Ranking Every SEC Team's 2016 Schedule from Easiest to Hardest
Life in the SEC is tough. No other conference had a better record against Power Five competition in 2015, and no other conference won more postseason games last year.
And considering all SEC teams have to play eight games against the members of their powerful conference each season, everyone has a hard schedule of some kind. That strength of schedule will only increase moving forward, as 2016 will mark the first year that every member has to play at least one other Power Five team in nonconference play.
But not all schedules are created equal, especially in a conference that isn't exactly balanced between its two divisions. Some SEC teams are bolder than others when it comes to scheduling nonconference games, too.
With that in mind, let's rank every SEC team's 2016 schedule from the easiest to the hardest. These rankings are based on the combined 2015 records of a team's 2016 FBS opponents, number of 2015 bowl and 2016 composite preseason Top 25 teams, location of games and spacing of the toughest opponents.
Which SEC team do you think has the toughest schedule in 2016? Which one do you think has a slate that deserves more preseason respect? Sound off in the comments below.
14. Florida
1 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 67-69
2015 bowl opponents: Five (two home, three road)
Games versus projected Top 25: at Tennessee (Sept. 24), vs. LSU (Oct. 8), vs. Georgia* (Oct. 29), at Florida State (Nov. 26)
The choice for easiest 2016 schedule in the SEC was a no-brainer. According to Brian Stultz of Campus Insiders, Florida has the second-easiest slate in the entire country this fall based on the combined record of its opponents.
Most of that is due to an easy nonconference schedule—outside of the annual season finale against Florida State. Florida plays 3-9 UMass and 1-11 North Texas at home within the first three weeks of the season. Of the Gators' three true SEC road games, only one—Week 4 against Tennessee—comes against a projected Top 25 team.
Of course, just because Florida's schedule is the easiest in the SEC doesn't mean it's a breeze. In addition to the road games against Tennessee and FSU, the Gators also host LSU in early October. But thanks to UMass, North Texas and Presbyterian, as well as the SEC East teams that didn't go bowling last year, the Gators are the only team in the conference whose opponents combined for a losing record in 2016.
*in Jacksonville, Florida
13. Georgia
2 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 71-68
2015 bowl opponents: Five (two home, one road, two neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. North Carolina* (Sept. 3), at Ole Miss (Sept. 24), vs. Tennessee (Oct. 1)
New head coach Kirby Smart won't be able to ease into things at Georgia, as his first game with the program will come against a North Carolina team that led the nation in total yards per play last season. But the Bulldogs will have the advantage of playing that one in their home state, and they only have to play one true road game against a team that went bowling in 2015.
UGA's toughest stretch of the season will come late in September and early in October, when it visits Ole Miss and then plays Tennessee at home in back-to-back weeks. That could make or break a push to the SEC Championship Game for the Bulldogs, who then get South Carolina and Vanderbilt prior to the off week before the annual showdown with Florida.
After Georgia plays Florida in Jacksonville, it visits Kentucky and then closes out with a three-game homestand of Auburn, UL-Lafayette and Georgia Tech—teams that combined for a 14-23 record last season. Auburn and Georgia Tech will be dangerous as always against the Bulldogs, but Smart couldn't have picked a better way to wrap up his first regular season in charge.
*in Atlanta
12. Missouri
3 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 74-65
2015 bowl opponents: Seven (three home, four road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. Georgia (Sept. 17), at LSU (Oct. 1), at Tennessee (Nov. 19)
New Missouri head coach Barry Odom will get thrown into the fire early, as he debuts in the rowdy road environment of Morgantown, West Virginia. However, his first slate with the Tigers looks favorable for a team looking to get back to bowl eligibility—their major tests are all spaced out.
After West Virginia, Missouri gets 1-11 Eastern Michigan at home. After Georgia, Missouri gets FCS foe Delaware State. The Tigers have an off week between trips to LSU and Florida, and the only time they'll face conference foes that went to bowls in back-to-back weeks will be the end of the season against Tennessee and Arkansas.
The three SEC road games against Florida, LSU and Tennessee will be huge obstacles in the way of a big first season for Odom, but Missouri avoids the major one-two punches on the schedule that tend to wear down teams. The Tigers will have room to regain momentum after any setbacks that may come their way in 2016.
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11. South Carolina
4 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 82-59
2015 bowl opponents: Six (three home, three road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. Georgia (Oct. 8), vs. Tennessee (Oct. 29), at Clemson (Nov. 26)
Welcome back to life as a head coach in the SEC, Will Muschamp. Your South Carolina Gamecocks have three SEC road games within the first four weeks of the season, including a Week 2 cross-divisional trip to Mississippi State.
Fortunately, though, South Carolina gets a long home stand right in the middle of the season, with five games at Williams-Brice Stadium and a much-needed off week from October 1 to November 5. That includes home games against both Georgia and Tennessee, but the Gamecocks get that bye week and a home matchup with lowly UMass between those contests.
The schedule cranks right back up in intensity down the stretch, as South Carolina travels to Florida and defending national runner-up Clemson within the span of three weeks. The Gamecocks will want to take advantage of that long October stay because the beginning and end to this year's schedule would be rough on any team.
10. Vanderbilt
5 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 81-60
2015 bowl opponents: Seven (four home, three road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: at Georgia (Oct. 15), vs. Ole Miss (Nov. 19), vs. Tennessee (Nov. 26)
Last year, Vanderbilt had one of the easiest schedules in the SEC, but that's not the case in 2016. The Commodores play three different sets of back-to-back road games in addition to the annual cross-divisional matchup against what should be a high-powered Ole Miss team.
Vandy opens with South Carolina and Middle Tennessee State in back-to-back weeks before road games against Georgia Tech and defending Conference USA champion Western Kentucky, which beat the Commodores in last year's season opener. That stretch could range anywhere from 4-0 to 0-4 for Vandy.
Vanderbilt also has to play Kentucky and Georgia on the road in back-to-back weeks as well as the Tiger combo of Auburn and Missouri. More of its tough competition has to come to Nashville this season—such as Ole Miss and Tennessee in the final two weeks of the season—but Vanderbilt is still facing quite a grind as it battles for bowl eligibility this fall.
9. Tennessee
6 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 85-57
2015 bowl opponents: Seven (four home, two road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: at Georgia (Oct. 1), vs. Alabama (Oct. 15)
I've written a few times this offseason that Tennessee's 2016 schedule sets up well for a possible run toward the SEC Championship Game. But that slate is still one of the most unbalanced in the entire country, with seven straight bowl teams from 2015 to start the season followed by five teams that combined for a 21-37 record.
Tennessee's combined opponent record is propped up thanks to nonconference home matchups against Appalachian State (11-2 last year) and Ohio (8-5). While they won't be complete pushovers, the Mountaineers and the Bobcats make the overall slate seem tougher than it actually will be for the Volunteers.
However, there's no questioning Tennessee's four-week stretch against Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M and defending national champion Alabama. Five of the seven bowl opponents the Volunteers face in 2016 will play inside Tennessee state lines, which is an added benefit to a schedule that slacks off in a big way down the stretch.
8. Texas A&M
7 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 83-58
2015 bowl opponents: Eight (four home, three road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. UCLA (Sept. 3), vs. Tennessee (Oct. 8), at Alabama (Oct. 22), vs. Ole Miss (Nov. 12), vs. LSU (Nov. 24)
Texas A&M will want Kyle Field to be a fortress this fall, as many of the Aggies' toughest opponents for 2016 have to come to College Station. That starts with another season opener against a Pac-12 team—this one being 8-5 UCLA, which will bring star sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen to face the 12th Man.
The Aggies have winnable road games against Auburn and South Carolina on each side of the annual neutral-site matchup with Arkansas at AT&T Stadium. They'll get a big bye week after facing SEC East favorite Tennessee at home, right before visiting defending champ Alabama. After that trip to Tuscaloosa, A&M will be at home for four of its final five games.
Texas A&M should pick up easier wins against New Mexico State and UTSA, which will be breathers in a stretch that includes Ole Miss and LSU at home. By SEC West standards, this slate is tough but manageable for a team that needs to show signs of improvement in 2016.
7. Mississippi State
8 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 79-61
2015 bowl opponents: Seven (three home, four road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: at LSU (Sept. 17), at Alabama (Nov. 12), at Ole Miss (Nov. 26)
Texas A&M plays more bowl teams than Mississippi State, and its opponents combined for a better 2015 record, but the Bulldogs get a higher spot on here for one reason—location, location, location. They'll face the three toughest teams in the SEC West on the road.
Before State faces LSU in Death Valley, it will host both South Alabama and South Carolina. The trip to Baton Rouge is followed by one of the most bizarre matchups of the entire college football calendar: Mississippi State at UMass. An SEC team that had nine wins last year will travel to face a MAC team that had nine losses. According to Michael Bonner of the Clarion-Ledger, the trip is part of a two-for-one schedule agreement.
A Friday night road game at BYU won't be easy later in the season, and Mississippi State's November is quite intimidating—vs. Texas A&M, at Alabama, vs. Arkansas and at Ole Miss. The Bulldogs have some big-time tests ahead of them as they adjust to the post-Dak Prescott era in Starkville.
6. Kentucky
9 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 84-59
2015 bowl opponents: Seven (three home, four road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: at Alabama (Oct. 1), vs. Georgia (Nov. 5), at Tennessee (Nov. 12), at Louisville (Nov. 26)
As you can already tell by now, there's a break in overall schedule strength thanks to the balance of power between the SEC West and the SEC East. All seven teams in the West went bowling last year, while only three did in the East. That naturally leads to better numbers in the West schedules compared to the East.
However, Kentucky bucks that trend with a hard schedule in 2016, one that a couple of West teams can't even match. The Wildcats open with a dangerous Southern Miss team and a road trip to Florida, and October begins with an away game at Alabama, the best team in the league.
But November will be even tougher on Kentucky, as it hosts Georgia, visits Tennessee and visits hated out-of-conference rival Louisville in the span of four weeks. Those three teams went a combined 14-1 in the months of November, December and January last season. Even though the Wildcats play some lower-tier opponents in their own division, this schedule is downright brutal.
5. Arkansas
10 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 95-48
2015 bowl opponents: Nine (five home, three road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: at TCU (Sept. 10), vs. Alabama (Oct. 8), vs. Ole Miss (Oct. 15), vs. LSU (Nov. 12)
Arkansas faces a doozy of a schedule in 2016, but the Razorbacks have the advantage of bringing most of their biggest competition to Fayetteville. Outside of a Week 2 matchup at a tough but transitioning TCU team, Arkansas will get the comforts of home to face the best of the best on its schedule.
The hardest stretch of the season comes in the beginning of October, when Arkansas hosts Alabama and Ole Miss in back-to-back weeks. Following a trip to Auburn and a much-needed week off, the Razorbacks return to face Florida and LSU at home in consecutive order.
Texas A&M will be a road game of sorts at Arlington's AT&T Stadium, and the season wraps up with two straight road games against Mississippi State and Missouri. The overall quality of the schedule is way up there for Arkansas, and it'll be glad to get that home-heavy stretch in the middle of the season.
4. LSU
11 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 95-50
2015 bowl opponents: Nine (four home, four road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. Ole Miss (Oct. 22), vs. Alabama (Nov. 5)
Like Tennessee, I've written that LSU has a somewhat favorable schedule for making a run at the College Football Playoff, even though it's still in the treacherous SEC West. That's because the Bayou Bengals' two toughest opponents—Ole Miss and Alabama—must come to Death Valley this year.
LSU will open with a virtual road game in historic Lambeau Field against new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda's former employers at Wisconsin, which could challenge for a Top 25 spot early in the 2016 campaign. Trips to Auburn and Florida highlight the first half of the schedule, but it's the home-heavy back half that will determine the true quality of an LSU team that returns a ton of talent.
After a home game against Southern Miss, LSU hosts Ole Miss in a rematch of the big Magnolia Bowl loss in Oxford last season. The Tigers will get their traditional week off before the heavyweight bout against Alabama. They'll have to stay on their toes after those tests, too, as they visit both Arkansas and Texas A&M inside the final three weeks of the regular season.
3. Alabama
12 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 88-54
2015 bowl opponents: Nine (four home, four road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. USC* (Sept. 3), at Ole Miss (Sept. 17), at Tennessee (Oct. 15), at LSU (Nov. 5)
Alabama's 2016 opponents might not have as good of a combined record as LSU's, but this schedule looks tougher because of all the tough road trips. The defending national champions will play four projected Top 25 teams away from Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2016.
That starts with USC, which returns a lot of experience from an always-talented roster, at Jerry World. Alabama then gets Ole Miss, which has beaten the Tide in each of the last two seasons, away from home before a bit of a breather. The "Third Saturday in October" will return to its rightful date, too, as Alabama will visit SEC East favorite Tennessee.
As Bleacher Report's Brian Pedersen wrote, the home slate in 2016 for Alabama is relatively pedestrian outside of the all-important Iron Bowl. (Western Kentucky is a better-than-usual Group of Five matchup in Week 2.) But the five teams it will play outside of Tuscaloosa this season went 44-21 overall in 2015 with a 4-1 bowl record. That's rough.
*in Arlington, Texas
2. Auburn
13 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 97-48
2015 bowl opponents: Nine (five home, four road)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. Clemson (Sept. 3), vs. LSU (Sept. 24), at Ole Miss (Oct. 29), at Georgia (Nov. 12), at Alabama (Nov. 26)
Head coach Gus Malzahn is facing a make-or-break season at Auburn, and the schedule won't do his job security any favors in 2016. Since it's an even-numbered year, the traditional "Amen Corner" swing of rivals, Georgia and Alabama, will both be on the road.
But as daunting as the end of the slate will be for Auburn, the beginning will be just as fierce, as defending national runner-up Clemson will bring its ridiculous offensive firepower and defensive consistency to the Plains in Week 1. Of Auburn's first five games—all at home—Louisiana-Monroe is the only one that finished with fewer than eight wins last season.
In addition to trips to Alabama and Georgia, Auburn also has to make the Mississippi tour in October, with visits to Starkville and Oxford. Home games against ULM, Vanderbilt and FCS squad Alabama A&M will be helpful, but the overall strength of this schedule is massive.
1. Ole Miss
14 of 14
Combined 2015 record of FBS opponents: 97-46
2015 bowl opponents: 10 (six home, three road, one neutral)
Games vs. projected Top 25: vs. Florida State* (Sept. 5), vs. Alabama (Sept. 17), vs. Georgia (Sept. 24), at LSU (Oct. 22)
Ole Miss could lay claim to the toughest schedule in all of college football for the 2016 season. It's definitely the case in the SEC, as the Rebels will face the highest 2015 opponent winning percentage and the most games against 2015 bowl opponents.
Head coach Hugh Freeze's team starts with what will practically be a road game against national title contender Florida State in Orlando, and Alabama comes knocking two weeks later. Georgia is right behind the Crimson Tide, along with a Memphis team that is going through some big changes this offseason but that beat the Rebels in 2015. Back-to-back road tests against Arkansas and LSU follow.
The difference-maker for Ole Miss is the nonconference foes, as Memphis and Georgia Southern are both some of the most dangerous Group of Five foes in the country. Outside of FCS team Wofford and the annual matchup with Vanderbilt, every other team on Ole Miss' schedule had a winning record last season. This slate is the hardest any team in the SEC has to face in 2016.
*in Orlando, Florida
Justin Ferguson is a National College Football Analyst at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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