Auburn Fooball: Why the Tigers Should Play in the SEC Eastern Division

As the Auburn football team looks ahead to spring practice, conference realignment is again a leading topic, leaving some Tigers fans wondering why Auburn has yet to make the move into the SEC Eastern Division.

The Tigers have a lot of ties that would put them as natural fits in the SEC East, with discussions involving this move coming earlier this year when the talks of the realignment began floating to the surface.

When the announcement came that Missouri was to join the conference, it appeared the course had been laid for the Tigers to end up in the East. After all, it was a natural geographic fit for the Tigers and a move that most figured was a fitting change.

Auburn has a natural Eastern Division feel to it. The Tigers recruit naturally in the states of Georgia and Florida. The Eastern Division also hosts two of Auburn’s fiercest rivals, Florida and Georgia.

Rivalries

Most recently, talks about a forced end to the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry” must have the Auburn faithful shaking their heads. How could a discussion even be raised to dismiss a football game that has been played since 1892?

I suppose that discussion could be raised the same way the Florida rivalry was tossed aside for the Tigers when the SEC went to a forced rotation and only one locked inter-division opponent. Auburn chose to lock Georgia, thus forcing the end of the Florida vs. Auburn rivalry, a game that has been played more times than the infamous Iron Bowl.

The Tigers have also played Tennessee in some very memorable games over the years, making for a change when the Tigers and Volunteers had to end their annual bout. The Tigers and Vols played annually from 1956-91.

If the Tigers were to shift to the East, the assumption would then be that they would lose one of two current annual contests between LSU and Alabama. Obviously, ending the Iron Bowl is not likely ever to happen again, so the LSU game would likely be tossed by the wayside.

Auburn and LSU have played 46 times, but most Auburn fans would likely happily part with the annual contest with LSU to continue the Georgia game and rekindle the Florida rivalry.

If keeping tradition alive mattered, the Tigers would be playing in the SEC East once the 2012 season began.

Recruiting

The Tigers have added a national twist to their recruiting since the beginning of the Gene Chizik era, but the Tigers have traditionally built the bulk of the recruiting classes from the states of Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Since Chizik took over with the 2009 recruiting class, the Tigers have signed 24 players from the state of Georgia and 11 from Florida. With 35 players coming from those two states and the addition of the Alabama recruits filling out most classes, it's obvious the Tigers rely heavily on instate and border-state recruiting.

Auburn does traditionally do well in the state of Mississippi with the fourth most signees coming from the Magnolia state. That is a pipeline that would likely continue even if the Tigers were to stop playing both Ole Miss and Mississippi State on a regular basis.

Making the move to play in the Eastern Division would add pageantry to the game for the kids that sign with Auburn from around SEC country. Under the current system, the majority of the recruiting classes Auburn pulls miss playing against their home state teams thanks to the forced inter-division rotation. 

Geography

When the SEC made the move to expand, there was a discussion surrounding how the division names may pan out. The SEC could have followed the lead of the Big Ten and make up names that leave fans laughing and shaking their heads; instead, the conference decided to make a pretty standard decision and stay directional.

The problem at this point with the directions being used to describe divisions is that Missouri is just a bit farther west than some of their newfound conference brethren. Mainly Auburn. Auburn could easily make the shift, but instead the Missouri Tigers are now found in the SEC East.

Of all the reasons for Auburn to shift divisions in the conference, this is the most petty of them all, but in the end it just makes the most common sense. Follow the map and then draw the division lines.

There isn’t likely to be a change in the conference for a while with a 14-team conference pushing the current envelope of college athletics, especially in the football championship hunt.

For Auburn, it has likely found its resting place on the Western side of the conference for at least a little while longer. No matter the fight the Tigers put up to become an Eastern Division team, the effect it would have in the inter-division contests may cause it to never occur.

The Auburn family could not help but want to push for the move to the East especially now—look at the power that rests in the Western side of the conference.

Obviously, keeping with history and tradition are not at favor when it comes to decisions the SEC main office is making. Is that such a big deal, though? Does it really matter which pieces of history and tradition stay alive and which ones don’t?

For the most part, the fans pick which traditions stick; unfortunately, they can’t choose the games they pay for in their season-ticket package. 

Follow @ianb1448