SEC Football Schedule 2021: Dates, Matchups and Championship Game Details
January 27, 2021
The Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday that its 2021 football schedule will begin Sept. 4 and run through to the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 4.
Alabama won the 2020 conference title before completing an undefeated season (13-0) with playoff victories over Notre Dame and Ohio State to capture the program's 18th national championship.
Here's a look at each school's SEC schedule for next season:
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Mississippi State
Missouri
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
The Crimson Tide will likely head into the campaign as the championship favorite as Nick Saban and his coaching staff have once done a terrific job replacing the talent lost to the NFL, led by Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith and quarterback Mac Jones. Bama ranks first in 247Sports' recruiting rankings for 2021.
Alabama is going to face some stiff competition atop the SEC, though.
Georgia headlines to group of contenders hoping to knock the Tide off their throne, while LSU, Florida, Texas A&M and Auburn are also on pace to enter the campaign with realistic conference title aspirations.
In December, Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart said on the All Things Covered podcast (via Mike Griffith of DawgNation) they haven't gotten that breakthrough against Bama yet, but he's confident it's coming.
"Hey, we've had as good of a chance as anyone," Smart said. "We led them at the half this year, and then the other two times we didn't finish in the fourth. So we know we've got a good team, we know we've got a great opportunity, but eventually, it's going to happen."
LSU is one of the teams in recent years that's overcome the Crimson Tide with its perfect season in 2019, including a 46-41 over Alabama, en route to the national championship.
The Tigers took a step back in 2020 with a 5-5 record following the departure of Heisman winner Joe Burrow and other key contributors to the NFL, which showed just how difficult it is to stay in the championship conversation pretty much every year as the Tide have done under Saban.
So the main story remains much the same with the 2021 schedule now released: Alabama is the team to beat, but it's not unbeatable.