I don’t see any way the SEC doesn’t do the 3+6 model. It got me thinking about who everyone’s permanent rivals are. We always view it through a tennessee lens but trying to determine everyone else’s rivals I think helps you determine TN’s (it’s hard to get to 3 for certain schools and that helps breaks ties). I’ll take a stab here, what’s everyone’s thoughts (alphabetical order):
Alabama - Auburn, Tennessee
Arkansas - Mizzou, LSU, Texas A&M
Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Miss State
Florida - LSU, Georgia, South Carolina
Georgia - Florida, Auburn, South Carolina
Kentucky - Tennessee, Miss State,
LSU - Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss
Miss State - Ole Miss, Auburn, Kentucky
Mizzou - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas
Oklahoma - Texas, Texas A&M, Mizzou
Ole Miss - Miss State, LSU, Vandy
South Carolina - Georgia, Vandy, Florida
Tennessee - Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy
Texas - Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Mizzou
Texas A&M - Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas
Vandy - Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina
it’s a really hard exercise. I couldn’t even decide how to get Kentucky to 3, and Bama was the odd one out so didn’t quite complete it.
There’s some teams you could easily find 5-6 rivalry games that make sense. And some it’s hard to even find 2. I think doing this exercise helped me realize that so many of these matchups are going to be determined by the lesser team. For example, you could easily pair TN with Kentucky Florida or Georgia to round out the trio. But when you go look at Kentucky’s options it almost has to include tennessee if they are actually trying to keep any semblance of rivalries going. Especially considering Florida and especially Georgia have plenty of teams they could match with.
i guess it is always possible they basically pair teams with their 2 biggest rivals and then the 3rd team is just random to try to maintain some sort of balance
Alabama - Auburn, Tennessee
Arkansas - Mizzou, LSU, Texas A&M
Auburn - Alabama, Georgia, Miss State
Florida - LSU, Georgia, South Carolina
Georgia - Florida, Auburn, South Carolina
Kentucky - Tennessee, Miss State,
LSU - Florida, Arkansas, Ole Miss
Miss State - Ole Miss, Auburn, Kentucky
Mizzou - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas
Oklahoma - Texas, Texas A&M, Mizzou
Ole Miss - Miss State, LSU, Vandy
South Carolina - Georgia, Vandy, Florida
Tennessee - Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy
Texas - Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Mizzou
Texas A&M - Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas
Vandy - Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina
it’s a really hard exercise. I couldn’t even decide how to get Kentucky to 3, and Bama was the odd one out so didn’t quite complete it.
There’s some teams you could easily find 5-6 rivalry games that make sense. And some it’s hard to even find 2. I think doing this exercise helped me realize that so many of these matchups are going to be determined by the lesser team. For example, you could easily pair TN with Kentucky Florida or Georgia to round out the trio. But when you go look at Kentucky’s options it almost has to include tennessee if they are actually trying to keep any semblance of rivalries going. Especially considering Florida and especially Georgia have plenty of teams they could match with.
i guess it is always possible they basically pair teams with their 2 biggest rivals and then the 3rd team is just random to try to maintain some sort of balance
