Early 2015 schedule outlook: Missouri

The twice-defending SEC East champions have a fairly easy path once again in 2015.

Tennessee potentially could grow into a Top 25 team next year and Georgia reloads every season, but there aren’t an abundance of threats in the division, as South Carolina doesn’t look like a 10-win team and Florida could take another season to rebound.

The non-conference schedule outside of a neutral-site game with BYU is a joke, and a good SEC team should be able to handle the Cougars.

Missouri gets a Mississippi State team in a crossover game that will be devastated by personnel losses, even if QB Dak Prescott returns. Annual crossover rival Arkansas will field a depleted defense that at full strength couldn’t manage to beat the Tigers in 2014.

Next year’s Mizzou figures to field fewer stars (I don’t foresee the equivalent of Marcus Murphy, Bud Sasser, Markus Golden and Shane Ray), but depth should improve. Coach Gary Pinkel has a track record of developing players, so young starters at receiver and defensive end should be much better than they were in 2014 as backups, and assuming good health, the second and third teams should be stronger.

Missouri should be favored in all four non-conference games as well as against Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Considering how good this team is in games it should win, and the favorable schedule, the team could go 4-2 or even 3-3 in the remaining games and still have a chance at another 10-win season.

Let’s take a closer look at the schedule.

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN

Home games (6): Southeast Missouri State (Sept. 5), Connecticut (Sept. 19). South Carolina (Oct. 3) Florida (Oct. 10), Mississippi State (Nov. 5), Tennessee (Nov. 21)

Road games (5): Arkansas State (Sept. 12), Kentucky (Sept. 26), Georgia (Oct. 17), Vanderbilt (Oct. 24), Arkansas (Nov. 28).

Neutral site (1): BYU (Nov. 14)

Longest home stretch: 2 games (South Carolina, Florida)

Longest road stretch: 2 games (Vanderbilt, Kentucky before an open date)

OPPONENT BREAKDOWN

2014 ranked teams (final regular season): No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 13 Georgia

2015 ranked teams (early projections): No. 6 Georgia, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 22 Arkansas

Potential trap games: BYU (one week before hosting a Tennessee team that could be contending for an SEC East title); at Kentucky (the first of five consecutive weekends against SEC East opponents, including South Carolina the next week).

Toughest SEC games: at Georgia, at Arkansas, vs. Tennessee

FULL SCHEDULE