SEC announces format for future football schedules

The SEC announced its format for future football scheduling on Sunday evening to mixed reviews from the internet. Every element of the previous format remains, with the added requirement that each team schedule a non-conference game against an ACC, Pac-12, Big Ten, or Big 12 opponent. South Carolina and teams like Georgia and Florida, who already have longstanding rivalries with ACC schools, will be unaffected by the change.

The two most controversial components of the SEC scheduling format, the eight game conference schedule and the 6-1-1 scheduling format, remain intact. The required game against a school from another Power Five conference is a sensible compromise that should satisfy many of the conference's critics who believe that SEC schools pad their schedules with an overabundance of FCS opponents. The 6-1-1 conference scheduling format pits each team against its six other division foes and two cross-division opponents and preserves the permanent cross-division rivalries that were long-expected to be firmed up with the beginning of the 2014 season.

•    Alabama (west) vs. Tennessee (east)
•    Arkansas (west) vs. Missouri (east)
•    Auburn (west) vs. Georgia (east)
•    LSU (west) vs. Florida (east)
•    Ole Miss (west) vs. Vanderbilt (east)
•    Mississippi State (west) vs. Kentucky (east)
•    Texas A&M (west) vs. South Carolina (east)

Lately there has been considerable public support for the idea of disbanding the permanent cross-division rivalry in light of the fact that it prevents teams from the SEC East from getting to play a variety of teams from the SEC West (and vice versa), which has the appearance of making a majority of the teams in the conference suffer for the benefit of preserving a small group of rivalries, some of which have tenuous claims to historical and national relevance. As has been the case in the past, though, it appears that those concerns were not compelling enough to overwhelm the interests of those that sought to preserve their rivalries.

Remember, this is about preserving the history and pageantry of Kentucky-MSU, South Carolina-A&M, and Vandy-Ole Miss.

— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) April 28, 2014

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Let 'er rip in the comments section. How is everybody feeling about this announcement?