Florida, LSU Want To End Annual SEC Rivalry Series

Update: Not so fast, LSU.

If part of the SEC secedes from the SEC, would that be the most SEC thing to ever happen? As it stands, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee are looking to keep their annual cross-division rivalry games alive even though the conference has added two teams and would likely need nine conference games to squeeze in all that tradition and history. Ew! Tradition and history.

So that’s four teams against 10 or so.

Besides the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry and the Third Saturday in October, there’s really not a lot to preserve by sticking each team with a permanent rival from way over there. As we keep saying, Bill Connelly used this fact to go ahead and solve the entire problem, but nobody’s listening.

The only other pairing that sometimes gets mentioned along with those two games is Florida-LSU. It’s not an especially storied rivalry, but it’s guaranteed to be a prominent game every year due to the programs involved. Then again, the fact that both sides have been very good as of late only gives each a reason to stop playing the other so often, since nobody likes fun and competition. As LSU AD Joe Alleva put it:

LSU’s permanent opponent has been Florida, and athletic director Joe Alleva said both schools are interested in ending that scheduling staple.

Other schools are eager to preserve permanent opponents to preserve cross-divisional rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee and Georgia-Auburn, and Alleva said he thought there was momentum among the athletic directors to maintaining that.

We say again, SEC: listen to Bill C. He’s a Mizzou man, and thus a new guy, but he’s got it all squared up.

For more on Gators football, visit Florida blog Alligator Army, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills and SB Nation Tampa Bay.

For more on Tigers football, visit LSU blog And The Valley Shook, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills.