By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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Who knows how the SEC will be structured moving forward. There are a number of possibilities to consider.

It’s been difficult to follow all of the conference realignment moves, much less project what the landscape will look like in the future. There continues to be speculation that the SEC may not be done by adding only Oklahoma and Texas, with a wide-ranging list of possibilities as to what a new-look superconference might actually be. At this point, though, it’s quite clear that the Sooners and Longhorns are joining the SEC and are doing so very soon.

There have already been talks of a potential pod-system where four divisions would have four teams each. That said, could the SEC maintain a two-division format with Oklahoma and Texas in the mix? With this format, the league would keep the streamlined simplicity of advancing to the SEC Championship Game in place. Additionally, more tenured rivalries would probably be continued as annual contests. One cross-division opponent could remain or a simple cross-division rotation could be utilized, one where every team would play each team from the other side once every four years.

It’s worth exploring what such a league could look like;

SEC EAST
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

SEC WEST
Arkansas
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Ole Miss
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M

Traditional rivalries would be protected here. With Alabama and Auburn moving to the SEC East, and the SEC West welcoming Oklahoma and Texas, the league would keep the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl, Red River Showdown and Florida-Georgia and Texas-Texas A&M on the yearly schedule, as well as Alabama-Tennessee, Florida-Tennessee, Georgia-Auburn, Georgia-Tennessee and LSU-Arkansas. There would be great familiarity within the SEC East and an old Southwest Conference theme to the SEC West. Geographical relevancy would be in place, too.

The competitive balance, which can obviously change and change dramatically over time, isn’t perfect, but it is close. Interestingly, the eight teams from this theoretical SEC East won 45 games last season, while the eight teams from the theoretical SEC West won 47. Using last season’s final rankings, both sides would have had three top 20 teams: Alabama, Florida and Georgia in the east and Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas in the west.

Sure, the idea of Alabama, Auburn, Florida and Georgia all being in the same division is tough and the same goes with LSU, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M; that is the reality of a superconference, however. This league will certainly get a number of playoff bids.

This will be the greatest collection of contenders in modern college football history.

Who knows how the SEC will be structured moving forward. There are a number of possibilities to consider.