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It felt like we finally got to the end of a tease.
The SEC’s revised schedule essentially came out in 3 parts. There was the bizarre Friday night announcement of the 2 additional opponents for each team. Then, a week and a half after that, we got the 3 p.m. ET Monday announcement of the Week 1 matchups. Finally came the rest of the schedule at 7 p.m. ET.
Emphasis on “finally.”
Whatever the case, it’s here. I had 5 takeaways from the full release of the SEC’s conference-only schedule in 2020:
1. Opening with a … predictable whisper
I had this theory. It wasn’t based on any inside knowledge about the schedule, but instead the rather simple dynamics at play here. While we talked about how fascinating it would be to have things like the Iron Bowl to kick off the season, I thought more likely was that we’d see the SEC avoid massive headliner games in Week 1.
Why? In an offseason in which coaches have had less control and practice time than ever, I’ve got to think there was a significant push from the SEC’s contenders to not start with major rivalry games. Sure enough, that’s what happened.
In case you don’t already have it burned to the inside of your eyelids, here’s the Week 1 SEC slate:
- Alabama at Mizzou
- Florida at Ole Miss
- Georgia at Arkansas
- Kentucky at Auburn
- Mississippi State at LSU
- Tennessee at South Carolina
- Vanderbilt at Texas A&M
Hey! A Sam Pittman Bowl in Fayetteville! Fun!
Well, not from a matchup standpoint. I wouldn’t get my hopes up for that.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Kentucky at Auburn is the only matchup involving ranked teams to start the year. Yes, I’m factoring in the subtraction of 41% of the Power 5 teams, who will only appear in the preseason AP Top 25 but will then not be part of the voting pool once actual games start.
And look, I get that fans wanted to have headliner games in Week 1, but the SEC has maintained that this isn’t about our entertainment. We’re going to be locked in no matter what, and with such limited tickets to sell, it makes sense why there clearly wasn’t a priority to even sneak in 1 major rivalry game to start.
It’s not surprising to see that the SEC’s 4 contenders will face new coaches. Coming off the most bizarre offseason imaginable, it’s another favorable result for the SEC elite.
2. But Kentucky at Auburn to kick off the year is still all sorts of interesting
I sound bitter. I shouldn’t. Of course I’m excited to see Dan Mullen’s return to Oxford, and Mike Leach squaring off with the defending national champs is definitely interesting, as well.
Of those 7 games in Week 1, though, I’m gonna guess that Tennessee at South Carolina and Kentucky at Auburn are the only games that’ll go into Week 1 with single-digit point spreads (I saw those early spreads that Action Network had). I say that without knowing who else could opt out/test positive for COVID-19.
By the way, good luck to those oddsmakers this year. I have no idea how they’ll stay on top of all of those things. Certainly beware if you see a drastic point spread shift before your team/opponent announces any sort of COVID-related absences.
Kentucky-Auburn is my most intriguing Week 1 SEC game for a variety of reasons.
For starters, what in the world does the Chad Morris offense look like? Does Bo Nix look like he’s ready for that Year 2 step against a Kentucky defense who finished No. 14 in scoring and returns a ton of production? How does Auburn’s new-look offensive line perform against a capable Kentucky front 7? And what about that loaded Kentucky offensive line against Kevin Steele’s defense, which will have a new feel in the post-Derrick Brown/Marlon Davidson era. Can it keep Terry Wilson protected in what’ll be his first action in over a year?
Oh, and I almost forgot. If Joey Gatewood could ever hear back from the NCAA about his eligibility, could we potentially be talking about his return to Auburn? Who knows if he’ll be used even if he’s eligible because I expect Wilson to be the starter, but that’s a juicy Week 1 storyline if we get it.
3. The SEC team with the toughest 4-game stretch
“These teams got totally robbed, man.”
I know, I know. Hopefully those of you who cried foul when Mizzou and Arkansas got those 2 brutal added matchups were able to take a step back and realize that 10 games against SEC competition is going to be extremely difficult for everyone.
There were, however, some 4-game stretches that I thought were more daunting than others:
- Arkansas
- 10/31: at Texas A&M
- 11/7: vs. Tennessee
- 11/14: at Florida
- 11/21: vs. LSU
- Auburn
- 11/14: at MSU
- 11/21: vs. Tennessee
- 11/28: at Alabama
- 12/5: vs. Texas A&M
- Florida
- 10/10: at Texas A&M
- 10/17: vs. LSU
- 10/24: vs. Mizzou
- 11/7: vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
- Georgia
- 10/10: vs. Tennessee
- 10/17: at Alabama
- 10/24: at Kentucky
- 11/7: vs. Florida (in Jacksonville)
- LSU
- 10/17: at Florida
- 10/24: vs. South Carolina
- 10/31: at Auburn
- 11/14: vs. Alabama
- Vandy
- 11/14: at Kentucky
- 11/21: vs. Florida
- 11/28: vs. Tennessee
- 12/5: at Georgia
Yeah, man. I listed 6 teams that I think have rigorous 4-game stretches. You could probably make the case that there are others. Welcome to the SEC in 2020.
Georgia’s is all sorts of noteworthy because that really should be more of a 5-game stretch with the Auburn game in Week 2. Some might have thought the Dawgs caught a break by not adding LSU to the schedule. But for a team with legitimate Playoff aspirations, those are 4 games against possible preseason Top 25 teams, 2 of which could be against top 8 teams … with 1 of them being an Alabama team that hasn’t lost to an East foe in a decade.
And LSU will also have to figure things out in a hurry with all that turnover. Florida in Week 4 begins a stretch that includes a Halloween game at Auburn, where the home team dominates that series historically, and of course there’s the Alabama game a couple of weeks later.
By the way, we’re scheduled to have Masters Weekend fall on Alabama-LSU weekend. Cheers to that.
4. The SEC team with the easiest 4-game stretch
This is all based on the information that we have right now without assuming any sort of cancelations. In other words, this will likely change.
But going through the schedule in its entirety, I noticed a few 4-game stretches that were “easiest,” which doesn’t really seem fair because everyone has 10 SEC games.
These were the stretches that stood out in terms of lowest degree of difficulty:
- Florida
- 11/14: vs. Arkansas
- 11/21: at Vanderbilt
- 11/28: vs. Kentucky
- 12/5: at Tennessee
- Georgia
- 11/14: at Mizzou
- 11/21: vs. MSU
- 11/28: at South Carolina
- 12/5: vs. Vandy
- Texas A&M
- 10/31: vs. Arkansas
- 11/7: at South Carolina
- 11/14: at Tennessee
- 11/21: vs. Ole Miss
- Vandy
- 10/10: vs. South Carolina
- 10/17: at Mizzou
- 10/31: vs. Ole Miss
- 11/7: at MSU
Florida and Georgia have super favorable finishes after they face each other on Nov. 7 (I’m a little bummed that we didn’t get that on Halloween). Georgia especially as about as favorable of a road to end the season as one can ask for. Of course, the Dawgs still have matchups against Alabama and Florida before that.
A&M has that favorable stretch, which still features a road matchup against a Tennessee team who could start off in the Top 25. But remember when everyone was obsessed with the Aggies’ schedule because of how favorable it started? Now, the Aggies have a road game against Alabama and then a home tilt against Florida in the first 3 weeks.
Who knows, though. Maybe these easy schedules stretches will look much more daunting by season’s end.
5. Ending with a … different feel
No Iron Bowl to close the SEC slate for the first time since 2001 will be weird. You know what else will happen for the first time since 2001? Florida-Tennessee to close the season. I know Vols fans are already fired up thinking about playing Florida in the cold.
On an unrelated note, go back and watch the last time that Florida and Tennessee played to close the SEC regular season. It was when 9/11 forced that game to close out the regular season. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was Steve Spurrier’s last game as Florida’s coach in The Swamp. There were national title hopes hanging in the balance. If we get that again 19 years later, get your popcorn ready.
That matchup and A&M-Auburn are certainly the 2 best to close the year. It’s interesting that there’s not really a true rivalry week this year. I suppose that was to be expected. There were a lot of moving pieces just to get this thing together.
What I want to know is will the SEC already be decided by then? Will there be any games that need to be made up in that open date in 12/12?
Here’s hoping this is the last time I have to ask that question.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
