Do 2010 SEC Football Schedules Show Improvement?

After grading the Pac-10, it's time to sneak a peek at the SEC's 2010 non-conference football schedules. No bias here. Purely objective analysis with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

While the SEC has taken strides in looking outside their comfort zone in the South for competitive non-conference games, they still have a tendency to schedule cupcakes.

Have some teams avoided the tryptophan-inducing FCS teams? Check it out yourself. (Scheduling an FCS school will automatically exclude any team from getting an "A", FYI.)

One other note: There will be an asterisk after a team's grade if they scheduled a bye before their game against Alabama. It's time to play, "Let's count how many times teams try to screw Alabama." (Thanks to Franklin Crittenden for breaking the story on the propensity of Bama's opponents to schedule byes before playing them )

Warning: Some material may not be suitable for Kool-Aid drinkers, those with no sense of humor, or those who live by the "but our conference schedule is tough enough as it is so we don't need to schedule tough games" excuse.

Alabama Grade: B-

Hosting San Jose State. Meh, not bad. It will be a blowout, but then again, the Spartans are used to that from Pac-10 teams. Still, it's a decent patsy.

Hosting Penn State. Bravo! This is the improvement we all wanted to see from an elite team. This also happens to be a great rivalry renewed.

At Duke. We assumed this game was scheduled when Duke was tanking all of their games, and, after checking, it was (2006). Still, two scheduled BCS conference teams (one on the road) gets love from me.

Hosting Georgia State. Who? What happened to Western Carolina, Charleston-Southern, Wofford, you know, the patsies we are used to? FYI, Georgia State's schedule this year includes Shorter and Campbell. I Swear.

Auburn Grade: D*

Hosting Arkansas State. Season-ticket holders may be giddy over the fact that this year Auburn has only four road games. They may think twice when they see that three of their non-conference home games are complete skunks.

Hosting Clemson. Clemson saves the Auburn Tigers from getting an F.

Hosting Louisiana-Monroe. Hyphenated schools are rarely a threat, but here's your chance, Auburn fans, to defend this game by bringing up the '07 game between Bama and ULM.

Hosting Tennessee-Chattanooga. Another hyphenated team who is still recovering from the 45-0 spanking Alabama gave them two months ago.

Arkansas Grade: C

Hosting Tennessee-Tech. The Golden Eagles beat Pikeville 51-10 in their '09 home-opener! They also lost to Kansas State 49-7.

Hosting Louisiana-Monroe. How much do these guys get paid to be the SEC's punching bag year after year, anyway?

Texas A&M at Arlington. Props for restoring this Southwest Classic. The Aggies save the Razorbacks from getting a D here.

Hosting UTEP. This isn't too bad of a game. UTEP has lost its luster since losing Jordan Palmer (5-7, 4-8 in last 2 years) but playing a C-USA team beats playing most Sun Belt teams.

Georgia Grade: B-

Hosting Louisiana. Before you get too excited, it's not that Louisiana ...it's the Ragin' Cajuns of Lafayette. Did the Ragin' Cajuns drop "Lafayette" from their name so that "University of Louisiana" sounds better? Or was it dropped to differentiate themselves from Monroe, aka ULM?

At Colorado. The Buffs are on a self-destruct mission. They play Colorado State, Hawaii, at Cal, and then host the Bulldogs two weeks later. They should be limping into Folsom Field with a 1-2 record before the Bulldogs make Ralphie their $%^#%.

Hosting Idaho State. Too bad the Bulldogs didn't schedule the Humanitarian Bowl STUD Idaho Vandals instead, as that would have earned them an A-. The Bengals lost 10-straight games before finally winning their last (against Portland State, the Oregon Ducks' patsy this year ).

Hosting Georgia Tech. Three's a charm?

Florida Grade: B

Hosting Miami (OH). The parenthesis make all the difference in the world, don't they?

Hosting South Florida. OK, the Gators added a second BCS conference team to their schedule, so that helps a bit. Granted, the Bulls tend to not show up in big games (although they did against FSU, but the Noles' weren't that great anyway), but this is a positive step forward.

Hosting Appalachian State. And here is where they take a step back. Gators fans will scream that the Mountaineers were in the FCS Championship, but they still lost to Montana, and they are still an FCS team. The Mountaineers also lost to McNeese State and had to beat The Citadel (who lost to UNC 40-6) in OVERTIME. 'Nuff said.

At Florida State. Not having Bobby around isn't as fun, but the Gators get respect for scheduling this game every year. They also get props for scheduling two bowl-teams for 2010. Take out the FCS team, and they would have had an A-.

Ole Miss Grade: D+*

Hosting Jacksonville State. Patsy No. 1.

At Tulane. Patsy No. 2.

Hosting Fresno State. This is a dangerous team (ask Wisconsin) that plays well on the road. This is also the team that saves the Rebels from getting an F-.

Hosting Louisiana. Patsy No. 3.

Mississippi State Grade: D+*

Hosting Memphis. Not too bad. Memphis' basketball team is better than their football team, but hey, Mississippi State is trying to build up their program and this isn't too bad of a home opener.

Hosting Alcorn State. The school's official web site's 2009 football schedule and results page hasn't been updated since Halloween. The payout from this game should get them back in the black, so they can hire someone to type in the scores of their games.

At Houston. Was this scheduled before Case Keenum became a big-time quarterback and the Cougs weren't bowl-jinxed with four-straight losses (pre-'08)? It doesn't really matter anymore because this will be a great game.

Hosting UAB. Another one of those "meh" games. Not too bad. Then again, we should keep reminding ourselves that the Bulldogs are an SEC team. Shouldn't they play some bigger boys?

LSU Grade: B*

At Atlanta for North Carolina. Would have liked to have seen a home-and-home format for this game, but I guess that trip to Washington used up all of their time zone allotments for this year's travels.

Hosting West Virginia. This is a very good game and props to LSU for stepping up to the plate. In fact, the Tigers, the Tide, the Commodores, and the Vols have all made serious attempts to strengthen their non-conference slate.

Hosting McNeese State. This is why LSU doesn't get an A.

Hosting Louisiana-Monroe. Southern Miss was supposed to be here, but I guess LSU decided that the Eagles made their non-conference schedule too competitive and pushed them ahead to 2011. Enter the SEC's favorite patsy, Louisiana-Monroe. The Tigers are 1-0 against ULM.

South Carolina Grade: C-*

Hosting Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles are a very good team in C-USA. Still, a mediocre ACC or Big East team would have added more teeth in the schedule. Or at least a snarl.

Hosting Furman. When teams like Boise State (who will pay for their own travel anywhere to play a top team) and Fresno State are dying to play BCS conference teams, why does Furman get picked? More interesting is that Furman was originally scheduled before the Alabama game, but got moved so that the Gamecocks would have a bye before the Bama game. How sneaky.

Hosting Troy. Another decent team, but they are a Sun Belt team. The collective score between Troy and two SEC teams (Florida and Arkansas) is 112-26. Troy also got spanked by Bowling Green, so this isn't exactly a compelling matchup by any means.

At Clemson. Luckily for South Carolina, Clemson snapped their three-bowl-loss streak this year against Kentucky, so this rivalry has more "oomph" again. The Tigers also represent only one of four BCS conference teams (USF, UNC, NC State) that South Carolina has scheduled since 2004.

Tennessee Grade: C*

Hosting Tennessee-Martin.  Why not schedule a Big Ten (Indiana) or Big 12 (Colorado) cupcake instead of directional in-state local talent? Akron used to be in this slot, but I guess that was too much of a challenge before Oregon and they went the FCS route.

Hosting Oregon. The Ducks saved the Vols from getting a "C-". One BCS team on the schedule isn't very impressive, but beating a Pac-10 team that's much better than the Bruins, is.

Hosting UAB. Another pastry. And right before the LSU game, but give the Vols props for scheduling NO FCS teams.

At Memphis. This game comes right before the final three-game gauntlet of Ole Miss, Vandy, and Kentucky. If they had scheduled a Houston or Temple-like team here and a BCS conference team cupcake in lieu of Akron, they would have had an A.

Kentucky Grade: F

At Louisville. The 'Ville used to be fun to watch under Petrino, but after he left and the Kragthorpe experiment exploded, the Cardinals now barely qualify as a BCS conference team.

Hosting Akron. The Zips are obviously enamored with this part of the country, as they will have played the Vols in the previous week. Gluttons for punishment? If I were a season ticket-holder for Kentucky, I would demand a refund after this pathetic schedule.

Hosting Western Kentucky. Technically, WKU is an FBS team, but two years ago they were an FCS team. The Hilltoppers went 0-12 last season, even losing to FCS powerhouse Central Arkansas, 28-7. As such, they are being viewed by me, the grader, as an FCS team.

Hosting Charleston-Southern. The reason why Kentucky schedules all of these patsies is simple: Win them all and they only have to beat Mississippi State and Vandy to get bowl-eligible. It's a formula that has worked for four years running.

Vanderbilt Grade: A+

Hosting Northwestern.  Playing a surging Big Ten team is gutsy as hell for a school saddled with academic restrictions. But Stanford did it, and it's starting to pay off dividends.

At UConn. Another BCS conference team on an SEC team's schedule? And on the road? WOW! The Big East finished very well in the Bowl Cup Challenge, and UConn beat the crap out of South Carolina, 20-7, in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

At Eastern Michigan. The MAC is a good middle-tier conference, and while this isn't the best of the three directional Michigan schools in the MAC, it's NOT an FCS team.

Hosting Wake Forest. Give it up to the 'Dores for scheduling a third BCS conference team and NO FCS teams. Simply a superb effort guys. R.I.P.