Former Auburn coach Pat Dye and Paul Finebaum revived a popular offseason topic on Monday: SEC divisions.

During his appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” Dye advocated for two Tigers teams switching divisions. He believes Auburn belongs in the SEC East while Missouri should play in the SEC West.

Geographically, Dye makes sense, and he’s far from the first person to suggest the Tiger swap. Missouri is much closer to Arkansas and the Mississippi schools than it is Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Auburn already has the current rivalry with Georgia, and shares borders with Florida and Tennessee.

The problem, however, comes to Alabama’s rivalries and the eight-game conference schedule. The current arrangement allows the Crimson Tide to maintain it’s two biggest rivalries, The Third Saturday in October and the Iron Bowl. Under the current eight conference game arrangement of six games against division foes, one permanent rival from the opposite division and one rotating opponent from the opposite division, UA would not be able to play both Auburn and Tennessee every year if both teams were in the SEC East.

Three Power 5 conferences – Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 – currently play nine-game conference schedules. If the SEC were to adopt a nine-game conference schedule, one would think the Auburn/Missouri switch might be made as teams could adopt a second permanent rival from the opposite division. Until then, it appears unlikely that any shuffling will occur in the SEC for Dye to get his wish.