The Southeastern Conference Eastern Division has the Southeastern Conference Western Division right where it wants it this Saturday.

On home soil. In the Eastern Time Zone. And at least theoretically with a chance to turn the lopsided tables.

Alabama goes between the hedges to play Georgia. Mississippi dips its toes into The Swamp against Florida. And Arkansas limps onto Neyland Stadium to face similarly wounded Tennessee.

That’s three interdivisional games that present an opportunity for the East to look the West in the eye and be competitive. For the first time in, oh, six years.

Since 2009, when Tim Tebow and Charlie Strong left Florida and Tennessee hired Derek Dooley, the balance of power in the SEC didn’t just shift from East to West. It fled. And it hasn’t come back.

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From 2010-14, the West won every conference title game and owned a 66-36 advantage in interdivisional matchups. Last year it was 10-4 West over East.

On paper, 2015 was shaping up pretty much the same way. Everyone believed the West was the best, and the preseason top 25 reflected that: West teams were ranked third (Alabama), sixth (Auburn), 14th (LSU), 17th (Mississippi) and 18th (Arkansas); East teams were ranked eighth (Georgia), 24th (Missouri) and 25th (Tennessee).

It has played out a little more evenly so far. There has been just one East-West matchup so far, and the West won it: Ole Miss 27, Vanderbilt 16. But that was closer than many anticipated. And now this weekend will give us our first real returns to analyze.

Alabama is an underdog at Georgia, the first time the Crimson Tide hasn’t been favored in seven years – the longest streak in the nation. Of course, the last time the Tide was a ‘dog was in this very stadium against this very opponent, in 2008. And Alabama hit Georgia with a 31-0 haymaker out of the gate on the way to an easy victory.

That game tangibly started Nick Saban’s great run at ‘Bama. It’s a run that could be in danger of grinding to a halt if the Tide lose Saturday – it would effectively eliminate them from playoff contention, with two early losses.

So expect Alabama to play with desperation. But expect Georgia to play something like a Saban team.

The East’s new method for catching the West is basically imitation. Or, perhaps, Sabanation. Georgia coach Mark Richt has hired a handful of former Saban staffers – defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, offensive line coach Rob Sale, linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, and director of strength and conditioning Mark Hocke.

“It’s not a surprise to see any of those guys doing extremely well,” Saban said Wednesday. “Always happy to see guys who do a good job for us get a better opportunity. But you also know that they know a lot about what you do and how you do it, and that’s something that makes you uncomfortable.”

Every bit as important as knowing Saban’s system is copying his ability to produce physical, fast, disciplined teams. The mentality and methodology is being grafted as much as anything.

Florida’s answer has also been to look for Saban influence at hiring time. It didn’t work with Will Muschamp – who had more recently coached under Mack Brown, and wasn’t much of a Saban clone. We’ll see whether it will work with new coach Jim McElwain.

The former Saban offensive coordinator at Alabama came in with a more Saban-centric approach. So far the implementation is going well – he’s 4-0, and kept alive the school’s mandatory winning streaks over Kentucky (now 29 games) and Tennessee (now 11).

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