There is no debate that the best college football conference is the SEC, followed by the Big 10, and then a significant gap to the Big 12 and ACC. Some believe that an SEC schedule is insanely difficult and that teams are playing in an elite competition week in and week out.
That isn’t always the case.
Some SEC Schedules Are Actually…Easy?
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If we look at Georgia’s schedule from last year, if we are being totally honest, it was pretty simple. Nobody dared say it on national TV, but it is actually possible that Georgia’s schedule ended up hurting them and costing them a spot in the College Football Playoff (among other factors).
Here is their schedule from last year.
- UT Martin (FCS)
- Ball State (4-8)
- South Carolina (5-7)
- UAB (4-8)
- Auburn (6-7)
- Kentucky (7-6)
- Vanderbilt (2-10)
- Florida (5-7)
- Missouri (11-2)
- Ole Miss (11-2)
- Tennessee (9-4)
- Georgia Tech (7-6)
Opponents Overall Record: (71-69)
Outside of the last three SEC games, Georgia never faced a team with a record better than 7-6 overall and didn’t face a winning record until the sixth game of the season. Was this a respectable schedule? Absolutely. Was it insanely difficult? Outside of the two-game stretch against Missouri and Ole Miss (both at home), that is not really the case.
If not for the SEC logo on the chest of most of their opponents, nobody would have looked at Georgia’s schedule and opponents and thought that every week the Bulldogs were playing a gauntlet of a schedule.
2024 Will Have a Tougher Schedule For All
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Without divisions, teams like Georgia will no longer benefit from playing in the much weaker eastern division. Additionally, with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to the league, the odds of scheduling the weaker teams and not hitting more tough teams is significantly less.
Despite this, some teams have a much easier path to a bowl game or even the College Football Playoff than others. Again, I’m not saying that any of these schedules are MAC or CUSA caliber, but maybe they could be compared to a higher-end ACC or Big 12 schedule.
Aspects that will go into determining a team’s strength of schedule include when games are played, when they are played in relation to other games (are two games back-to-back), where they are played, and ESPN’s FPI, which looks at these factors and more, although it can sometimes be called out for favoring certain teams too much/not enough (such as never ranking G5 teams high early in the season despite them always finishing higher).
Ole Miss Easily Has the Easiest Schedule in the SEC
Ole Miss is setting up for a very favorable schedule. With head coach Lane Kiffin and the kind of offense they run, they will likely be riding a huge wave of momentum when they hit their first true test of the season six weeks into the season.
In terms of teams you want to play, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and South Carolina, Ole Miss plays all four of these teams. At the same time, they somehow avoid Texas, Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee; Ole Miss only has to worry about Georgia while getting to avoid the other four teams. Every other team on their schedule is projected to be a middle of the pack kind of team.
In fact, all three of their toughest games, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Kentucky, are played at home. Their toughest road game will come against LSU.
Again, this isn’t an easy schedule, but in the new SEC, where six teams realistically could be playing for the SEC Championship, Ole Miss got about as good of a draw as possible.
Schedule:
- Furman
- Middle Tennessee
- at Wake Forest
- Georgia Southern
- Kentucky
- at South Carolina
- at LSU
- BYE
- Oklahoma
- at Arkansas
- Georgia
- at Florida
- Mississippi State
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