AUBURN, Alabama — Gus Malzahn and Nick Saban rarely see eye to eye in the Iron Bowl rivalry.

But the two do share a common bond in what has become rare space in the Southeastern Conference: both coaches want a nine-game SEC schedule.

Saban has long advocated for a move to a nine-game slate in the SEC, but Malzahn recently changed his tune to side with his rival at Alabama, according to Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com. Dodd caught up with Malzahn during a break Thursday at SEC Media Days.

"I've changed my tune. I'm all for the SEC having nine conference games to equal out the league as far as schedule," Malzahn told Dodd. "I think Nick [Saban]'s been the only one for it."

The SEC is sticking with a 6-1-1 scheduling model for the conference for the time being, however. The model features six games against divisional opponents, a permanent rival from the opposite division and a rotational opponent from the opposite division.

Malzahn didn't quite explain why he changed his tune recently, other than to say it's based on "East-West, two new teams added to the league."

Those two new team are Texas A&M and Missouri, which joined the conference in 2012 and placed several hiccups in the schedules of teams across the SEC. Auburn and Georgia were hit the hardest with the additions of the two new teams. The Bulldogs had to travel to Auburn two years in a row (2012 and 2013), and now the permanent schedule features Auburn hitting the road to both Alabama and Georgia in even years and Georgia doing the same with their rivals, Auburn and Georgia Tech, during the final month of the season.

A nine-game schedule could potentially alleviate the pressure on Auburn and Georgia late in the season -- and potentially change the schedule to the traditional home-and-away rotation with their two major rivals in a single season.

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“If you look at the rest of the league’s schedule you don’t see teams having to do that, especially that big of a game — that is a traditional rival," Malzahn told Auburn Undercover in June. "No one else in our league has to do that.”

Yeah, but fixing the scheduling hiccup with Alabama and Georgia might take a while, right?

"We'll see," he told AUC. "You never know."

Malzahn believes Auburn isn't on a balanced scale with their SEC brethren. Such a change with a nine-game SEC schedule could help that.

"I think it's the best for us moving forward," Malzahn told CBSSports.com. "I think it would put more equity as far as strength of schedule in the conference."

Malzahn admitted he has made a complete "180" degree turn on his stance on SEC schedules. He previously supported the 6-1-1 model. Now, along with Alabama's Saban, he wants to see a change.