Texas A&M Football: South Carolina, Not Mizzou, Improves Aggie National Brand

As both Texas A&M and Missouri finalize their "official" move to the SEC later this summer, each university can already begin to notice how their new home is adjusting to them. The league's recently finished spring meetings ended as a success with everything from future scheduling to new possible alignment receiving some attention.

One of the more pressing matters, however, came in the form of the swapping of cross-division rivals. As Mizzou makes its way into the conference, they will immediately join the Eastern Division, leaving their closest league opponent, Arkansas, off the schedule six out of every seven seasons.

For the Tigers and the Razorbacks, this wasn't acceptable, leading to both universities to propose a "switching" of cross-division rivals. How does this affect Texas A&M? Surprisingly, a lot.

Since the Aggies will enter their new home in the West Division opposite Missouri's placement, the Tigers and Aggies have been assigned each other as cross-division rivals. For A&M, this new arrangement worked perfectly as Mizzou provided solid competition as well as some familiarity. 

Put simply, the Aggies would have the opportunity to continue competing against a quality former Big 12 foe. This alignment had no downside for Texas A&M.

When both Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference in 1992, they also (like Mizzou and A&M) merged as each others cross-division rivals. While the matchup didn't exactly make any traditional or historical sense, both programs went along with the assignment in hopes that they might be able to change opponents in the future.

Two decades later, the future finally arrived. With both Texas A&M, the Hogs' former SWC rival, and Missouri, just 226 miles northeast of Fayetteville, entering into the conference, Arkansas had the pick of the litter rival-wise. As the Aggies joined the Razorbacks' division, Missouri stood available as their new cross-division rival and both programs jumped on the opportunity.

Due to the fact that neither Texas A&M nor South Carolina had any real objections to the marriage, the new "rivalry" was formed. To fill in the missing scheduling gap, the Aggies and Gamecocks made the best of their situation and declared each other their own cross-divisional rivals.

For the Aggies, this new "rivalry" has no true meaning besides the fact that USC is a SEC East rising star. Many A&M fans, such as myself, have actually focused more on the inter-divisional implications of the Arkansas-Missouri rivalry formation.

With the Hogs working to make the Mizzou matchup their new season finale instead of just another conference game, both Texas A&M and LSU have been strongly affected. With Mizzou being A&M's season-ending matchup and Arkansas holding Louisiana State's, both the Aggies and Bayou Bengals would lose their Thanksgiving weekend game once the Razorbacks secured the northern-most Tigers as their year-ender.

Accordingly, LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva has come out and proclaimed that he expects Texas A&M to become Louisiana State's season-finale once Arkansas moves on. For the Aggies, this would reestablish an old-time rivalry with the closest, proximity-wise, SEC university to College Station (a mere 360 miles).

From an A&M standpoint, the South Carolina realignment as the Aggies' new cross-divisional rival doesn't mean nearly as much as what the deal is with LSU, Arkansas and Missouri, right?

Wrong. With the Gamecocks merging with A&M, a whole new world of opportunities opens up for the Aggies that have been underscored by the entirety of the fan base. 

The SEC is broadcasted on multiple different stations every Saturday with the main two being CBS and ESPN. During the middle of the season, how great does it look to those networks to have a game like Texas A&M versus South Carolina on the docket? Two quality teams come together for one big-time game.

The Aggies and the Gamecocks have never played before in the history of college football, making this whole matchup new and exciting for both universities. Furthermore, they stand now as the two most distant programs from each other in the SEC at an impressive 1,069 miles.

The caliber coach Steve Spurrier has evolved into will draw fans from all over the state to watch the Gamecocks take on the Aggies. Fans love to see living legends in action as they stride up and down the sideline, making South Carolina and their "ol' ball coach" perfect for attracting the entirety of Aggieland.

Playing high-octane games against USC will provide the Aggies a huge opportunity to spread their brand. While Missouri-A&M would draw some fans from the SEC, college football fanatics from across the nation will enjoy the opportunity to view South Carolina-Texas A&M battle it out on the gridiron.

Overall, the Arkansas-Mizzou cross-divisional rivalry swap puts the Aggies on the map in the SEC. With LSU and South Carolina sliding into position, A&M gains valuable placement in their new conference that will further their brand on not only a league-wide scale, but also on a national one.