Auburn football: 5 potential negative side effects when OU and UT reach SEC

Here at Fly War Eagle, the thought of Texas and Oklahoma joining Auburn football in the SEC has had the imagination running wild on how the rest of the college football world will respond.

Could this result in a super conference formed out of the remains of the Big 12 joining the Pac-12 for an unprecedented merger? Possibly. What about the prospect teams making the jump to the Big 12 to keep the conference afloat? Again, possibly.

We don’t know much about the future. No one saw the Sooners and Longhorns wanting out and basically leaving the conference in a major bind in the first place.

What we do know is that OU/UT are out of the Big 12 (by 2025) and that the Tigers will be affected.

And not all of the effects are going to be positive. Let’s take a look at 5 potential negative side effects of this SEC realignment:

Potential Auburn football negative side effect #1: Tigers move east

With Oklahoma and Texas coming to the SEC, it is almost certain that they will be debuting in the SEC West. It would make little sense for them to be regularly traveling to the east coast when both teams are deep in the South Central region of the United States.

Their SEC additions could potentially force one team to the SEC East, and given their geographical location, Auburn could be the team that makes the move.

Their Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry counterpart Georgia is there, but besides UGA and Florida (and Tennessee depending on the year), the SEC East is short on big money matchups. The SEC West has produced every National Champion from the conference since 2010 and should continue to be the superior half of the conference.