Coupling the words “easy” and “SEC schedule” makes as much sense as wearing nothing but a speedo on a trip to the Arctic Circle.

Easy SEC schedule probably is the first example listed when you look up oxymoron in the dictionary.

Words like easier or harder, more or less difficult, are relative. We use them to compare one thing to another. Compared to most of college football, Missouri’s 2015 football schedule is tough. The SEC East isn’t at the height of its powers, but Mizzou still must play Georgia, Florida and Tennessee every year.

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Now that we’ve got that caveat out of the way, let’s face it: The Tigers may face the easiest schedule of any SEC team this fall.

Mizzou fans, before you start to defend the schedule, why not embrace it? If it turns out the assertion is correct, then it will give your team a great chance at yet another SEC East title or at least another post-New Year’s bowl.

The team entered 2014 with one of the easier schedules of any team in the conference, based solely on opponents’ ’13 winning percentage (.556). This year’s schedule, based on the same criterion, is even easier (.517).

It starts out of conference. Every SEC team is required to face a power-conference team outside the eight-game SEC schedule beginning in 2016. But this fall, Mizzou is one of four conference members that will not face a so-called major program outside of the SEC. Two of Vanderbilt’s non-conference games are on the road, leaving Ole Miss and Mississippi State as the other two contenders for “easiest non-conference schedule” in 2015.

The Rebels, Bulldogs and Tigers all face one FCS team and three other FBS programs. But Mississippi State gets Louisiana Tech, C-USA Western Division champions in ’14, and Ole Miss gets Memphis, defending American Athletic Conference champions. Mizzou, meanwhile, gets a BYU team that finished 4-5 after losing quarterback Taysom Hill to a serious leg injury.

Hill will return in 2015 as a senior, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll return to form. The Tigers had trouble with their toughest non-conference game last fall, losing to Indiana after a white-hot 3-0 start. But assuming Missouri gets past the Cougars — likely as a home favorite on Nov. 14 — it should collect four wins. SEMO, Arkansas State and UConn should present little resistance.

So, arguably, Mizzou faces the easiest non-conference schedule in the SEC. (Judge for yourself here.) The SEC schedule isn’t as arguable. If we can agree that the SEC East schedule is more difficult, we can eliminate seven teams now. Five of the seven SEC East teams face either Alabama, Auburn or LSU in crossover games, leaving Mizzou and Vanderbilt. While the Commodores must play at Ole Miss in addition to hosting Texas A&M, the Tigers get Arkansas and Mississippi State.

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The Bulldogs return Heisman Trophy candidate and All-SEC quarterback Dak Prescott, but lose as much starting talent as any power-conference team in the country. On paper, the Razorbacks and Bulldogs are the bottom two teams in the SEC West this season.

Counting all four non-conference games and contests against Vandy and Kentucky, Mizzou should be bowl eligible by taking care of the contests it should win. The Tigers should be favored at home against South Carolina, underdogs at Georgia and then play four games that look like tossups right now.

Of the four other SEC East teams that could realistically compete for a division title, Mizzou gets three at home — the Gamecocks, Gators and Volunteers.

Piece it all together and it looks like eight wins is the baseline for the 2015 Missouri Tigers. Barring disaster, coach Gary Pinkel and company should win that many games.

Again, rather than take it as one more slight against a program that hasn’t gotten the respect it deserved and earned the last two years, the Mizzou family should embrace this quirk.

The Tigers do need to schedule better in the non-conference, and the team has taken steps in that direction moving forward, with home-and-home series scheduled against West Virginia and Purdue. This season’s non-conference slate, no offense, is not worthy of a back-to-back division champion in the SEC.

But it’s not Mizzou’s fault that the SEC East may remain one year away from more equal footing with the West. And it’s not Mizzou’s fault that it’s annual crossover opponent, Arkansas, finished last in the West the last two seasons.

The Tigers have fielded a Top 25 team in five of the last eight seasons in the Pinkel era. But this group has a chance at a program-first: Three consecutive seasons ranked in the Top 15.

The bottom-line takeaway is that if the Tigers can continue to handle opponents that aren’t ranked in, say, the Top 15 — which it has with remarkable consistency the last two seasons — the team again will challenge in the SEC East in 2015 and has a great chance to finish another season ranked.