I guess there is no easy answer. I don't want to give up the Thuga rivalry every year but I hate waiting 8 to play UF. Esp since we could be whipping that ass right now and our series is close to being (if not) tied all time. We could realistically gain about 5 on them.
Also, if the Ole Ball Coach keeps coaching till we meet again, he'll be 76. He'll be 69 when we play 'em this year.
That's why I'm a proponent of us scheduling some cross division rivals for our ooc games. Will the rest of the country make fun of that? Sure. But who cares? I would rather see a slobber knocker with UF or USCe than a beatdown of ND. Well, maybe one beatdown of ND but that would get old.
http://www.al.com/sec/index.ssf/2014/05/post_2.htmlSEC policy could make cross-division games feel like non-conference novelties: Gary Laney
Florida and Auburn last played in 2011 and won't play again until 2019
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Gary Laney | National Desk By Gary Laney | National Desk
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on May 21, 2014 at 11:25 AM, updated May 21, 2014 at 12:11 PM
The SEC gets a lot of grief from around college football for scheduling.
SEC teams don't play enough competitive non-conference games, the critics complain. It's a valid point. The standard-issue SEC non-conference schedule includes three cupcakes and a single game against a team from another power conference.
But with the SEC's conference scheduling policy of one rotating opponent from the opposite division (along with one permanent opponent), some SEC games will get the feel of non-conference games between power opponents.
Take Auburn and Florida. The two old-school SEC powers don't play again until 2019 because Auburn's permanent Eastern Division opponent is Georgia, Florida's Western opponent is LSU, and the rest of their cross-division rivals are on a six-year rotation. They don't play each other until the end of those six years.
In that time, Auburn will have played San Jose State twice and Florida will have played UMass, Michigan and New Mexico State.
While it's possible for Florida and Auburn to meet in the SEC championship game before 2019, there's a better chance they'll play, say, Ohio State, given the four bowl tie-ins between the SEC and Big 10 (plus the possibility that they can meet in the college football playoff).
The bottom line is this: SEC cross-division games are slowly becoming as exotic and rare as a good non-conference game against teams from other power conferences and, in that respect, will be some of the most intriguing games on upcoming schedules.
Here are the best cross-division games to look forward to in upcoming seasons:
2014 -- South Carolina at Auburn: These could well be the two division favorites heading into the season, meaning this could be a preview of the SEC championship game.
Consider this: Steve Spurrier is 69 years old, already old for a college football coach. Auburn won't play the Gamecocks again until 2021, so that means this will likely be the last time Auburn sees the Old Ball Coach before he calls it a career.
2015 -- Alabama at Georgia: LSU always complains that Alabama gets an easier schedule than the Tigers, but this is the year where that starts to change. While LSU does have to play South Carolina and Florida, Alabama gets Georgia, no slouch, to go with Tennessee.
By then, Butch Jones will be in Year 3 in Knoxville and the talent he has started to accumulate through recruiting should start paying dividends. Tennessee could have talent by then to match LSU's permanent East opponent, Florida.
2016 -- Missouri at LSU: Here's what's goofy after the current rotation: This will be the first meeting between Missouri and LSU in an SEC game and by then, Maty Mauk will be a senior, Leonard Fournette will probably be playing his last season in Baton Rouge before heading to the NFL and Gary Pinkel will be 64. Missouri will be in Year 5 in the SEC, hardly a conference newbie anymore.
If that seems far off, consider that LSU won't play at Missouri for the first time in an SEC game until 2023. By then, Les Miles will be 70 and Dylan Moses -- the player who made headlines when he committed to LSU as an eighth grader -- will have already cycled through the Tigers program. For that matter, you can say the same for Zadock Dinklemann, the eighth-grade quarterback who committed to play for LSU in February.
2017 -- Ole Miss at Kentucky: How does an Ole Miss-Kentucky game make the list?
Easy. By 2017, we'll know if Hugh Freeze's early recruiting success has paid dividends for Ole Miss. Meanwhile, the banner recruiting class Mark Stoops brought to Kentucky this spring will be entering their senior seasons, assuming he doesn't cycle through them early.
If you want to forecast a future lightweight-turned-heavyweight battle, this wouldn't be a bad guess.
butchjones.jpg
By the time Auburn and Tennessee play in 2018, Butch Jones should have upgraded the depth of talent in the Tennessee program. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
2018 -- Tennessee at Auburn: By 2018, Butch Jones will have had six recruiting cycles and if they continue on the current trend, the Volunteers should finally be stockpiled with top-end SEC talent that can match the depth of the SEC's current elite programs.
By then, we can also assume that Gus Malzahn's Auburn offense will have gone from unusual to trendy to cliche around the SEC. It'll be interesting to see, if Malzahn is still there, where the Tigers' offense will have evolved by then.
2019 -- Auburn at Florida: The Tigers and Gators are separated by a mere five-hour drive, yet they'll have gone since 2011 without playing each other when they finally meet in the Swamp in 2019. By then, two four-year rotations of players will have come and gone between the two programs.
If there is a legitimate argument to be made against keeping permanent cross-division opponents, this game embodies it. By Auburn playing Georgia every year and Florida playing LSU, they end up going far too long between other games against natural opponents.
Auburn and Florida played every year between 1945-2002 and it's a natural rivalry game that shouldn't go eight years without being played.
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