Imagining each SEC team's three permanent rivals

The long-expected news that the Southeastern Conference would move to a nine-game league schedule came true on Thursday. The SEC joins Big Ten and Big 12 in doing so, with the Atlantic Coast Conference expected to follow suit soon, too.

The most interesting part of the new dynamic is how the schedule plays out. Or how it may play out, rather. Each team in the SEC will have three "permanent" opponents, teams they'll play every season. The other six spots on the league slate rotate. Getting a good draw with how the regulars play out could go a long way in setting a team up for dominance. Or destruction.

No word has been whispered - or yelled - about how the permanent opponents will be decided, though. Back in 2023, when the potential move to a nine-game schedule first came around, Matt Hayes, reporting for Saturday Down South, gleaned a list based on various reports from across the conference. It's unclear, if not unlikely, that the list has changed since that June 2023 publish date. Sooners Wire's lead writer, John Williams, came up with a list of his own back then as well.

Far more fun is conjecture. Useless. But fun, anyway. And with the season not quite upon us, let's take a Sooners Wire look at how we would create each team's three "permanent" rivals.

Alabama Crimson Tide

• Auburn
• Mississippi State
• Tennessee

The Auburn game is a given. By putting geographically close (a consideration given) Mississippi State against Alabama, the Crimson Tide need a stronger former SEC-East opponent as their third. Thus, Tennessee. Sure, the Tide have other stronger rivals. But that shouldn't be the aim of the realignment. Not to us, anyway.

Arkansas Razorbacks

• LSU
• Missouri
• Oklahoma

Arkansas keeps its trophy games against LSU and Missouri. Bummer for them, considering both teams have been superior for a more than a decade. Oklahoma is added because of geography and a legitimate, if silly, beef between fans of the two schools for some in northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas.

Auburn Tigers

• Alabama
• Georgia
• Texas A&M

Alabama, of course. Georgia is the geographic best from the former SEC East. Texas A&M and Auburn are awfully similar programs, so their equality makes a bit of sense.

Florida Gators

• Georgia
• Tennessee
• Texas

Florida is getting hosed in this layout. But would Gators fans want to give up the game against Georgia or the one against Tennessee? Texas remains as the de facto western opponent. Ouch.

Georgia Bulldogs

• Auburn
• Florida
• South Carolina

Like Florida, it's hard to consider Georgia abandoning classic rivalries against Florida and South Carolina. Auburn is in, again, because of geography.

Kentucky Wildcats

• Missouri
• Ole Miss
• Vanderbilt

In an attempt to give every former SEC East team a West permanent and vice versa, Kentucky gets Ole Miss. A good, but not great opponent. Missouri is similar in recent years. And Kentucky's historical lack of major success allows for an annual matchup against Vanderbilt.

LSU Tigers

• Arkansas
• Ole Miss
• South Carolina

Arkansas is a trophy game. Ole Miss is closest geography-wise. South Carolina is...well, LSU needs a former East team. Could give Florida here, but then Gators' schedule gets even more brutal. It's tough.

Mississippi State

• Alabama
• Ole Miss
• Vanderbilt

Keep the Egg Bowl intact, obviously. Alabama is next geographic likely. And because the Bulldogs struggle regularly and still need a former Eastern Division foe, Vanderbilt fits the bill.

Missouri Tigers

• Arkansas
• Kentucky
• Texas A&M

Missouri fans and Arkansas fans don't want to buy the rivalry, but it's real. And, really, the two states are eerily similar. If they'd embrace it, it'd be even better. Anyway, Kentucky makes geographic sense as a border state. A&M needs a former East foe.

Oklahoma Sooners

• Arkansas
• Tennessee
• Texas

Texas is a given. Arkansas is in because of aforementioned reasons. Plus, with Tennessee - a school with which Oklahoma has some history - the Razorbacks provide for the proverbial 'easy' game.

Ole Miss Rebels

• Kentucky
• LSU
• Mississippi State

MSU and LSU make clear sense. Kentucky needs a Western Division opponent that is good, but not an Alabama or an LSU. So the Rebels make sense.

South Carolina Gamecocks

• Georgia
• LSU
• Vanderbilt

If South Carolina is keeping Georgia and getting LSU, then you have to give the Gamecocks an easy (relatively speaking) opponent as the third. Vanderbilt it is.

Tennessee Volunteers

• Alabama
• Florida
• Oklahoma

Tennessee is in the same boat as Florida. This is rough for the Volunteers. But if they consider themselves one of the SEC's elite, they shouldn't be scared.

Texas Longhorns

• Florida
• Oklahoma
• Texas A&M

Texas needs to keep its two former Big 12 rivals. Missouri could have been an option to make it a real family reunion, but how about making Texas travel out of the central time zone, at least. Enter Florida.

Texas A&M Aggies

• Auburn
• Missouri
• Texas

A&M, instead, gets the Tigers. Both of them, actually. Plus, you can't split A&M from the Longhorns. You just can't.

Vanderbilt Commodores

• Kentucky
• Mississippi State
• South Carolina

Unless you're a sadist, you have to give Vanderbilt a chance. Kentucky was regularly right next to the Commodores in the standings in the divisional era and MSU was at the bottom of the West for most of that time. South Carolina provides the punch.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Examining possible permanent rivals in new SEC schedule format