auburn	South Carolina
Florida	Georgia	South Carolina	LSU
Ole Miss	Mississippi St	LSU	Vanderbilt
Mississippi St	Ole Miss	Texas A&M	Alabama
Texas	Texas A&M	Oklahoma	Arkansas
Texas A&M	Texas	Mississippi St	Missouri
Oklahoma	Missouri	Texas	Auburn
Missouri	Oklahoma	Arkansas	Texas A&M
Arkansas	LSU	Missouri	Texas
LSU	Arkansas	Ole Miss	Florida
South Carolina	Kentucky	Florida	Georgia
Kentucky	South Carolina	Vanderbilt	Tennessee

I like this except I would pair Auburn with Florida instead of Oklahoma and pair LSU with Oklahoma instead of Florida.

The AU-UF game is often a good one and LSU can fit into the whole TX-AR-OK region.

 

[UTKalum23]

Seems like the fanbase is at a consensus on this. The 3 “traditional” rivals. Although, like some have said, I wouldn’t really miss playing Vanderbilt every single year if we didn’t. They need the SEC and the SEC needs them, but dang being an independent or Ivy would be a lot more fitting.
On a non-conference note… we need a renewed series with Notre Dame. Irish travel to Fayettenam this year.

 

[chuckiepoo]

I like this except I would pair Auburn with Florida instead of Oklahoma and pair LSU with Oklahoma instead of Florida.

The AU-UF game is often a good one and LSU can fit into the whole TX-AR-OK region.

They haven’t committed to the “pods” concept… yet.

 

[OrangeEtBlanc]

Heres my prediction for every teams conference opponents. Anyone have any suggested changes?

View attachment 766183

I really like this a lot, but I have one quibble with your graphic—you have Vandy’s 3rd opponent being Ole Miss, but then have them with Auburn instead of Ole Miss. I do think the 3rd pairing of Auburn-Vandy is the better one, as Auburn would already play Alabama & Georgia and need a lower-tier team for their 3rd permanent rival.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Heres my prediction for every teams conference opponents. Anyone have any suggested changes?

View attachment 766183

you have Auburn as a permanent opponent for Oklahoma, but you don't have Oklahoma as a permanent opponent for Auburn.

 

[beachvol23]

They will never be happy ; always changing, changing. Tennessee is supposed to play bama, florida, uga, uk & vandy every year. Tradition. But Tradition doesn't matter anymore. I doesn't matter what WE want/think. It will probably be bama, uk and vandy.

Playing FL and GA every year is NOT tradition.

 

[beachvol23]

This.

I'm disgusted so many voted for Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Straight up loser mentality.

Give me Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

That’s dumb, especially considering how the new rotation will work! No other school has played all three year after year for “modern era” so we should not either. Besides, just because UGA and FL have had some good games in past 35 years DOES not make them a year in year out rival. And we have historically not played either of them every year until the stupid divisions were created.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Exactly. Sixteen teams means fifteen opponents. You can play all teams in two years and you will play some teams two years in a row. I think a model like this works better to maintain competitive balance in the conference.

Side question: does everyone completely trust the vested interests to be completely neutral when assigning dedicated opponents?

The dedicated opponents have less weight under this model than the old divisional model. Under the divisional model 7 of 8 opponents were pre-determined but under this model only 3 of 9 will be. So honestly, I am less worried about it. If there are 2 out of 3 cupcakes on a teams permanent schedule that just means that teams 6 game rotation will be more full of meat and less fluff. This new SEC has 9 of the 20 most winning programs in CFB history, it's impossible to miss 4 or 5 every year.

 

[Rickyvol77]

This.

I'm disgusted so many voted for Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Straight up loser mentality.

Give me Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.

They are our traditional rivals and we should play them yearly; stop being emotional

 

[Brave Volunteer]

perfect

No. Auburn would raise hell, having to play Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma every year. Take Oklahoma away and replace them with a Miss St or something equivalent.

 

[zeppelin128]

Well said friend. I don't get all the Fla. love! Do you really think they see us as a rivalry? No traditional or historical value as a rivalry. UK, Vandy, & Bama go's back to leather helmets.

GBO

As much as I would love to WTMFA every year for about a decade, from the lizards' point of view we don't make much sense as one of their permanents.

They've got the Cocktail Party, a very heated rivalry with LSU, and Auburn who they never should have stopped playing yearly.

If we have to lose them as a yearly opponent, so be it. Anything to keep Bama on our schedule.

 

[zeppelin128]

They are our traditional rivals and we should play them yearly; stop being emotional

D4h in here pulling the "true fan" card on folks that want to keep playing the 3 teams we have played over 100 times each. Lol

 

[VAVol85]

They haven’t committed to the “pods” concept… yet.

Understood, but I like the matchups this arrangement is preserving, except for AU-OU which just seems weird to me.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

They are our traditional rivals and we should play them yearly; stop being emotional

They are loser programs. I'd prefer not to be associated with losers. Your rivals should be the other elite programs on your level you have history with. Why else was Alabama considered our biggest rival historically? Because we were the two top programs in the SEC for most of its history.

Since 1992 Florida and Georgia have been bigger rivals for us than Kentucky or Vanderbilt. Stop associating us with loser programs. They are simply bad teams we beat up on and you guys want them to be our rivals in this scenario because you want easy wins rather than a challenge.

This is about lack of competition being disguised as adhere to history.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

Seems like the fanbase is at a consensus on this. The 3 “traditional” rivals. Although, like some have said, I wouldn’t really miss playing Vanderbilt every single year if we didn’t. They need the SEC and the SEC needs them, but dang being an independent or Ivy would be a lot more fitting.
On a non-conference note… we need a renewed series with Notre Dame. Irish travel to Fayettenam this year.

No. The fanbase is filled with folks with a loser mentality who want easy wins. If Kentucky and Vanderbilt were magically elite programs they wouldn't be clamoring for this. Better yet. If I told them we were guaranteed to beat Florida and Georgia for the next 15 years they would gladly take them as permanent rivals.

This is about nothing more than lack of competitive pride. And it's embarrassing.

 

[rocytop2624]

Alabama, Vandy, Florida

Gut it will probably be Kentucky over Florida.

 

[Rickyvol77]

They are loser programs. I'd prefer not to be associated with losers. Your rivals should be the other elite programs on your level you have history with. Why else was Alabama considered our biggest rival historically? Because we were the two top programs in the SEC for most of its history.

Since 1992 Florida and Georgia have been bigger rivals for us than Kentucky or Vanderbilt. Stop associating us with loser programs. They are simply bad teams we beat up on and you guys want them to be our rivals in this scenario because you want easy wins rather than a challenge.

This is about lack of competition being disguised as adhere to history.

They are SEC rivals, losers or not. When you have two rivals (one in-state and one border rivalry) you play them. It's true Alabama is our biggest rival because we were the best two programs in the South, but hell we have more "rivalry" with Auburn, Georgia Tech or Ole Miss than we do with Florida or UGA. Just because you are a kid who wasn't around for it doesn't make reality not so.

Florida and UGA we only played twice a decade from the 1930s-1990. They are no different than LSU or Mississippi State at this point

 

[DuckinVol]

I will be royally pissed if we lose the Third Saturday in October.

Has to be Bama (traditional rival), Vandy (in-state rival), and Kentucky (border rival and most-played opponent).

Only SEC states I can think of we don’t border are Vandy, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.

 

[Rickyvol77]

Only SEC states I can think of we don’t border are Vandy, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.

We don't border South Carolina but the others aren't considered "border rivals" like UK is

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

They are SEC rivals, losers or not. When you have two rivals (one in-state and one border rivalry) you play them. It's true Alabama is our biggest rival because we were the best two programs in the South, but hell we have more "rivalry" with Auburn, Georgia Tech or Ole Miss than we do with Florida or UGA. Just because you are a kid who wasn't around for it doesn't make reality not so.

Florida and UGA we only played twice a decade from the 1930s-1990. They are no different than LSU or Mississippi State at this point

Well it ain't 1930 anymore old man. Its 2025. And to most fans living today Florida and Georgia are more our rivals than Vanderbilt or Kentucky could ever be. You know good and well the fanbase will enjoy a win over Florida or Georgia this upcoming season than Kentucky or Vanderbilt.

Stop being afraid of competition. We should demand to play Georgia and Florida every year.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Lol we are not dumping a cupcake.... It will actually be exciting to play some bottom feeders of other P4 conferences for OOC games.

Would love nothing more than to add someone like Minnesota or Rutgers or TCU or Nebraska types to the schedule.

We aren’t playing Nebraska after the BS with canceling the matchup that was on the books

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Well it ain't 1930 anymore old man. Its 2025. And to most fans living today Florida and Georgia are more our rivals than Vanderbilt or Kentucky could ever be. You know good and well the fanbase will enjoy a win over Florida or Georgia this upcoming season than Kentucky or Vanderbilt.

Stop being afraid of competition. We should demand to play Georgia and Florida every year.

You just sorely lack intelligence. It benefits no one but the competition to voluntarily give ourselves the toughest schedule in the SEC. We would still play Georgia and Florida every other year with Kentucky and Vanderbilt on the schedule.