| NEWS Sources: Auburn, Georgia expected to move earlier in schedule

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AUBURN, Alabama — Auburn, Georgia and the SEC are nearing an agreement to move the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry to earlier in the 2020 season in an effort to alleviate scheduling burdens for both schools, industry sources tell Auburn Undercover.

The parties still have hurdles to overcome, but it is expected the 14 SEC schools and commissioner Greg Sankey will move forward to push the game to September or October, the sources said. The scheduling change would lift enormous weight from the Tigers' difficult November schedule, which was set to feature away games at both Georgia and Alabama in the final three weeks of the regular season. Alabama won the SEC title in 2018 and Georgia defeated Auburn to win it in 2017.

It's possible the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry could remain in September and October through 2024, one source said, but those details have not been finalized.

The move marks a massive change for the rivalry. The game has been played in November each time the Tigers and Bulldogs met since 1937.

Auburn is currently scheduled to face UMass on Nov. 14, 2020. The date is usually set aside for Auburn-Georgia.

Auburn has faced both Alabama and Georgia on the road in even years and at home in odd years since the SEC expanded from 12 to 14 teams in 2012. Georgia was forced by the SEC to travel to Auburn in back-to-back years in 2012 and 2013 to accommodate the SEC's expansion and scheduling issues.

Auburn athletics director Allen Greene said in November there is not "an avenue" for Auburn to fix the schedule with Georgia and Alabama alternating home and away game until the current SEC rotation ends with the 2024 football season. Greene said Tuesday when reached by Auburn Undercover the school is pursuing a change in the schedule that would move the Georgia game to earlier in the schedule, but he would not comment further.

The SEC has not yet formally discussed fixing the hiccup in Auburn's schedule that requires the Tigers to travel to Georgia and Alabama in even years on the calendar. Such a move will not happen until at least the 2025 season, the sources said. The compromise to alleviate some of the burden is to move the Georgia game to earlier in the season,. That move is expected to happen starting in 2020, sources said.

Greene said in November he planned to present the idea to the SEC during a meeting of athletics director in February and again at the SEC's spring meetings in May.

"It can be done," Greene said at the time. "It’s a matter of will it be and what are willing to give up and other teams willing to give up to make that happen and if there’s a benefit to them. If we can find win-wins, then it’ll make it a heck of a lot easier for us."

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn wants a permanent fix to the schedule to move to a home-away schedule each year for the Georgia and Alabama games.

"Whatever Allen wants is fine, but what I want is one home and one away," Malzahn said in November.

Greene said in November Auburn is willing travel to Georgia in back-to-back years after the SEC]s 2024 scheduling cycle to return the favor of Georgia doing the same in 2012 and 2013. Doing so would fix the scheduling hiccup.

Facing Georgia and Alabama on the road every other year in November has not been beneficial for the Tigers. They have yet to beat either Georgia or Alabama on the road since the schedule changed on the heels of expansion in 2012.

Auburn’s only wins against Alabama and Georgia since Malzahn took over as head coach occurred in 2013 and 2017, when the Tigers hosted both rivals in the final two weeks of the regular season. The Tigers knocked off both teams in each season. The Tigers are a combined 0-8 against their two rivals in even years since 2012.

Then-Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs attempted to stir the pot at the conference’s spring meetings in 2017 by publicly discussing the idea of moving Auburn to the SEC East. Part of the idea was moving the Iron Bowl to earlier in November.

Jacobs, however, never presented the idea to the SEC despite saying he would do so.

“My sense of it, and I feel I’ve got a pretty good sense of it, everybody is interested in what is going to make us all very competitive,” Jacobs told reporters in May 2017. “I don’t really think other ADs think about it one way or the other which (division) I’m in. What fills up our stadiums on Saturday and Missouri playing Florida, does that help fill up Florida’s stadium with those fans having to travel so far? It’s not just football: it’s volleyball, it’s tennis, it’s everything we do.”

Jacobs announced his intention to step down as Auburn's athletics director in November 2017 and Greene replaced him starting in February 2018.
 
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