SEC OOC Strength of Schedule

#26
#26
chattaboogie said:
Toughest 2013 SEC Non-Conference Football Schedules

5. Tennessee Volunteers
•08/31 – Austin Peay
•09/07 – Western Kentucky
•09/14 – at Oregon
•09/28 – South Alabama

Wow! A trip to Autzen Stadium! That’s a great game! And that’s it. A tour of the Sun Belt and a cupcake in Austin Peay rounds out the non-conference slate for the Vols. That includes a game against South Alabama who is in their first year of full FBS status. Western Kentucky was .500 in conference play last year as well. Nine times out of ten the trip to Eugene would carry this schedule a little farther, but not when your other opponents are that lackluster.

In my opinion there are some obvious errors with the piece though I think it got Tennessee about right. An argument could be made for us to swap positions with LSU. I think Oregon is a better team than TCU and that game is not nearly as far of a trip as Autzen is for us. I also don't agree with the love the writer gives to Kent State. I agree with the top three as each team has at least 2 decent to strong opponents (though due to annual rivalry games)

Games I noticed that I had not realized were occurring that I am excited about seeing :

Ole Miss at Texas
Miss State at Oklahoma State
Click to expand...

Notice UT never got any praise over the last 20 yrs when our OOC schedule was by far harder than anyone else's!
 
#32
#32
It's articles like this that remind me why I support a 9-game conference schedule. Problem number 1 is season tickets. When we went from 11 to 12 games, every school added 1 more cupcake. I think we as fans are ok spending good money to see one cupcake, but when it become's 2 and then 3, I have better things to do with my time and money. I'm not saying college kids need to play 12 hard games, but is 11 really too much to ask?

For those who argue about the strength of schedule in conference, every year in the pre-season it looks worse than it is. I mean, it's not like the division champs are showing up for the SEC championship with records of 5-3 in conference. Last year Alabama finished 8-1, those games included 3+ touchdown wins against 6 SEC teams (Arky, UT, Miss schools, mizzou, barners). They were 2-1 against the good teams (Georgia, LSU, A&M). Georgia played things a little closer, and they were blown out by SCAR. But they still played 8 games where they won by at least 3 touchdowns.

This years UT home schedule features 7 games. Do I want to commit a full Saturday to watching AP, WKU, USA, or Vandy? Probably not. So there are 3 appealing games, Georgia, Auburn and South Carolina. And 6 years ago SCAR wouldn't have been appealing either. UT and all SEC schools have to improve scheduling or else attendance will continue to fall.
 
#36
#36
You get FSU at home and there will be 60,000 UF fans in Miami. UGA goes to both Clemson and GT.
 
#40
#40
lawgator1 said:
This is correct. FSU + UMIAMI >>>>> Clemson and Ga Tech. Its not really even very close.
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Here is how I see it.

1.@Oregon
2.@Clemson
3.Oklahoma St*
4.@Texas
5.@Miami
6.Clemson
7.FSU
8.TCU*
9.UNC
10.Louisville
11.VT*
12.@GT
13.@Rutgers
14.@UCF
15.Wash St.

Florida has two games between 5-7, SC has 3 games between 6-14 and UGA has the 2nd and 12th toughest games.

I think I lean towards the overall hardest game in this situation and go with UGA. Real close though.
 
#41
#41
I just don't think all that highly of Clemson personally.

Good team, good program, passionate fans who probably deserve better.

Mediocre to above average results on the field...rarely a national contender.

FSU > Clemson
 
#42
#42
bamawriter said:
I don't get how Bama is behind Arkansas, Mizzou, and A&M. I can understand if Arkansas is given credit for going to Rutgers, but Mizzou and A&M have absolute cakewalks.
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Ala by far has the easiest schedule of any SEC team. VA TEch is an absolute joke. They were horrific last season and I doubt any better this yr. Why wont Saban do a home and home with some big nsmes like UT does? Those crap games they have been doing in Atl or Tx is a joke. I guarantee Saban wouldnt allow a home and home with Oregon, Nebraska, Oklahoma, USC like UT has
scheduled. Not to mention they play the 2I teams from the East that combined for 1 conference win last season. No wonder they play for NC's every year.
 
#43
#43
jasonvol18 said:
Ala by far has the easiest schedule of any SEC team. VA TEch is an absolute joke. They were horrific last season and I doubt any better this yr. Why wont Saban do a home and home with some big nsmes like UT does? Those crap games they have been doing in Atl or Tx is a joke. I guarantee Saban wouldnt allow a home and home with Oregon, Nebraska, Oklahoma, USC like UT has
scheduled. Not to mention they play the 2I teams from the East that combined for 1 conference win last season. No wonder they play for NC's every year.
Click to expand...

They also win NCs when afforded the opportunity...impressively I might add.

It's not Bama's fault UT isn't what they used to be. Bama's schedule is weak because UT and Auburn have been down...again, not their fault.

Bama just did a home-and-home with Penn State, and I'm not sure why you discount neutral site games against Michigan and Virginia Tech. It's not like they scheduled Alabama A&M four times in the same season.
 
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#44
#44
Lawrence Wright said:
And there will be 30,000 UGA fans in GT's tiny stadium.
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Yeah, Bobby Dodd Stadium isn't much on intimidating visiting teams, but . . . Tech is a miserable opponent to have to prepare for every year. On any given day they can for 400 yards.

I'd say Fla's OOC is tougher by a nose.
 
#45
#45
Lawrence Wright said:
I just don't think all that highly of Clemson personally.

Good team, good program, passionate fans who probably deserve better.

Mediocre to above average results on the field...rarely a national contender.

FSU > Clemson
Click to expand...

As a program yes. This season? No.
 
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