Georgia beat writer says if Bulldogs don't play Auburn annually, 'that's not even college football'

The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry may become a bi-annual matchup with a new SEC schedule format in 2025.

Lance Dawe | Jul 20, 2023

Georgia beat writer says if Bulldogs don't play Auburn annually, 'that's not even college football' /

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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey took the podium on day one of SEC Media Days.

Among other topics, Sankey discussed the future of the SEC's schedule with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the league in 2024 changing the conference schedule format.

The SEC has already released the 2024 conference slate but is expected to change the schedule again in 2025.

Commissioner Sankey was asked about the internal discussion around the discussion to eliminate divisions and how they came to the conclusion.

"That discussion in football goes back to 2018, 2019, so the discussion of is our current divisional approach in football the most competitively equitable," Sankey said. "So the words "fair and balanced" came up a lot. You had to define what do you mean by fair and what do you mean by balanced in the schedule [...] Balance was rotating teams through with greater frequency, so I think plenty of people have written about a team may not see a team certainly for six years or may not go someplace for 12 years if they're in another division. So that was balanced."

There's a possibility that with another changing of the scheduling format, we could see the league go to a 1-7 or even 1-8 model, meaning every team gets one permanent conference opponent while the rest of the conference slate rotates through various teams around the SEC.

Could that mean Auburn loses Georgia - The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry - as an annual game?

Benjamin Wolk, formerly a member of the Auburn beat and current Georgia beat writer for 247Sports, sat down with Zac Blackerby of Auburn Daily to discuss Auburn's trajectory, recruiting vs the Tigers, and how Bulldogs fans may view the potential changes coming to the SEC conference schedule format in 2025.

"Well, I think the Georgia side of it is if you're only allowed to have one annual common opponent, like everyone's going to want Florida as that matchup," Wolk said, "And I think likewise, Auburn would want Alabama as that matchup. So would The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry be what gets lost in that. I'm of the belief that there will eventually be a nine game conference schedule because everybody wants to see more competitive games. Greg Sankey mentioned it yesterday [...] I am going to keep an optimistic approach and just assume that there will be a nine game schedule sooner rather than later. And as a result, Georgia vs Auburn will survive. But I'll say that will be a weird year. It's already going to be weird next year, Georgia not playing South Carolina. I find that one a weird one. But if Georgia doesn't play Auburn, I mean, that's not even college football to me."

SEC Media Days is being hosted this year in Nashville, Tennessee for the very first time.

Auburn Daily is here covering Media Days all week long. You can catch updates, quotes, predictions and more here on auburndaily.com.

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Published Jul 20, 2023

LANCE DAWE

College football enthusiast. Wing connoisseur. Editor and contributor for @TheAuburnDaily. Host of @LockedonUK.