Last week, the Southeastern Conference revealed the non-divisional rotation for football for every year until 2025.
They decided to keep the eight-game slate that consists of six divisional games and two non-divisional games, including one permanent non-divisional opponent.
While that means the annual battle with Georgia will be kept intact for Auburn, many entertaining matchups will only happen a couple times every decade.
One of my favorite series, against Florida, will not be played again in the regular season until 2019.
After producing moments like Damon Duval's game-winning field goal and ensuing field-storming in 2001, Tre Smith returning a blocked punt for a touchdown in 2006 and Wes Byrum hitting the game-winning field goal twice in Gainesville in 2007; the Auburn-Florida series deserves to be played more often.
Tennessee and South Carolina, two opponents that have given Auburn competitive games in recent history, will only be occasional foes.
Following the Tennessee game last season and the South Carolina game this season, the two teams will not play Auburn in the regular season again until 2018 and 2021, respectively.
Alternatives to the current schedule have been discussed. The two most logical alternatives are adding a ninth conference game and removing the permanent non-divisional opponent.
I think the better solution is adding a ninth conference game, one that would be another rotating, non-divisional game.
Doing so would immensely benefit three types of fans: the casual fan, the student, and the season ticket holder.
The casual fan just wants to watch quality football games with the best players, coaches, and game day atmospheres.
What better place to see such games than the SEC? Adding another game would create another entertaining Saturday on everyone's schedule.
College students are the most spirited, obnoxious, and fun fans there are, and they come from around the country.
They are also among the best traveled, as many take advantage of road trip opportunities to visit other college towns or to see nearby family.
It's a shame that students from states such as Florida, Tennessee, or South Carolina may not be able to see Auburn play at their home-state school while they are a student.
The season ticket holders would benefit the most from a ninth game.
They are the fans that spend money on tickets, gas, a place to stay, and food every weekend during football season, even for the smaller games for the most part.
With fans that dedicated, why not reward them by replacing a blowout, non-conference game with another competitive SEC game?
On top of the fans, another conference game would economically benefit the schools significantly.
In this age of HD-TV and nationwide coverage of almost every game, it is getting more difficult to sell out every home game, especially the less competitive non-conference games.
Replacing one of those games with a ninth conference game will increase ticket sales and attendance, increasing profits pulled in by the universities.
With the SEC just recently announcing the new scheduling format, it seems that reforming it may not happen in the near future.
But when it does happen, a ninth SEC game appears to be an attractive option.
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