Presidents leak word that USC-Texas A&M will play yearly on gridiron

The SEC still hasn’t said anything, but if you listen to the presidents at USC and Texas A&M, it’s a done deal that the two schools will play each other each year in football.

USC Prez Harris Pastides was on the radio Saturday afternoon prior to the USC-Clemson baseball game in Columbia when he confirmed the rumor that USC’s new permanent SEC West opponent will be Texas A&M.

This certainly was news, but it had to be taken with a grain of salt considering Pastides information regarding the newly expanded SEC has not always been spot-on. Shortly after the league announced its new members Pastides told the Daily Gamecock the conference would be shifting to a nine game schedule. The SEC quickly repudiated that information, making it clear they planned to continue with an eight game conference slate.

But it looks like Pastides wasn’t speaking out of turn, well, he may have been speaking out of turn because the SEC still hasn’t released any of this, but at least he was right this time. Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin revealed, on Twitter of places, that the Aggies and Gamecocks are new SEC rivals.

@aggieprez Just had a great conversation with the South Carolina president about our permanent SEC rivalry. We will make this very special! #SEC #WHOOP

Again, the SEC has yet to officially announce this, but it certainly looks to be a done deal. This means Arkansas will come off the Gamecocks permanent schedule beginning in 2013.

SEC writer Clay Travis predicts Missouri will pick up Arkansas as its permanent West foe. This means the other traditional rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee and Georgia Auburn will remain in place. Travis also expects the other non division games will rotate on a yearly basis so teams play the other division foes once every six years.