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LSU is going to have to overcome a brutal schedule to challenge for the West Division
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An SEC schedule is brutal. Playing an SEC West Division schedule is even tougher.
So it’s no surprise that LSU faces a strong schedule for 2016 in its quest to climb back to the top of the SEC mountain. It’s a yearly gauntlet that lesser teams succumb to.
The Tigers suffered a harsh reminder last season. After waltzing through the first seven games, looking like world-beaters in the process, the SEC West gauntlet took its toll, leading to three consecutive losses and nearly costing Les Miles his job.
It won’t be much easier in 2016. From the opening whistle, LSU will be tested on a national level as well as within the not-so-friendly confines of the SEC.
LSU kicks off 2016 with a road trip to historic Lambeau Field, where it will face Big Ten power Wisconsin. The Tigers will know right away how they stack up against another national brand. It will make for an interesting homecoming for new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, who spent the last three seasons building Wisconsin’s defense into a top 10 force.
If LSU survives that, it hosts giant-killers Jacksonville State and Dak Prescott-less Mississippi State in back-to-back home games. You’ll remember Jacksonville State’s stunning double-overtime upset of Ole Miss in the 2010 opener, and the near-miss last season at Auburn, a 27-20 overtime loss to a War Eagles team ranked No. 6 in the country as SEC preseason favorites. The Gamecocks made it to the FCS national championship game last year.
Then the Tigers must tip-toe through the landmines, a.k.a SEC road games. LSU starts at Auburn, where it is 6-10 at Jordan-Hare. LSU is 6-10 all-time at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It’s become a heated rivalry in recent years and one where the home team usually emerges victorious. The home team has won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams.
LSU hosts Missouri in just the second encounter all-time vs. the SEC newbie before hitting the road again to face Florida. The Tigers hold a 4-3 edge over the Gators in the Swamp since 2001 but it’s never an easy place to play. The Gators are the defending SEC East champions, and LSU is the only West Division team that plays Florida on an annual basis.
The Tigers return home to face Southern Miss — likely the C-USA favorites and projected as one of the best Group of 5 teams in 2016 — before beginning the stretch of games that unraveled last season’s roll. Ole Miss, Alabama and Arkansas handed LSU consecutive losses a year ago and nearly changed the course of history with what appeared to be the dismissal of Miles.
This year, Miles and the Tigers get both Ole Miss and Alabama at home. Even so, those still look like the most demanding games on the schedule.
And a trip to Fayetteville to face Arkansas will be no walk in the park, either. The Tigers have lost the last two outings to the Razorbacks, both by embarrassing 17-point margins. LSU is 1-2 all-time at Fayetteville
In a series that has mostly been played, since 1901, in Little Rock, Shreveport or Baton Rouge.
The Tigers close the 2016 schedule with a home game against South Alabama and then the rivalry game at Texas A&M. The Tigers are only 3-7-1 all-time at Kyle Field but have taken the last two meetings there.
It’s another brutal schedule. According to ESPN’s Phil Steele, the combined 2015 record of LSU’s opponents makes it the toughest in all of FBS. LSU faces a whopping 10 ’15 bowl teams in 12 games — and one of the other two teams is Jacksonville State, the No. 2 team in all of FCS. There just aren’t many breaks or easy games. Bleacher Report ranks it the No. 7 hardest in the country.
But when you play in the best division of the best conference in college football, you come to expect that. At least LSU is facing several teams with uncertainty at quarterback. The Tigers should have a real shot at sweeping both the cross-division games as well as the non-conference schedule, although neither case will be easy.
If the Tigers can manage at least 10 wins with this schedule, it will have been an impressive run for Miles, Leonard Fournette and the rest of the team.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
