A Breakdown of the 2011 SEC Schedule
Posted on | February 8, 2011 | No Comments
Not what Happened when he saw this years October Schedule.
A Breakdown of the 2011 SEC Schedule
So it’s come to this. We’re going to take a look at the SEC schedules and see what sort of luck the scheduling gods have given over to our beloved super-conference. I’m not going to mock a team for it’s Sun Belt and FBS games, at least not yet. But any sort of projection styled breakdown comes with this at the beginning.
Vanderbilt: The good news is they’re battle tested, with 21 returning starters. Add in the fact that they start their season with Elon and get both Ole Miss and Kentucky in Nashville? And James Franklin is going to have a team that will not be worse than last year. The problem is, three wins looks like their ceiling. Army’s not exactly a gimme, and while UConn lost it’s superstar, they did beat Vanderbilt by 19 last year.
Kentucky: The good news is that Kentucky’s offensive line is going to be able to protect Morgan Newton next year while he attempts to find a star. They also have the benefit of the Louisville, Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State on the non-conference schedule). That being said? There are teams that do not get off without a hard stretch of games. And from September 17th through October 8th? Louiville, Florida, @ LSU and @ South Carolina. This looks like a five win team, even if you count the FCS game.
Ole Miss: If they can survive the middle? This has the potential to be a seven win team. They do have a definite possible loss week one with BYU. But that being said? Southern Illinois, a trip to Vanderbilt, Georgia and a trip to Fresno can get these guys to four wins before the post bye brick wall of Alabama, Arkansas, and a trip to Auburn. Depends on the consistency of the O-Line I suppose.
Georgia: As far as sheer star power goes, Georgia has lost the most, and as far as schedule goes? Even though they’re both essentially at home, Boise and South Carolina are not the teams you want when it’s a win or go home scenario. It’s noble. But noble gets coaches fired. Then again, they survive that? And there’s a road to a return trip to the Georgia Dome in their future. As well as a random November game with New Mexico State.
Tennessee: I can see a 4-1 start without any sort of a pipe dream from Rocky Top. A 3-1 finish is in no form or fashion out of the question either. But they seem to be another team with a brick wall in the form of home games with South Carolina and LSU and a trip to Alabama. If they can get 8 or 9? It’s a good year.
Mississippi State: A downy soft non-conference schedule (Memphis, UAB, UT-Martin, Louisiana Tech) gets them four wins. A trip to Auburn and a game against LSU does not bode well to start. But beyond that? Nine wins is not a logistical impossibility. Neither is seven.
Florida: One of the dominant themes of the SEC is that everybody seems to have a stretch in their schedule where it gets really hard for three or four weeks at a time. The Gators probably start the year four and zero, but before the bye it’s Alabama, and then trips to LSU and Auburn. That’s bad news bears. Don’t cry over an 8-4 season. It’s a good run.
Auburn: I would not be surprised if Auburn gets the news that the NCAA has reopened the Cecil Newton investigation in October of this year. Because between the lack of returning starters and the fact that the first four weeks of the Tigers October is at South Carolina, at Arkansas, Florida, and at LSU? Any talk of repeat is a fools errand. And as they aren’t special anymore, the NCAA can legislate them.
Arkansas: Another schedule with a severe stretch. I would not be surprised if Troy throws the fear of god into the Petrino supersystem, because after that game, they travel to Alabama, they go to Dallas to take on A&M, and then they get Auburn. After which, it’s relatively easy. But they may be a 2 loss team with little to play for for most of the year again.
South Carolina: This is a good schedule. For one, they avoid Alabama. For two? Their only real tough stretches are back to backs that have one game in Williams-Brice (@ Georgia and Navy; @ Arkansas and Florida). Quite frankly, it’s not impossible to see a way for the Gamecocks to go into that Arkansas game unbeaten. Just in time for the traditional November collapse. Zing.
LSU: Les Miles doesn’t know how to schedule. Oregon to start the year (before they realize who their next Drake Nevis is), a trip up to Morgantown on September 24th, and when most people put up a Furman or a Georgia Southern for their nonconference schedule? What does Les Miles do? He puts a non-tomato can in with a Southern Mississippi game. That’s in between a game in Tuscaloosa and a game in Oxford, where LSU always inexplicably gets a game. That’s why they’re here and below…
Alabama: When your toughest road game just might be that trip to Florida on October 1st? You have a schedule that’s made for a return to BCS contention. Sure, the offense may have a bump or two along the way. But when you face Kent State and North Texas along with a return trip to a definitely beatable Penn State? You will be ready for a matchup with Florida. I had to concern myself with who wins the BCS? I’d start in Tuscaloosa.
Best SEC Week: Opening Weekend (LSU takes on Oregon, Georgia takes on Boise State, and Ole Miss definitely scheduled a loseable game with BYU).
Worst SEC Week: November 19th, (the historically bad first weekend in November does have Georgia-New Mexico State as well as Auburn-Samford and Mississippi State and UT-Martin, but Arkansas-South Carolina and LSU-Alabama allow that weekend cover. November 19th has Georgia Southern-Alabama, The Citadel-South Carolina, and Florida versus Furman. And there’s no real marquee game to provide cover.)
Related posts:
- SEC Football Bowl Schedule 2008
- SEC 2007 Complete Bowl Schedule
- SEC Against the Spread…Week 1
- SEC Power Poll* Week 11
- The SEC Awesomeness Ratings
Tags: Breakdowns > Rosin
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