SEC Expansion

The SEC conference is expanding rapidly. Missouri and Texas A&M will be the new SEC expansion teams next year. Both Missouri and Texas A&M were part of the original Big 12 conference expansion in 1996. Both will be gone by the end of the year. Missouri will be in the East division while Texas A&M will be in the West division. With Missouri and Texas A&M in the SEC, the conference will have 14 teams.

Now lets look back to 1992, Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC. That year the SEC first divided the 12 teams into two divisions. Arkansas was part of the SWC Conference while South Carolina was part of the ACC. When the SEC divided the 12 teams, newly Arkansas Razorbacks was put  in the West division and newly South Carolina Gamecocks was put in the East division. The first SEC championship game was held in Birmingham on December 5th 1992. Alabama faced Florida and Alabama beat Florida 28-21. Alabama that season won the National Championship, they beat the  Miami Hurricanes.

Recently when the talks of expanding the conference; Auburn was one of the schools that would have move to the East. Texas A&M will be in the West division regardless if Missouri joins or not. The schedules for the new teams will be set by spring of 2012. It will take some time to get used to Missouri and Texas A&M being in the SEC. Next season when you see game like Missouri playing Tennessee it will look a little weird. Just like in 1992, South Carolina playing Vanderbilt, that took time for everyone to get used to.

When Missouri and Texas A&M join the conference;  I hope it will help schools like Georgia and Vanderbilt recruit some players in the Missouri and Texas area. Recruiting will be a Big part of this process. Missouri Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies will have to recruit players in Tennessee, Georgia, and of course in Florida.