You know summer is truly upon us once the Auburn to the SEC East comments and stories start rolling out. Following comments by former Auburn football coach Pat Dye, the idea of the school relocating to the East and Missouri to the West have regained some traction. In what has become an annual talking point for those associated with Auburn, the school’s athletic director, Jay Jacobs, was the one discussing the potential move most recently.

Jacobs was a guest on WNSP-FM 105.5 sports radio Thursday and freely expressed his thoughts on the subject. While the Auburn AD suggested the benefits to the move, he also realized the potential negatives that could result from relocation.

“It makes sense,” Jacobs said according to Creg Stephenson of AL.com. “If we ever had the opportunity to geographically realign, it makes sense. It really makes sense for Missouri, because of the travel or other things like that.”

But Jacobs readily admits there would be the loss of tradition with such a move. Most notably, Alabama/the SEC would have to decide which game to keep as an annual game, assuming the league keeps an eight-game conference schedule, the Iron Bowl or the Third Saturday in October? Not to mention the loss of annual highlights on the schedule such as Auburn vs. LSU and Auburn vs. Ole Miss. Of course, the move would allow for newfound annual rivalries to be restored, as Auburn vs. Florida and Auburn vs. Tennessee would return to an annual basis.

“Are we willing to give up the traditional rivalries?,” Jacobs said. “When you look around the nation at conferences that have done realignment, they’ve lost some of those rivalries. Has that helped them or hurt them? I don’t really know. What it would take to do that was for us to say ‘We’re not going to play the same traditional rivalries that we have in the past. We’re going to go to the East.’ Or does that matter? Do you look at a different way of scheduling altogether? We’re certainly open to it.”

Unlike Dye, Jacobs is unwilling to cede an annual Iron Bowl game. The school’s athletic director seems to have a better understanding of what that rivalry means not only to the state and the SEC but to the game of college football.

“I would want to preserve the Auburn-Alabama rivalry, however we could do that. … The Auburn-Alabama game right now, it just means too much to too many people to give that up. I think there are other ways that we could possibly change without having to give that rivalry up.”