arkansas and south carolina joined the sec in 1991, and the conference was split into two six-team divisions in 1992. since then, florida has been a member of the sec east division, and auburn has been a member of the sec west division. at first, every sec team played an annual game against two permanent rivals in the other division and a third cross-divisional game that rotated among the other four teams in that division. auburn's original two cross-division rivals were georgia and florida; florida's were lsu and auburn. in 2002, the sec changed the cross-division format to one permanent rival and two rotating teams. since auburn's rivalry with georgia was older and more notable, georgia remained auburn's lone cross-division rival while florida retained their annual game against lsu, and the previously annual auburn–florida football rivalry became an intermittent one. from 2003-2011, the teams were scheduled to play two games every five-year cycle. in 2012, the sec added missouri and texas a&m, but kept the football schedule at eight games per season. as a result, auburn and florida now play only two games per 12-year cycle.