50 facts about the 2015 SEC football schedules

I don’t know if you noticed, but we have done quite a bit of writing about the 2015 SEC schedules here at Saturday Down South.

Whether it was digging deep with analysis of each team’s 2015 schedule, or taking a closer look at every team’s all-time record against its 2015 opponents, we’ve tried to give you as many perspectives on your team’s upcoming 12 games as possible.

Now that it is finished, I want to share with you 50 interesting facts that I have learned along this journey.

Who knew there was so much to be gleaned from looking at a set of schedules?

These are going to be quick, easy and fun … so let’s get started:

The SEC will play regular-season games at seven different NFL stadiums (Cowboys, Texans, Falcons, Titans, Panthers, Chiefs, Jaguars).
Alabama and Wisconsin will play for the first time since Calvin Coolidge was the U.S. president (1928).
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, played annually between Auburn and Georgia, is tied 55-55-8.
Florida has a 28-game winning streak against Kentucky. The Wildcats haven’t won since “Top Gun” was dominating at the box office (1986).
Many fans are counting Kentucky’s game at Vanderbilt as a win, but the Wildcats have yet to win a game away from Commonwealth Stadium under third-year coach Mark Stoops.
Louisiana-Monroe enters Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 26 with a 1-0 record against Nick Saban as the head coach at Alabama.
Texas A&M won’t leave the state of Texas to play a game until Oct. 24.
There are five Week 1, neutral-site FBS games. The SEC has a team playing in all five.
The Texas A&M vs. Arizona State game is the only SEC/Pac-12 regular-season game.
The SEC will play 13 games against FCS opponents.
The SEC will play 10 games against Conference USA opponents, the most of any conference.
Alabama’s game against Wisconsin is the only regular-season game an SEC team will play against the Big Ten.
The ACC is the Power 5 conference that shows up on SEC schedules most often, with seven games on the slate for 2015.
Just 19.6 percent of the SEC’s out-of-conference games will be played against Power 5 opponents.
Missouri’s matchup with BYU is the only game the SEC will play against a FBS school without a conference affiliation.
Florida is the only school without an FCS opponent on its schedule.
If the SEC West loses just one non-conference game, it will fall off pace from last year’s 28-0 regular-season record against such opponents.
The SEC needs 49 wins in its 56 out-of-conference games to best its 2014 regular-season performance (48-7).
Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt are the only four teams without a Power 5 conference opponent on their non-conference schedule.
South Carolina is the only team with two Power 5 conference opponents on its non-conference schedule (North Carolina and Clemson).
Auburn is the only team with two games against teams traveling from states on or near the Pacific Coast (San Jose State and Idaho).
Tennessee is the only school that will host a home game in another SEC team’s home town. (vs. Bowling Green in Nashville)
Vanderbilt is the only school that will play two of its out-of-conference games away from home (at Houston and Middle Tennessee)
Louisiana-Monroe will play the preseason favorite in both the SEC East (Georgia) and SEC West (Alabama).
Always a popular out-of-conference choice, the SEC will play eight games against the Sun Belt.
Oklahoma vs. Tennessee on Sept. 12 will be the Sooners’ first-ever visit to Neyland Stadium.
Vanderbilt plays the fewest home games of any SEC team (6).
No SEC team will travel west of Texas for a regular-season game.
Only LSU will travel north of Colombia, Mo. for a regular-season game (Syracuse, N.Y.).
Commonwealth Stadium (Kentucky) will host the most games of any SEC venue this season (eight).
Texas A&M will play at Vanderbilt Stadium for the first time on Nov. 21.
Toledo, one of the MAC’s top programs, will be playing Arkansas for the first time, and a SEC opponent for just the fourth time.
Georgia and Tennessee enter perhaps the SEC East’s most pivotal game with the all-time series tied at 21-21-2.
When Florida and Georgia meet on Oct. 31, it will mark the 82nd time in 93 meetings that the game has been played in Jacksonville, Fla.
For five of the last six seasons, the winner of the Iron Bowl (Alabama at Auburn, Nov. 28) went on to win the SEC championship.
Arkansas and Texas A&M are the only two schools that will not play an in-state opponent.
South Carolina has not beaten LSU since 1994, one of just two wins in series history. The teams play in Columbia on Oct. 10.
New Mexico State will travel roughly 4,920 miles (as the crow flies) for its two round-trips to play Florida and Ole Miss.
Sept. 5 is the only Saturday on the schedule that does not include at least one SEC conference game.
Ole Miss has the latest bye week of all SEC teams (Nov. 14). All 13 others fall between Oct. 10 and Oct. 31.
South Carolina will visit Kyle Field for the first time on Oct. 31.
10 of the 14 teams play a conference game going into their bye week.
All 14 teams play a conference game coming out of their bye week.
Texas A&M is playing three teams it has never faced before (Arizona State, Ball State, Western Carolina), which is most in the conference.
Three SEC teams (Missouri, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt) will play road games at either a Sun Belt or Conference USA venue.
Middle Tennessee owns a three-game winning streak against Vanderbilt, with wins against the Commodores in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
The SEC will play at least one game against all nine other FBS conferences.
Florida (Sept. 19-Oct. 17) and Missouri (Sept. 26-Oct. 24) both play SEC opponents in five consecutive weeks, the longest streaks in the league.
Nov. 7 is the only Saturday that all 14 schools will play a conference game.
The winner of the SEC East will meet the winner of the SEC West in Atlanta on Dec. 5. Finding out who it will be is why we care about the first 49 facts. Enjoy the season!