re: The PODS - the one thing you need to know

I think that's the ideal split. I'd make it two out-of-pod permanent opponents, for a 9 game schedule (3 games against pod, 2 games against permanents, 4 games against annual pod).

The bonus of the 2 permanent is that you keep absolutely every important annual game (ie LSU/Bama and LSU/Ark); create some potentially great new annual rivalries (ie UGA/Texas every year) AND you get a lot of wild cards each year because there will be overlap between the permanent opponents and the annual cross pod. It'll allow the SEC to create some compelling matchups based on how the teams are actually projected that year.