South Carolina and Arkansas were the last two additions to the SEC back in the late summer/early fall of 1991. It’s hard to imagine a time when that wasn’t the case, but such is life in conference play when new traditions are set up and people forget former alliances. Now Texas A&M and Missouri join the SEC to make new traditions of their own and become the 13th and 14th members respectively to join the ranks of the most powerful.
When South Carolina and Arkansas first joined 20 years ago, the conference became the first to split into two divisions. One year later, they became the first conference to have a championship game sponsored by the NCAA to determine the overall winner of a conference.
The rest of the schools in the SEC have been around from the beginning in 1932, while former members like Tulane and Georgia Tech have went elsewhere over time (1964, 1966 respectively). Now, of course, I’m sure they’d like their conference memberships back.