time the ACC was looking to expand to 12 members, then it would have been interesting to see if the SEC would have just stopped at 14 members or expanded to 16 members. If the SEC stopped at 14 members, then it would have to decide which school to switch from the East Division to the West Division to maintain a balance between divisions. Vandy is the mostly likely candidate because it is the most western school in the East Division. However, that would force UT to pick between Vandy and 'Bama on who will be its protected cross-division game. Also, it would force the SEC to pair up the remaining 6 schools which could mean that VT is paired up with Miss State. VT-Miss State isn't a bad pairing, but I could the fanbase viewing it as no different than the VT-BC pairing.

If the SEC stopped at 14 members after adding VT and WVU, then I think it would have been forced to switch to a North-South alignment.

North: UK, WVU, VT, USC, UT, Vandy, and Ark
South: UF, UGA, Auburn, 'Bama, Ole Miss, Miss State, and LSU

Not necessarily a bad way to go (assuming fans don't associate the division names with the Civil War). However, it does have its issues.

1. Protected cross-division pairings would need to be created to preserve UT-'Bama and USC-UGA games.
2. New alignment kills UT's rivalry with UF and UGA.

These may be trivial things, but I believe they are important issues within the SEC. Important enough that it would require the SEC to expand to 16 members. Here may lie the problem because I am not sure the SEC had 4 candidates worthy enough to add at one time. If the SEC went 2 East-2 West, then 2 West candidates would be tough to come by because TAMU wasn't as desirable as it was in 2014 and Mizzou had eyes for the Big Ten. If the SEC went 4 East so it could move the 2 TN schools to the West, who would be the 2 other East schools?

FWIW when I was at VT ('96-'00) the CT ran an article about the SEC exploring the possibility of becoming a 16 member conference. It would have included WVU, VT, Miami, and 1 other school (never named). For whatever reason that plan fell through (CT never said why) and soon afterwards the CT ran an article talking about VT gaining full membership in the Big East.