SEC country is packed with FBS football programs. Whereas out West, often there are not five other programs within 500 miles (see: Wyoming), schools in the South and Midwest nearly can heave a football and hit several other teams.

Still, there’s a big disparity between SEC programs.

There are five FBS schools within 125 miles of College Station, Texas, while there are barely five FBS schools within 300 miles of Florida.

Some in-state rivals aren’t as close as other SEC teams. For example, Alabama and Mississippi State are closer than Alabama-Auburn or Mississippi State-Ole Miss.

Calculated via Google Maps, based on the driving distances between college cities, here are the five closest FBS football programs to every SEC school.

ALABAMA

The Crimson Tide are the only conference member with three SEC teams among its five closest FBS neighbors. Most casual outsiders wouldn’t guess that Mississippi State is about half the distance from Tuscaloosa that Auburn is, and that Ole Miss can even be closer depending on your side of town.

There’s been some excellent football played among these six teams, including the Tide, in the last decade. In many ways it has become the epicenter of the sport.

Mississippi State: 85 miles
Troy: 151 miles
Auburn: 159 miles
Ole Miss: 166 miles
Southern Miss: 180 miles

ARKANSAS

The Razorbacks represent an interesting convergence of conference cultures. Coach Bret Bielema spent 20 years in the Big Ten as a player, graduate assistant or coach. Three of Arkansas’ closest neighbors are Big 12 members, including both Oklahoma schools. And Texas remains something of a rival, even though the teams don’t play regularly.

For a long time, Fayetteville, Ark., represented the conference’s westernmost point. But College Station, Texas, has overtaken it as the SEC’s western edge.

Tulsa: 113 miles
Oklahoma State: 183 miles
Oklahoma: 243 miles
Kansas: 264 miles
Arkansas State: 288 miles

AUBURN

The Crimson Tide, Auburn’s Iron Bowl rival, are just the fourth-closest FBS program to the Tigers geographically. But that could be a good thing. Can you imagine those two fan bases if the schools were separated by, say, a 30-minute drive?

Auburn and Georgia Tech used to conduct a thriving football rivalry — the two teams have met 92 times — but the Tigers and Yellow Jackets have collided just twice since the once-annual meeting ended in 1987.

Troy: 85 miles
Georgia Tech: 108 miles
Georgia State: 108 miles
Alabama: 159 miles
Georgia: 180 miles

GEORGIA

Given its proximity to Atlanta, the University of Georgia is the only SEC football program with three FBS neighbors within 75 miles. The Bulldogs also are much closer to Clemson than is South Carolina.

Despite the annual rivalry and relative proximity, Auburn does not make this top 5. Sanford Stadium and Jordan-Hare Stadium are approximately 175 miles apart.

Georgia Tech: 72 miles
Georgia State: 72 miles
Clemson: 73 miles
Georgia Southern: 162 miles
South Carolina: 163 miles

FLORIDA

There are a number of FBS programs within the Sunshine State. Surprising to some, including this writer, the fourth-closest FBS team in proximity to Gainesville, Fla., doesn’t reside in the state.

Radical writers have speculated for years about a potential rise of a fourth super program in Florida — perhaps UCF or USF — but the Knights did not win a single game last year before hiring Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost as their new head coach.

UCF: 112 miles
USF: 130 miles
Florida State: 150 miles
Georgia Southern: 243 miles
Florida Atlantic: 294 miles

KENTUCKY

Note Kentucky’s proximity to Cincinnati as well as Miami (Ohio). Mark Stoops annually invades Ohio, where he gets a large chunk of his recruits each year. The Wildcats also hired away offensive coordinator Eddie Gran from the Bearcats this offseason.

With Louisville getting better, there’s a lot of pressure for the team to end the five-game losing streak to the Cardinals in football.

Louisville: 78 miles
Cincinnati: 83 miles
Miami (Ohio): 115 miles
Marshall: 126 miles
Western Kentucky: 155 miles

LSU

A glance at this list reveals why coach Les Miles and the Bayou Bengals may have the best recruiting situation in the entire SEC.

Louisiana is a second-tier state when it comes to recruiting, which is actually a compliment. Beyond places like California, Texas and Florida, it’s one of the best places to find prep football talent. Per capita, it’s one of the best in the country.

But LSU doesn’t share the state with any major rivals. Even schools like Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M are more than 200 miles away. That’s one reason why Miles has been able to lock down the state’s borders.

Louisiana-Lafayette: 60 miles
Tulane: 80 miles
Southern Miss: 167 miles
Louisiana-Monroe: 187 miles
South Alabama: 199 miles

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Those who don’t live near the Alabama-Mississippi border often forget just how startlingly close that Starkville, Miss., is to Tuscaloosa, Ala. On the field, that’s held true the last two seasons as well. Mississippi State even held the nation’s No. 1 ranking for several weeks in 2014.

More pertinent to the clanga faithful is the location of the Ole Miss Rebels. Even Dak Prescott failed to win the Egg Bowl the last two years, and Mississippi State would love to settle that score this fall.

Alabama: 85 miles
Ole Miss: 95 miles
Southern Miss: 181 miles
Memphis: 182 miles
South Alabama: 226 miles

MISSOURI

Missouri is a geographical outlier probably even more so than Texas, which is a fertile SEC recruiting area.

But the immediate Midwest has produced some feisty football teams of late. Bill Snyder has helped Kansas State to some memorable seasons, and Iowa entered last year’s Big Ten championship game as an unbeaten contender.

About Kansas kansas — they’ve been awful at football lately, but we love rivalries and would like to see Mizzou and kU play once again.

Kansas: 165 miles
Iowa: 245 miles
Kansas State: 245 miles
Illinois: 269 miles
Iowa State: 275 miles

OLE MISS

Memphis is the closest metropolis to Oxford, Miss. It’s also been a pretty good recruiting hub of late. So the Rebels didn’t seem to mind a home-and-home series with their American Athletic Conference neighbors. But a road loss in Bluff City really put a damper on a Rebels team still in contention for a College Football Playoff spot to that point.

Speaking of the playoff, Ole Miss will host another neighbor, Alabama, this year. Think the Grove will be excited for that one, a possible return of College GameDay and a chance at three consecutive wins over the Tide?

Memphis: 85 miles
Mississippi State: 95 miles
Arkansas State: 154 miles
Alabama: 166 miles
Southern Miss: 249 miles

SOUTH CAROLINA

The recruiting prowess of Will Muschamp’s staff has come at just the right time. Clemson has become a monster in that arena as well as on the field. But there’s an excellent 2018 prep class brewing in the state of South Carolina, which gives Muschamp another year or even 18 months to get his program in position to compete in living rooms across the area.

Appalachian State and Georgia Southern probably still aren’t real threats in terms of recruiting, but both those schools have handled the transition from FCS very well. The two programs won a combined 20 games last year.

Clemson: 132 miles
Georgia Southern: 154
Georgia: 163 miles
Wake Forest: 170 miles
Appalachian State: 186 miles

TENNESSEE

Tennessee and Clemson rarely are grouped together — the Tigers’ link to the Southeastern Conference is through South Carolina. But in 2016, both teams have championship aspirations. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see coach Butch Jones and coach Dabo Swinney square off in a big-time bowl game this year.

Appalachian State: 160 miles
Kentucky: 170 miles
Vanderbilt: 180 miles
Middle Tennessee State: 181 miles
Clemson: 194 miles

TEXAS A&M

Two names stand out on this list right now. Texas will perpetually be Texas A&M’s biggest rival, whether or not the two programs ever get over themselves and play football together again. And Houston, whose coach Tom Herman is a realistic possibility to parlay his success into a job with the Longhorns or Aggies.

The college football world will be watching Kevin Sumlin and Charlie Strong with keen interest in 2016 to see if either coach can turn around two of the premier football brands in the region.

Baylor: 92 miles
Houston: 96 miles
Rice: 96 miles
Texas: 107 miles
Texas State: 121 miles

VANDERBILT

The Commodores’ immediate neighbors didn’t treat the team so well in 2015. Western Kentucky beat Vandy, 14-12, to open the season despite a quiet day from QB Brandon Doughty. The ‘Dores did rally back to beat close neighbor MTSU, 17-13, avoiding a 1-3 record in non-conference play.

The Ohio Valley has been home to some pretty good football of late, as Memphis spent portions of last year ranked in the Top 25, Louisville appears to be getting better under Bobby Petrino and Tennessee could be a preseason top 10 team.

Middle Tennessee State: 39 miles
Western Kentucky: 66 miles
Louisville: 175 miles
Tennessee: 180 miles
Memphis: 212 miles