Will the SEC move the 2010 Georgia-Auburn Football Game?

The Alabama Crimson Tide doesn’t like their 2010 football schedule. Why? Six of their last seven opponents, all SEC teams, have an open date before playing Bama.

Those six games are South Carolina (away), Ole Miss (home), Tennessee (away), LSU (away), Mississippi State (home) and Auburn (home). The Tide does have an open date between Tennessee and LSU. Also, they play Georgia State the week prior to Auburn.

Let’s be honest here. Georgia State is playing it’s first football season ever. Technically, that’s an off week for Alabama.

Both Alabama and LSU are off the week prior to their meeting in Baton Rouge. So that’s a wash, leaving Bama with four opponents having off weeks.

While trying to alleviate this problem, the SEC has stated that future SEC schedules will limit the number of games a team will play after that opponent has an open date to three.

What does the Georgia-Auburn game have to do with this? It’s one of only two conference games that can be moved without creating havoc with the rest of the SEC football schedule. The other game is Arkansas-South Carolina on November 6 (Source – TideSports.com).

The Georgia-Auburn game, scheduled for November 13, could be moved to November 20 since they both have open dates that weekend. But the big problem here is that Georgia faces Georgia Tech and Auburn travels to Alabama on the weekend of the 27th. With such big in-state rivalry games, Georgia and Auburn are not likely to agree to the altering of their schedules.

For Alabama, I think it all boils down to how their rivalry games set up. Their three main rivals – Auburn, LSU and Tennessee – all have open weeks.

With all of the 2010 SEC schedules set, I think the conference should stand firm and not make any changes. They’ve already said that the new maximum of playing opponents who have open dates the preceding week is three. Is one more game that much of a difference? (Sure, I’m stretching that number with Georgia State being green and the LSU wash.)

What do you think? Should the SEC move the Georgia-Auburn game? Should the alter Alabama’s schedule or leave it alone? Discuss it in the comments below.

Related Links

• 2010 College Football Schedules – FBSchedules.com