There Will Be No Complaints About Tide's Schedule in 2015

What goes around, comes around, especially in college football.

People tend to forget that. Dynasties rise and fall, conferences have good years and bad and teams are almost always either improving or on a decline.

The same holds true for scheduling.

For the past few years critics have been more than outspoken about the University of Alabama’s schedules, even though Nick Saban hasn’t wavered from his approach.

He’d ideally like a nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule, which he was the only league coach to vote for when it came up last year. Barring that, he tries to have one marque game against a non-SEC team, usually at the start of the season.

"If it was totally up to me I'd say you've got to play all 12 games in the big five (conferences),” Saban said last year. "If we did that, I think we would be less averse to playing more conference games because I think we have such a great conference. But I don't think anybody's going to be in favor of that until we change how you select bowl teams. I think you ought to do it based on the RPI and strength of schedule and all that for all bowls."

Since Saban arrived in 2007, Alabama’s had neutral-site matchups against Clemson, Virginia Tech and Michigan—which were all ranked in the top 10 of their respective preseason polls—followed by a rematch against the Hokies and West Virginia. He also had a home-and-home against Penn State and was the last coach to notch a win against Joe Paterno before he stepped down.

Saban won all of those games (Note: Alabama lost to Florida State in a neutral-site game in Jacksonville in 2007, which had been scheduled by his predecessor). The Crimson Tide’s next three openers will be played against Wisconsin (2015) and Southern California (2016) in Arlington, Texas, and Florida State in Atlanta (2017).

Date	Opponent
Sept. 5	Wisconsin (at Arlington, Texas)
Sept. 12	Middle Tennessee
Sept. 19	Ole Miss
Sept. 26	Louisiana -Monroe
Oct. 3	at Georgia
Oct. 10	Arkansas
Oct. 17	at Texas A&M
Oct. 24	Tennesse
Oct 31	bye
Nov. 7	LSU
Nov. 14	at Mississippi State
Nov. 21	Charleston Southern
Nov. 28	at Auburn

Alabama did cancel a home-and-home with Michigan State set for Tuscaloosa in 2016 and East Lansing in 2017 when it looked like the SEC might go to a nine-game league schedule, but it’ll make roughly $10 million on those two dates. It received $4.7 million for facing Michigan in the 2012 Cowboys Classic, and the Palm Beach Post reported that the Crimson Tide and Seminoles will both make $4-$5 million in the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

Yet Alabama has continued to take PR hits over its schedules since winning back-to-back national titles in 2011-12.

For example, when the 2013 schedule was announced, Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel called it “safe and boring,” and NBCSports.com tabbed it: “As far as conference slates go, Alabama is basically on Easy Street.”

“Six of those teams on that schedule are in the toilet,” ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd (h/t FBschedules.com) chimed. “Their toughest game honestly is their second game of the year, Texas A&M. What do you know? They’ve got a bye before it, because Saban pretty much runs the conference.”

Actually, Alabama hated getting stuck with the early-season bye after another school bailed on its commitment and a replacement couldn’t be found.

When Missouri and Texas A&M both entered the league in 2012, it took a couple of years for a new schedule rotation to be worked out. Tennessee has remained Alabama’s permanent opponent from the East Division, while its other games have been against Missouri, Kentucky and Florida.

On paper, that doesn’t look bad at all, but during these past three seasons Alabama has faced only two teams from the East that finished with winning records. Both were last season when Florida and Tennessee had seven wins.

Going into 2014, Phil Steele wrote that Alabama had the easiest road to the SEC title with a schedule that ranked 61st in difficultly (incidentally, Florida State was preseason No. 46 and Ohio State was 36th). That was also before the Mississippi schools tried to take over the conference in October.

In order to make the SEC Championship Game the Crimson Tide “only” had to:

1)    Beat the No. 1 team in the nation, Mississippi State.

2)    Win at the toughest venue in college football, LSU.

3)    Win the tightest rivalry game in college football, Auburn

Its other game in November was against Western Carolina, and if you’re wondering why Alabama would schedule an FCS opponent during the stretch run the answer lies in its opponents’ schedules.

Here’s who the division rivals have played the week before facing Alabama:

2013: Sam Houston St., bye, South Carolina, bye, Texas A&M, bye.

2014: Memphis, bye, Ole Miss, bye, UT Martin, Samford.

Crimson Tide fans also well remember 2010 when they faced six straight SEC teams that were coming off a bye. The SEC responded by passing a rule stipulating that no team had to play more than three league opponents coming off a bye during a single season.

This fall, Alabama will face Wisconsin, Georgia and a much-improved Tennessee team, in addition to playing in the toughest division in college football. It’ll oppose 10 teams with winning records that were bowl eligible last season, which both tie for the most in college football.

Granted, no matter what, there will always be scheduling issues. A year ago, Auburn was set to face nine teams that had winning records in 2013, and LSU’s displeasure about having Florida as a permanent opponent has become an annual thing.

But no one can complain about Alabama’s schedule this season, and it may be a long time before anyone does again.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer.

Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.