With Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC next season, the entire formula for deciding conference schedules is changing.

For the 2024 campaign, divisions will cease to exist and every team will have a single permanent rival with seven opponents on a rotation every other year.

While this way of determining opponents may change before the 2025 season, it sets up the possibility for historic rivalries to no longer be played every year.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

One of these is The Third Saturday in October between Tennessee and Alabama. Instead of the matchup that has been played every year except once (1943) since 1928, both teams have been attached to their in-state rivals of Vanderbilt and Auburn.

With the historic rivalry potentially not being a yearly engagement, head coaches Josh Heupel and Nick Saban were asked about it's future among other details surrounding the event.

Heupel: “I think this is a great rivalry. One that’s important to our fanbase, I’m sure it’s important to their fanbase too and it’s one that’s special, just a unique game and unique setting. Obviously, I think the league with everybody that’s coming in, there’s a lot of factors that go into how they schedule but I certainly hope (that it will still be yearly).”

"I don't know if there is anything completely unexpected. It was the first thing that I heard about when I came here and, you know, for our fan base, this is one that they point to. It's a historic rival and obviously always played on the same weekend. You know, the passion and the pageantry and the excitement that surrounds it, I think, is really unique and, you know, obviously it's a big football game. It has historically had huge importance on the SEC races and the ability to put yourself in position to do the things you want to within the conference."

“I just think the fanbase, this is one they’ve circled. I’ve said it multiple times before I even got introduced at the press conference, a couple of former players but donors, too, this is a game that matters to everybody in this fanbase. It matters to us, too. It has huge implications on your race to try and get to Atlanta as well. This is a big football game for us, huge test against a really good football team but it’s going to be a great afternoon.”

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Saban: "I just think that's happening all over college football, where you're going to have, you know, these great rivalry games that players, fans, everyone in the program sort of looks forward to are not going to be able to exists on a year-to-year basis. I think there's a lot of people that are disappointed that some of those things."

Heupel: "I think hearing it from people that have been around this program, I think that part of the tradition of the game has always continued to grow and I think it's really unique. I've been in trophy games before. I've never been involved in anything quite like this one where the cigar is part of the celebration on the back end. My first memory of that was being in Tuscaloosa (in 2021) when we were on the wrong side of it. It's a really unique part of the game and celebration of this rivalry."

Saban: "Well, I guess it's fun when you get the opportunity to smoke a cigar. I don't smoke, so I just kind of chew on one for a little bit, but you know, I think games like this that have sort of special innuendos that go with them, it's probably good for the players. It's probably good for the players' relationships with each other to do things like that. I don't think there's anything bad about it."

Heupel: "This is a special one. You know, the proximity of everyone, the importance that is has always had. It's different than (Texas vs. Oklahoma) in that, that game is always played at a neutral site, so it's a little bit different, but it makes it extremely special because you are bouncing back-and-forth between being home and on the road, too. So, this rivalry is extremely special in college football, but for these two programs, too."

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