Toughest Remaining Schedules for Contenders
The SEC is clearly divided into two halves. I can’t remember a year when the league was so top heavy, and the bottom is as bad as anything in the last 20 years. There are seven teams who still have a shot at winning their division. Four teams from the West, three from the East. They are all ranked in the BCS top 18. Here is how their schedules shake out from here on out, ranked 1-7:
1. Mississippi State – The Bulldogs could not have asked for a better first half schedule as they were able to bring youth along against inferior teams and it culminated in an impressive victory vs. Tennessee. The last five games however, will be a tough road to hoe..
- at Alabama
- vs. Texas A&M
- at LSU
- vs. Arkansas
- at Mississippi
2. LSU – The last few weeks have been pretty bumpy for LSU, but they’ve come out of it 6-1 and poised to make a run. Out of all the teams on this list, they have already been tested the most having played Florida and South Carolina. Things don’t get much easier in the 2nd half though…
- at Texas A&M
- vs. Alabama
- vs. Mississippi State
- vs. Mississippi
- at Arkansas
3. Texas A&M – Are the Aggies for real? That is a tough question because while their offense is great, does the defense exist? They have benefited from a relatively mild first half schedule. They could be on par with Tennessee, or they could be on par with someone like Arkansas from last year, it’s hard to tell. But we’ll find out soon enough…
- vs. LSU
- at Auburn
- at Mississippi State
- at Alabama
- vs. Missouri
4. Alabama – The Tide haven’t been tested at all so far. It does take a lot to test a team like Bama, but still, they’ve yet to face a team with a winning conference record. But the 2nd half will be interesting..
- at Tennessee
- vs. Mississippi State
- at LSU
- vs. Texas A&M
- vs. Auburn
5. Florida – The Gators have the strangest schedule I’ve seen in a while. They played 8 straight SEC games after their opener with Bowling Green, then finish with three non-conference, so they’ll be done on November 3rd. They are out in front with a 5-0 start, here’s the next three…
- vs. South Carolina
- vs. Georgia (Jacksonville)
- vs. Missouri
6. South Carolina – The Gamecocks are in the midst of the most brutal stretch in the SEC this year: vs. UGA, at LSU, at UF. But they’re 1-1 so far and if they can get past Gainesville this weekend they may be ok….
- at Florida
- vs. Tennessee
- vs. Arkansas
7. Georgia – At the beginning of the year everyone said UGA had the lightest SEC slate yet again if they could just get past South Carolina. Well, they couldn’t. But not everyone was calling for Florida to be as good as they are, and the largest outdoor cocktail party still looms…
- at Kentucky
- vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
- vs. Mississippi
- at Auburn