Did the SEC get things right with everyone's annual opponents?

On3’s Chris Low reported Monday morning that the Texas Longhorns’ three annual opponents in a 9-game Southeastern Conference schedule will be Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

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Sounds about right. The options for Texas were obvious and the SEC made the obvious choices.

What about for the rest of the league?

Alabama – Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State

• All good here. Auburn is a traditional rival. Tennessee is a traditional rival. Mississippi State may not be a traditional “rival,” but Tuscaloosa and Starkville are separated by a 90 minute drive.
• Why not LSU? Those teams have played a lot, but they aren’t exactly rivals. They are rivals of consequence, kind of in the way some tried to make Georgia and Texas rivals in the offseason, but they aren’t actual rivals. LSU and Alabama met in the same arena often, elite arenas even. But there’s not a decades-old blood feud between them. So the Bulldogs got the nod.

Arkansas – Missouri, Texas, LSU

• No Texas A&M? Though Arkansas shares a border with Missouri, it’s not like they’re bitter rivals. The Razorbacks played A&M for decades in the SWC. The only history Arkansas has with Missouri is in the SEC.

Auburn – Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt

• Auburn got thrown a bone here, though they don’t have a third rival. They needed someone and got the Commodores… so maybe they weren’t thrown a bone.

Florida – Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky

• No LSU is a little bit of a surprise considering they’ve played every year since 1971, but I guess the league wanted the matchup with Kentucky instead of with the Tigers. This could be another case of “they play each other a lot” as opposed to “they’re rivals.”
• South Carolina doesn’t really have any natural SEC rivals it seems, so they needed someone and got another former SEC East member. Plus, Florida has a rivalry with Florida State to attend to, so as long as the Cocktail Party was maintained, all good here.

Georgia – Auburn, Florida, South Carolina

• All good here. Two traditional rivals plus a team Georgia shares a border with.

Kentucky – South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida

• Tennessee is Kentucky’s main SEC rival, so all good here. Matching Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky, four teams who have rivalry games against in-state ACC teams, must have been intentional.

LSU – Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M

• LSU is an odd school when it comes to rivalries. Arkansas shares a border but the two programs have only shared a league for about 40 years. That isn’t long at all in college football terms. The rivalry with A&M seems manufactured (and by one side). Ole Miss is the closest thing to a traditional rival LSU really has, so the fact the Rebels are on the schedule is good work.

Mississippi State – Ole Miss, Alabama, Vanderbilt

• Egg Bowl sustained, that’s all that matters. As mentioned, Alabama isn’t far. Vanderbilt seems like a “well someone needed a third” addition.

Missouri – Arkansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma

• Semi-tough break for the Tigers. Arkansas shares a border with Missouri but that’s all the history they share. Texas A&M? I guess if Big 12 inter-division matchups mean a lot, this makes sense. I know there were always going to be some pairings that didn’t make a lot of sense with this many teams and preferences, especially with Missouri in the SEC, but A&M is an odd addition. Oklahoma is a good Big 8 rivalry.

Oklahoma – Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri

• Texas and Missouri make sense. The Red River Shootout, duh. Missouri, an old Big 8 rival. Ole Miss? This might just be a “third team” and not a rival. Maybe Oklahoma should play Oklahoma State. Reviving dormant in-state rivalries is in these days.

Ole Miss – Mississippi State, LSU, Oklahoma

• The Egg Bowl delivers every single year, and it will going forward. LSU is also the closest thing Ole Miss has to a second rival. As mentioned, the Oklahoma addition is odd.

South Carolina – Georgia, Kentucky, Florida

• All four of these teams have an end-of-year rivalry game with an ACC team. Is Georgia vs. South Carolina even much of a rivalry?

Tennessee – Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kentucky

• This is good work by the SEC. Tennessee vs. Alabama means a lot to the Volunteer fan base and to some older Alabama fans. Vanderbilt is actually Tennessee’s in-state rival, so their inclusion has a basis in reality instead of just to fulfill a mathematic equation. Kentucky probably cares more about Tennessee than Tennessee cares about Kentucky, but they do share a border.

Texas – Texas A&M, Arkansas, Oklahoma

• Excellent. The A&M and OU rivalries need to be sustained. It would have been nice to have seen another team instead of Arkansas on the list to provide a new location and a new fan base to learn about, but it makes sense that Arkansas would want Texas and that Texas would be all good with that.

Texas A&M – Texas, LSU, Missouri

• Texas and LSU is right. The Big 12 South vs. Big 12 North battle? Odd one.

Vanderbilt – Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn

• Vanderbilt’s real rivalry is with Tennessee, so Mississippi State and Auburn just seem like throw-ins.

There are a lot of complications with a 16 team league, so having some traditions maintained while rotating in other opponents so schools face everyone within a certain time period is the way to go. So too is nine games. For the parameters the SEC had to work with, most of this seems well done but there are a few eyebrow raising decisions in a process that undoubtedly had more moving parts than the league could count.