How Texas and Oklahoma's move to the SEC impacts the Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers are about to reside in the same conference as Oklahoma and Texas.

Sounds really strange to read aloud, doesn't it?

Auburn hasn't played the Longhorns since 1991 and has only played the Sooners twice - so adding them to the same league to play every other year should make for some interesting matchups.

Past matchups, there are several ways the expansion of the SEC will impact the Tigers. Here are a few.

Recruiting

The Tigers' don't heavily recruit the state of Texas, and hardly the state of Oklahoma - but the Longhorns and Sooners certainly recruit in Auburn's footprint, and having two more schools with enough money to throw around makes recruiting in the southeast a tad more difficult.

At least, on paper.

There's no certainty that Oklahoma will come into the league and recruit better, especially if their downward trend continues. Texas seems like a safe bet to continue to recruit the way that they are... if anything, this is more of a shock to Texas A&M than it is to anyone else.

Revenue

In the words of Calvin from the comic Calvin and Hobbes, "if your numbers go up, that means you're having fun."

The Tigers will simply get a larger share of revenue from the addition of Texas and OU to the league. Football will likely see the largest impact from this, but overall all sports should benefit from bigger TV contracts, more conference games, etc.

Scheduling

This is likely what fans will discuss the most over the coming year as we build closer towards the July 1st start date.

Football is the primary discussion here - but it's worth noting that the SEC has already figured out how other sports will implement new scheduling models, and those will be impacted as well.

Auburn is a particularly interesting case in football considering they may not get to play their two biggest rivals (Georgia and Alabama) in the same year following the scheduling change. It all depends on how the league office wants to handle things.

Travel

With new scheduling comes new travel arrangements. This directly impacts all schools, and with Auburn sitting nestled in the middle of the SEC's geographical footprint, things shouldn't be too bad. Although, traveling to Austin and Norman every other year (or the same, depending on sport/scheduling) should be an additional expense both fiscally and physically.

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