Auburn Tigers discussing possible move to SEC East

Apparently Auburn is considering moving to the SEC East, or at least discussing it.

Auburn Tigers head football coach Gus Malzahn says there will be discussion of the school moving to the SEC East.

There have been discussions for a while about moving Auburn to the East for a number of reasons.

It makes geographical sense to have Auburn in the East. The plains are roughly 20 miles from the Georgia line, on the far east side of Alabama. Also, Vanderbilt and Missouri are both west of Auburn on a map.

A second reason to move Auburn would be competitive balance. For the last handful of years the SEC West has dominated the league (and college football as a whole). The division has won each of the last seven conference championships. Auburn won two of those (2010, 2013).

Perhaps swapping Vanderbilt or Missouri for Auburn would be geographically sound and create more competitive balance.

But…..there’s a snag.

The SEC has roundly refused to add conference games, insisting they stay at eight per year. That leaves only two cross-divisional games per season. And due to rivalries like Alabama vs. Tennessee, each team in the West is locked into an annual game with an Eastern division opponent.

There’s zero chance the Iron Bowl is going away, and Alabama holds tightly to their rivalry with Tennessee as well, so it just wouldn’t work out.

Unless…..Auburn and Alabama moved to the East.

This makes geographical sense….sort of. Swap Auburn and Alabama for Vanderbilt and Missouri to make the divisions look correct on a map. Tuscaloosa is only a smidgen west of Nashville – no one will notice.

The main reason to do this is because of the locked-in cross-divisional games. Alabama vs. Tennessee and Auburn vs. Georgia are really the only two games the rule is in place for. Les Miles complains about having to play Florida every year, every year.

By moving Auburn and Alabama you’d allow them to continue their traditional rivalries with Georgia and Tennessee respectively, and with each other.

The competitive balance thing is another issue, which would probably sway hard to the East. Either Auburn or Alabama has played for the national championship in six of the last seven years, winning five. And the year they didn’t (2014), Alabama still made the College Football Playoff.

Auburn may fancy the idea of getting out of the West, but unless it’s a move with their enemy too it’s probably not going to happen until the SEC adopts a nine-game conference schedule.

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