This is an opinion column.

Don’t overthink this thing, Greg Byrne. It’s not rocket science or brain surgery, John Cohen. As you and your fellow SEC athletics directors wrestle over the details of a 16-team Southeastern Conference football schedule, whose accelerated 2024 debut has everyone counting the days, let your conscience (and your friendly neighborhood columnist) be your guide.

Forget all that data you’ve been drowning in. Do the right thing. Give the people what they want. And by people, I don’t mean the suits that work for the four-letter television network that makes it rain, although surely they’ll see dollar signs in this brainstorm.

I mean the good people of the Crimson Nation and the Auburn Family. They deserve more bang for their buck, more fall Saturdays with the promise of nicknames and paintings. You have the power to git ‘er done so here goes.

Give Alabama fans Auburn, Tennessee and LSU. Give Auburn fans Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Give us these marquee possibilities every year, and we’re done here. Let officials from SEC states that don’t have multiple programs that have played for multiple national titles in the Saban era figure out the rest,

It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that. You want compelling games on an annual basis to keep your customers coming to the stadium and paying for the experience. At the heart of that experience is the quality of the game on the field. The new 3-6 SEC schedule format, with three permanent opponents among nine conference games each season, allows you to choose the rivalries that mean the most when you win and hurt the most when you don’t.