Texas A&M Football: SEC Makes the Right Move to Deny A&M Seating Request

There are bound to be ups and downs during Texas A&M's transition to the SEC, and Wednesday was a down day in terms of student seating.

According to Texas A&M's official Twitter feed, the SEC has denied A&M's request to keep its student section between the 30-yard lines.

SEC rules prohibit home student sections from being within 25 rows of the field between the 30-yard lines of the visitor's bench. The reason for the rule is simple: The SEC doesn't want crazy fans crossing the line and harassing visiting student-athletes.  

Texas A&M will now have to reconfigure its student section to accommodate the SEC's rule. Approximately 1,400 students—including the Aggie Band—will have a new home in 2012. As a result of the move, A&M will actually have more student seats available, just not behind the visiting bench.

The transition to the SEC will already be difficult, and if the SEC were to allow A&M to have its students behind visiting benches, it would have to make it a league-wide rule because it would create a competitive disadvantage to visiting teams.

Night games at LSU are notorious for a reason: The fans are abnormally loud. Next-level loud. Do you think that A&M really wants its football program to go into Death Valley and have LSU students with 12 hours of tailgating under their belts sitting right behind the players? Of course not.

Aggie fans will probably be upset about this move, but it is in their best interest. The seats could be lumped into the "tradition" of the 12th Man, which would put it in the same discussion as Mississippi State's cow bells. But, you can't tell college students to behave and expect them to just follow suit. Keep in mind that Mississippi State fans are supposed to "ring responsibly." 

It may seem like the SEC is picking on A&M by not granting them the request, but in reality, the SEC is protecting A&M.

Follow @BarrettSallee