Alabama coach Nick Saban expressed displeasure with an aspect of the SEC’s proposed new scheduling model, telling Sports Illustrated that his team would receive an unfair slate of annual games.

The SEC’s nine-game, division-less schedule — expected to be approved later this spring and take effect when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference in 2024 — would include three permanent annual opponents and six rotating opponents each season.

Although the conference has not released any details about each team’s permanent opponents, Saban told Sports Illustrated that Alabama’s would be Auburn, Tennessee and LSU. The Tide already plays each of those teams each season, but Saban believes continuing that would be unfair relative to other school’s three permanent opponents.

“I’ve always been an advocate for playing more [conference] games,” Saban told Sports Illustrated in a story published Friday. “But if you play more games, I think you have to get the three fixed [opponents] right. They’re giving us Tennessee, Auburn and LSU. I don’t know how they come to that [decision].”

The SEC is considering the past 10 years of winning percentages in attempting to balance permanent opponents. Saban noted how Tennessee struggled the past decade until last season, and now is among the stronger teams in the conference.

“They said they did a 10-year whatever,” he told Sports Illustrated. “Well, some of those years, Tennessee wasn’t as good as they’ve been in the previous 10 years, but now they are as good as they used to be before those 10 years.

“We got three teams and two of them are in the Top 10 and the other is in the Top 10 a lot. … Look historically over a 25-year history, and the three best teams in the East are Georgia, Tennessee and Florida. You look historically at 25 years, Alabama, LSU and Auburn are the three best teams in the West. So we’re playing them all.”

Added Saban: “They only did it over 10 years. Now you’ve got name, image and likeness, which changes that whole dynamic, because it’s who has the most money to pay players, until they change the rules.”

Saban, who has long advocated for playing more than the SEC’s current eight-game schedule, told SI that retaining an eight-game schedule would balance teams’ opponents better.

“I like playing more SEC games,” he said. “I think it’s good for the game and good for the fans. I think they have a better chance to get the parity right doing the eight games. I’m talking about the balance of who has who.”

However, keeping an eight-game schedule would come with changes. Divisions would still be eliminated and there would be only one permanent opponent per team in order to rotate the other seven games among the new 16-team conference.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.