STULTZ: Goodbye rivals, hello easier schedule

The times, they are a-changin'.

Maybe I was naive when it came to the release of the 2024 SEC opponents for Auburn. Perhaps I didn't want to think what would happen now that there are no divisions for the first time since 1992. And maybe I was still in denial that the Southeastern Conference, our beloved SEC, would never be the same.

But my gosh, if next season isn't going to feel different than years past.

Let's start with the obvious: the loss of LSU as a permanent opponent. A series that has given everyone so much history, hard hits, incredible comebacks, earthquakes, phantom whistles and, yes, a fire, is now on the back-burner thanks to the addition of Oklahoma and Texas to the conference. No longer will Auburn fans be able to take the trip to Red Stick every two seasons, nor will corndogs be floating around Auburn's campus, mocking the Bayou Bengals for a smell that is part of lore.

The Grove will no longer be a regular part of the schedule. Nor will the ringing of 60,000 cowbells. Well, that actually might be a good one. In fact, my eardrums are currently thanking me.

But looking at all of the changes to the scheduling format, Auburn has already come out as a winner. The Tigers have regularly faced the most challenging schedule not only in the SEC but in college football. Playing in the SEC West with Georgia as a permanent opponent meant a grind of a season, something that the likes of Ohio State and Michigan would look at and throw the idea into the trash instantly.

Running through a packed schedule was always on the mind of Auburn coaches, players and, of course, fans. Playing Georgia and Alabama in the same year? Of course, that is difficult. Playing them both on the road in the same season? Yeah, that's no fun. And while that problem hasn't been fixed by the SEC as of yet – and it should be an issue that Hugh Freeze, John Cohen and the rest of Auburn's administration should challenge – there's hope that one day, it will go back to how it was before the last expansion.

No game in the SEC is a gimmie. Auburn has learned that in Nashville, Columbia, Lexington and other places around the league before. Yet losing LSU, a perennial power, and replacing the Tigers with Kentucky or Missouri is a shot in the arm for Auburn, and that is with no slight meant toward the Wildcats or Tigers. It's just they aren't at the level that LSU has been and is now under Brian Kelly. Auburn went 22 years between winning games at Death Valley, so avoiding that stadium is probably high on any coach's bucket list.

But coming out a winner has its cost. Auburn and LSU have met every season since 1991. Ole Miss? 1989. And Mississippi State? Well, the Tigers and Bulldogs have played each other since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. And for those wondering, that year is 1954.

This is the new way of college football, and it will probably only get worse as schools wanting to be among the giants in the SEC try to make a bid and get themselves in the good life of conference mega-revenue. There's no telling how many teams will be in the SEC in 10-15 years, but as the schools earn more and more money and the television dollars come rolling in at an even more significant rate, expansion is inevitable.

So let's toast to those annual games and rivalries we loved and will miss while celebrating the introduction of a more manageable schedule for Freeze and his players to navigate. It's a brand new SEC.