then it probably would have been a North-South alignment. Although, I guess the SEC could have implemented a zipper model or an "odd alignment" where Arkansas and LSU ended up in the same division as VT and WVU or Kentucky was placed in the West Division even though Tenn and Vandy were placed in the East Division. If the SEC had gone North-South, then it would have looked like this:

North Division: WVU, KY, VT, AR, Tenn, Vandy, SC, #16 member
South Division: Miami, UF, UGA, Auburn, AL, MS, MS State, and LSU

As you can see the South Division would be brutal and the SEC would have to implement protected cross-division games to ensure Tenn-AL, SC-UGA, and maybe VT-Miami are played every year. Whereas, if the SEC implements a zipper model, then it could keep the divisions more balanced and still protect the "important" rivalry games. The zipper model could have looked like this with the protected pairings:

Division A/Division B
VT - WVU
KY - #16 member *Note: placeholder only
Tenn - Vandy
SC - UGA
Miami - UF
AL - Auburn
MS State - Miss
AR - LSU

Depending on who #16 ended up being, #16 could have been paired with a number of other schools like: VT (i.e. NC State), WVU (i.e. Pitt), LSU (i.e. TAMU), or even SC (i.e. NC State).