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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Pete Fiutak

SEC Football Schedule: 5 Things That Matter

The SEC football schedule for this craziest of 2020 seasons is out. Here are the 5 things that matter from the new slate.

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5. Open Dates

The Big Ten might not be doing the 2020 fall football thing anymore, but at least its schedule seemed to be a little more – let’s put it this way – realistic.

The Big Ten had built-in fail-safe weeks at the end, just in case there needed to be a postponement for any possible issue due to a coronavirus outbreak. The conference – and this turned out to be a part of its problem – was also supposed to start three weeks earlier than the SEC. That allowed the schedule to be spread out more.

The SEC has one big open date in early November when six teams are off, and four are off on October 31st and four are resting on October 24th.

And that’s it.

However this is going to work, the SEC is going to pound right through with a ten-game schedule in 11 weeks, with almost no margin for any error.

The almost part of that comes from the SEC Championship. If it’s played on December 19th, then December 12th could be used as a make-up week in case something goes wrong. But if the SEC Championship is on the 12th, there might be a total mess if one of the league’s stars ends up missing a week or two along the way.

This could get particularly ugly for …

NEXT: Alabama vs. Auburn

4. Alabama vs. Auburn

It’s just part of the SEC deal. The headlining act comes on last, but not this year with the annual Alabama vs. Auburn Iron Bowl being played in Tuscaloosa on November 28th – the second-to-last week of the season.

This could be playing with fire.

Not to keep bringing up the Big Ten – it’s obviously having issues in so many areas – but it planned to get Michigan vs. Ohio State out of the way early. It might have been anticlimactic if it happened, but it also was safe. If for some reason the biggest game of the season couldn’t go, there was time at the end to make it up.

If Alabama vs. Auburn doesn’t work, then it’s possible to ditch the final regular season game for both on December 5th, but that’s a problem, too. Bama going to Arkansas likely won’t make any difference, but Texas A&M coming into Auburn will matter.

Again, here’s where the league might have to be flexible. It might have to be forced to keep December 12th open, just in case, but if there’s another lost game early on in the season, there’s just no space to make up the giant rivalry.

More on that in a moment. For now, get ready for …

NEXT: The new records

3. The new records

PLEASE don’t get mad at the SEC Predicted Records For Every Game piece, but going from eight SEC games to ten is going to be devastating to the records of a whole lot of mid-range teams.

There will be upsets, and there are certain to be several twists and turns, but find the game on the game that Arkansas can win. That’s what Kent State, ULM and Charleston Southern were originally supposed to be for.

And Missouri? It was probably going at least 6-6 with its original schedule, but even getting to three might be hard. Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan and Louisiana were supposed to provide a base of three wins, with a trip to BYU, too.

Mississippi State with a losing record? Again, find the way Mike Leach’s club rocks with this slate. Playing New Mexico, Tulane and Alabama A&M was going to fatten the schedule.

And this can go on for all of the SEC teams that aren’t Alabama, Georgia, Florida or LSU.

Fans of Tennessee won’t be happy with 5-5, but Charlotte, Furman and Troy were supposed to make this a special year, and Auburn is more like a 7ish-win team than a strong 9-3 type now that it doesn’t get Alcorn State, UMass and Southern Miss to play.

Remember this. Only six SEC teams finished with winning conference records last year. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt were all league losers, and Texas A&M finished 4-4.

Now add two more conference games to the pile.

NEXT: Thanksgiving Weekend

2. Thanksgiving Weekend

It seems like Mars right now in terms of distance, but the weekend of November 28th will get here at some point.

For fun’s sake, let’s just say everything goes smoothly with the election, COVID testing is as simple as hocking a loogie and waiting ten minutes, and we get through eight games of SEC football with everyone safe and fine.

Sweet fancy Moses does Thanksgiving weekend look massive.

There could be some tweaking of things if the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State can be moved to its normal Thanksgiving Day slot – this year on November 26th – but Mike Leach vs. Lane Kiffin will be a thing no matter when it’s played.

It’s supposed to be Auburn at Alabama weekend, and even that might take a backseat to LSU at Texas A&M if the Aggies turn into a power player – they go to Auburn the final week.

Under the radar is the suddenly-interesting Kentucky at Florida game – this is no longer just the Gator given it used to be.

Georgia going to South Carolina is a revenge game, and Tennessee at Vanderbilt should be a war if the Commodore defense is as good as expected.

Arkansas at Missouri might not be the marquee game, but the two new head coaches will each – likely – be desperately searching for a win.

If this all really happens …

NEXT: This … is … awesome

1. This … is … awesome

Oh, do we deserve this.

Again, with the caveat that everyone stays healthy and fine, after all we’ve been through, and considering all of the college football we’re going to be missing, how great is a ten-game all-SEC schedule?

Don’t get used to it, though, for the reasons detailed before – the mid-level teams need their cupcake wins to have a stronger winning record to make everyone happy.

For one season, though, this is going to be non-stop, wall-to-wall SEC with titanic matchups every week – at least after Week 1.

The opening weekend is a tad soft – Mississippi State at LSU is likely the best game of the bunch – then this gets insane.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 out of the picture, there will be some good-looking ACC and Big 12 showdowns, but the SEC is going to own October and November Saturdays.

Originally, Alabama was supposed to play UT Martin on November 14th. Now it plays LSU.

Tennessee was supposed to play Troy on November 21. Now it gets Auburn.

Mississippi State was originally going to play Alabama A&M on the 21st. Now it gets Georgia, and Ole Miss replaces UConn with Auburn on October 24th.

Hopefully we’re not going to get this all yoinked away from us.

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