BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- It sounds crazy now, especially after five straight national titles by the SEC. But the conventional line of thinking used to be the SEC couldn't play for them.

Too many games. Too much beating up on each other.

"Oh yes, everybody had their own interests and complaints," former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer recalled. "I think you've found that argument not too strong."

SEC divisional play turns 20 years old this season. As the Big Ten and Pac-12 gain divisions in 2011 and the Big 12 loses them, the SEC remains the standard bearer long after becoming the first divided Division I football conference in 1992.

The West is on top right now, aided by struggles from traditional East powers Georgia and Tennessee. Alabama, Auburn and LSU have won three of the past four national titles. Arkansas and Mississippi State gave the West five top-15 teams in the final Associated Press poll last season.

But over 19 years, the two divisions have been remarkably competitive. The West has five national champions to the East's four.

The West has produced five different SEC division champions to the East's four. The West also leads in overall winning percentage (.591 to .573) and SEC winning percentage (.509 to .491).

The East has more SEC titles (11 to 8), but most came from six straight between 1993 and '98. Since then, no division has won more than two in a row, and if that holds true, it's the East's turn this season.

The East has more first-round NFL draft picks (66 to 59). The East also has the edge in final top-10 rankings from The Associated Press poll (24 to 18), but the West leads in final top-25 finishes (49 to 45). From '93 to '98, the East won eight more games head-to-head against the West. The West has a 20-game edge head-to-head over the past 12 seasons.

"Given the historical strengths of our teams, determining our divisions was a little easier than what the Big Ten is facing or maybe what the Big 12 faced," SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack said. "You have to accept the fact that strengths of teams are going to be cyclical and there are going to be years when one division is stronger than the other."

When the divisions were created, "there was a perception the East would be a little tougher," Kramer said. "But that wasn't the case at all. As it turns out, the two divisions have been relatively similar most years."

Legends and Leaders

Kramer is stumped. He can't name the teams in each Big Ten division. Nor can he even remember what the divisions are called.

"Legends and something else, I think," Kramer said. "I may be wrong, but I think that may be a little hard for fans to grab on to, so to speak, whereas it's very easy to say East and West."

The Big Ten, now a 12-team conference with Nebraska on board, recognizes the confusion over its division names: Legends and Leaders.

"We didn't intend for it to sound arrogant, but we recognize it can," said Diane Dietz, chief communications officer for the Big Ten. "We have a campaign we'll be rolling out this fall that helps clarify the purpose of the naming behind the divisions."

There were other suggestions: Bo and Woody; Black and Blue; Scholar and Athletes. Dietz said Legends and Leaders personify the Big Ten's mission.

"I think the quickest way for people to keep the teams straight is to remember all the M's and N's are in the Legends division," said Dietz, referring to Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern. "It's kind of funny. Who knew?"

The Big Ten emphasized competitive balance in dividing divisions. The league reviewed teams' data dating to 1993 in numerous categories, such as national championships, BCS appearances, bowl games, conference titles, conference and non-record records, cumulative composite BCS rankings and Sagarin ratings.

Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State clearly separated themselves in the top tier and were divided accordingly. Iowa and Wisconsin made up the second tier. The remaining six teams landed in the bottom tier.

"I think we got it right," said Mark Rudner, Big Ten senior associate commissioner. "I know the SEC divisions work perfectly for them. I'm not sure the Big 12 felt that way, and I don't know about the ACC."

Kramer has one concern about the Big Ten split: Keeping Michigan-Ohio State in the final week of the regular season. Because the teams are in different divisions, they could play back-to-back if they both reach the Big Ten Championship Game.

"Last summer the fans spoke loudly when it was learned there was a possibility the game could be moved from the last week to some other week," Rudner said. "I think the athletic directors at both institutions heard. I know (Big Ten Commissioner) Jim Delany heard it, too. At the end of the day, their voices mattered."

SEC's Big 6 teams

The SEC considered three key factors in dividing teams: geography, traditional rivalries and historical competitiveness. Games such as Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia were retained as annual cross-division matchups, but Auburn-Florida ended after 58 consecutive years.

"It's a significant improvement the way it's worked out," Kramer said. "You had Florida-Tennessee that grew. I think the LSU-Alabama rivalry has greatly grown with the interest of the Western division title."

There was discussion of putting Alabama and Auburn in opposite divisions. But that didn't happen, largely due to competitive balance.

The SEC identified Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn and LSU as its best teams historically and divided them accordingly. Call them the Big 6.

Those teams have accounted for all of the SEC championships in the divisional era. The last time a non-Big 6 team won the SEC title was 1976, when Kentucky shared the crown with Georgia.

Permanent partners on the schedule were created largely based on rivalries and competitive success. It's not lost on anyone that Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia and LSU-Florida also provided attractive inventory to television annually.

When the current 10-year SEC schedule expires after this season, Alabama, LSU and Tennessee will have never played five Big 6 teams in one season under divisional play. The nine other teams will have done so on average 4.4 times over 20 years, led by Vanderbilt and Arkansas (eight times each).

Womack said the irregularity is a byproduct of managing the 10-year schedule to equally distribute home and away games as cross-division teams rotate on and off. Whatever the reason, it seems to have helped.

Alabama, LSU and Tennessee make up 42 percent of SEC Championship Game appearances. At least one of them has played in 14 of the 19 title games.

Only four times has a team reached the SEC Championship Game after playing five of the traditional SEC powers: Florida 1999 (lost in the title game), Georgia 2003 (lost), Florida 2006 (won) and South Carolina 2010 (lost). The Gators are the only SEC team playing five Big 6 teams this year.

Back in 1992, Kramer worried about whether the public would catch on to the divisional concept.

"There was a great bit of concern that people wouldn't adapt," he said. "As it turned out, the media and fans made it work almost from the very beginning. They began to talk immediately about who was winning the East and who was winning the West."

The rest is history.

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