SEC Football: One Big Dysfunctional Family

Texas A&M and Missouri: The In-Laws

Ahhh…the In-Laws. These are the newest members of your family that you sometimes still can’t believe are actually now related to you, even if it IS by marriage. Every family unit has its own unique way of doing things. When you try to combine yours with another, you’ll see just how

completely messed up and strange

unique both families actually are.

The SEC football family was initially established in 1932. Teams have come and gone over the years, but things were consistent from 1990 (when Arkansas and South Carolina joined) until 2012. After 22 years, the SEC was settled into their own way of doing things, so when the possibility of adding two new family members arose, many people initially balked at the idea. In the end, both Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri were added in the 2012 expansion.

Adding two new schools meant that the East/West divisions would look slightly different, with TAMU joining the West (okay, that makes sense) and Mizzou joining the East (wait – huh?? Missouri is WEST of the Mississippi River!).

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Both teams have shaken up SEC football on the field a bit as well. A&M was home to Johnny Manziel, who won the Heisman Trophy during the Aggies’ inaugural SEC season. The Missouri Tigers went to the SEC Championship in 2013, and then returned again in 2014. The Tigers lost both of those matchups, but the fact that they did so well in the conference so quickly was a testament to their program and how well they would fit in the powerhouse conference.

Even as both Texas A&M and Missouri have seemed to settle into the SEC, it’s still, well, strange to think about teams from both states as a part of the Southeastern Conference. In the SEC football family, the Aggies and our 3rd set of Tigers are still finding their places among football giants such as Alabama, LSU, and Florida.

Most SEC fans still think of A&M and Mizzou as the Newbies of the family. We’ve looked at them much like we look at our own in-laws at big family functions, and have thought to ourselves,

“Can someone please explain to me again how the hell are we related, exactly?”

More crimson tide: Bama Bucket List: 25 Things All Crimson Tide Fans Must Do

So…what do YOU think? Did we get it right? Which team do you think would take on the Grandma or the Favorite Child roles in the SEC football family?  Leave us an adoring comment, send a piece of hate-mail, or share the link with your friends so we can all discuss the big, dysfunctional family that is the Southeastern Conference.