http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2014/04/sec_sticking_with_eight_game_f.html

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rivalries are understandably important, there is no one game which should be a sacred cow at the possible expense of the rest of the league.  IF ... if two schools not in the same division desire so strongly to maintain an annual game, then they can easily enough schedule it and it would simply be a non-conference game in those years where it would otherwise not appear on the SEC schedule.  Florida, Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, and Ole Miss are all original SEC members which can be, or have been, considered traditional league powers.  Each of them has lost annual rivalry games (some more than one) due to SEC expansion and or the change in scheduling.  The only school which has not happens to be located about 55 miles west of the SEC offices in Birmingham. 

Going to a full rotation of opposite-division opponents (no permanent opponents) would be in the best interest of the league, both from a scheduling standpoint and as an issue of fairness.  Again, if two schools just MUST maintain an annual matchup, the opportunity exists without hamstringing the rest of the conference.  The SEC is no longer a regional, parochial group of haves and have-nots.  It is time to start acting like it.