Ranking the 10 toughest non-conference opponents for SEC teams this season
Let’s rank the 10 opponents for SEC teams in the regular season and upcoming bowl games:
1. Clemson: There’s a good chance the Tigers will beat Oklahoma and Alabama will beat Michigan State. If it happens, the Crimson Tide will have its hands full against a Clemson team that hasn’t lost all season. Deshaun Watson has proven himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the country and Dabo Swinney has turned the Tigers into a major contender.
2. Michigan State: For Alabama, it all begins with beating Michigan Sate, a team that found ways to win despite facing adversity throughout the year. The Spartans aren’t flashy, but certainly dangerous especially when Connor Cook is clicking on all cylinders.
3. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys were ranked in the top four much of the year. They know how to put up points with the 19th ranked offense in the country. Ole Miss has a good chance in this one, but it won’t be easy.
4. Michigan: Jim Harbaugh completely revitalized the Wolverines this year. They play tough, gritty and place a heavy emphasis on defense. Florida struggled toward the latter part of the season and will have a tough test in the Citrus Bowl, especially with a struggling Treon Harris under center.
5. Northwestern: A sleeper team with an outstanding defense, the Wildcats’ only losses came to Michigan and Iowa. Tennessee is in good shape heading into 2016, but it starts by getting past Northwestern.
6. Wisconsin: Wisconsin put up a decent performance against Alabama in the first game of the season, but fell short. Still, the Badgers had an impressive season only losing to the Tide, Iowa and Northwestern.
7. Memphis: This is a dangerous team that already showed it could hang with the SEC, beating Ole Miss earlier in the season. Paxton Lynch is arguably the best quarterback in the country and the Auburn defense is still trying to find an identity. This may be a difficult game for the Tigers.
8. Florida State: The Seminoles didn’t quite meet expectations this season, but posed problems for Florida, crushing the Gators 27-2 in the last game of the year. Everett Golson was a nice addition for the Seminoles, though they probably feel like they underachieved.
9. Houston: This was one of those teams that shocked everyone in 2015. The Cougars’ only loss of the year came to Connecticut on Nov. 21. Vanderbilt met Houston on Halloween and suffered a 34-0 shutout.
10. Toledo: Toledo beat Arkansas in Week 2 before the Razorbacks got hot. Toledo only finished the regular season with two losses.
Did you watch the 2015 season ?, Missouri beat UConn and BYU, at the very least that’s better than Houston, Toledo, and Memphis (and they beat Toledo last year when they also had a very good team)
Did you just call Uconn and BYU better than Memphis, Houston, and Toledo?
on top o that, I wonder what difference beating Toledo a year ago makes..
I guess you forgot (probably never knew) that Toledo was 9-4 in 2014 and won a bowl game. 80% of the roster and 100% of the staff in 2015… is the same as 2014.
Leave it to a Missouri fan not to realize that even if a staff and players remain the same, a lot can change in a year… It’s called development. It’s sort of important. It’s why seniors generally play better than true freshman… It’s why teams like Toledo get better from year to year.
Teams are different year to year….Just look at missouri last year to this year….
UConn beat Houston.
Ole Miss beat Alabama. Teams lose.
Uconn is 6-6 and Houston is in a new years 6 bowl
ummm how about FSU being a top 10 team and you have Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Memphis ahead of them….
Michigan, Northwestern, and Wisconsin all play in a conference that is generally agreed this season to be the toughest conference.
?generally agreed by who? Would that be people who are so simple minded they think who ever wins the most promoted vote-in bowl game automatically makes their conference the best as well. To be the best guess at the top conference will always be based on bowl game head to heads by same conference finishing order or most recent history of head to heads going back about 3 years total. The big 10 isn’t close to the SEC.
Luckily there’s an objective way of determining whether the Big Ten would be better than the ACC. The Big Ten has had more teams at higher positions, on average, in the polls throughout the season. Plus their strength of schedule is better than the ACC’s. So yes, objectively, they are tougher than the ACC.
Also, if you would read, the comparison isn’t really between the Big Ten and the SEC. It’s between the Big Ten and the ACC. Plus, as much as we all want to be homers, the SEC is down this year. They are still a strong conference. Let’s not kid ourselves though. They are not the best conference this season, even if Bama wins the title. All around, other conferences have a stronger claim to the best all around conference this year. Missouri and a few other teams didn’t do the conference any favors in promoting it as the “best.”
The Big ten isnt the toughest conference. They have 3 teams with great records because of weak OOC scheduling and lopsided conference scheduling. Northwestern is the worst 10 win team in the nation. The bottom half of the big ten is putrid. No one is even decent.
Clemson is a hypothetical situation and I’m pretty sure Oklahoma should’ve made this list.
agree on Oklahoma
Preposterous that Oklahoma didn’t make the list.
Isn’t South Carolina in the SEC now? Because I thought they played them
Except for the fact that we have played Clemson almost every year for the past 100+ years? Get out of here.
Neither Clemson nor Oklahoma are hypothetical. And where is North Carolina on this list?
I was thinking the same about Clemson but remember they played South Carolina
Oklahoma, TTech would beat Toledo, and really?
So Arizona State is worse than Memphis and Toledo?
Oklahoma? Tennessee played them. They are in the CFP. Also, Okie St was definitely not in the top four much of the season.