The SEC hasn't made an official announcement about the football schedule for upcoming years beginning in 2013, but it seems clear that the 6-1-1 format has won out. That is each school will play all six division rivals, one consistent rival from the other division, and one rotating team. (That's barring a seismic shift in the SEC plate tectonics that leads to a nine game schedule.)
How do we know this?
Because Texas A&M's president Tweeted this out yesterday afternoon:
"Just had a great conversation with the South Carolina president about our permanent SEC rivalry. We will make this very special! #SEC #whoop"
Whoop, indeed.
This Twitter confirmation follows South Carolina's president saying that he thought A&M and South Carolina would be future rivals. But this Tweet is more definitive than previous comments.
Asked to comment on the A&M president's Twitter message and whether this meant the 6-1-1 was a go for 2013 and beyond, the SEC declined to comment for now.
Welcome to the SEC, R. Bowen Loftin, thanks for breaking SEC football news on Twitter. You just gained a follower.
With Texas A&M adding South Carolina as a rival, the much despised South Carolina -- Arkansas rivalry is a thing of the past.
This means that Missouri and Arkansas will become permanent cross-division rivals as well.
The rest of the SEC rivalries will remain the same.
So UT-Alabama and Georgia-Auburn will be preserved.
The same will hold true of LSU -- Florida.
Meanwhile two other games that no one really cares about will also continue to take place on a yearly basis.
Vandy - Ole Miss
Mississippi State - Kentucky
But even this makes sense because these four schools are happier playing each other every year than adding a tougher rotating league game.
The only real question that remains is how frequenly will the other division games rotate? Here's a guess that home and homes are a thing of the past -- because then playing the entire cylcle would take 12 years. Instead each SEC team will probably play one game against an opponent so that the rotation through the entire division will take six years.
Meanwhile what are your thoughts on A&M and South Carolina, Missouri and Arkansas?
I actually like these match-ups much better.
Y'all?
Meanwhile, I'm now following a college president on Twitter for the first time.
So that's nice.
