SEC bye week winners and losers in 2017

It’s the one week coaches and players look forward to, that one scheduling break that allows injuries to heal or gives a freshman time to digest the playbook in order to be a starter when play resumes.

For fans, it means a long break between action, or in some cases, time to spring for a trip to see another conference, or even dare have a wedding in the fall.

Most are strategically scheduled before or after a rival, or after a particularly tough stretch of non-conferences foes or rivals.

Who benefits the most from the bye weeks on the 2017 schedule? Let’s break it down.

ALABAMA

Open date: Oct. 28, between vs. Tennessee and vs. LSU

Skinny: It’s no coincidence that Alabama in recent years has scheduled its bye week before the LSU game. And that extra week to prepare is often cited as a reason LSU has a six-game losing streak against Alabama, which led to the firing of Les Miles.

It certainly helped last year when Alabama won 10-0 in Baton Rouge, and in similar fashion in 2015 when the Crimson Tide beat the Tigers en route to a fourth national title under Nick Saban. Saban is 9-4 with the Tide coming off bye weeks.

Barring a loss in the opener against Florida State, Alabama could be 8-0 entering its bye in Week 9.

Verdict: Winner

ARKANSAS

Open date: Sept. 16, between vs. TCU and Texas A&M at Arlington

Skinny: With one of the earliest bye weeks around — Week 3 — the Razorbacks set themselves up for extra preparation for the neutral site game and SEC opener against Texas A&M.

Bret Bielema began his Arkansas tenure 0-3 following bye weeks, but then two years ago had a four-overtime thriller to beat Auburn and go on a 5-1 run down the stretch. Last year, the break came at a great time following the embarrassing loss to Auburn, before Arkansas bounced back to beat Florida.

The early nature of the bye week compared with the long stretch of games, including three on the road in October, makes this an unfavorable schedule for Arkansas.

Verdict: Loser

AUBURN

Open date: Oct. 28, between at Arkansas and at Texas A&M

Skinny: Three SEC West games followed by a meeting against Clemson and Missouri should give Auburn a clear indication of where it stands in the division, SEC and nationally by its bye in Week 9.

Gus Malzahn is 4-0 coming off a bye. That unblemished mark could be in jeopardy in College Station, especially because it follows road games at LSU and at Arkansas.

Verdict: Winner

FLORIDA

Open date: Oct. 21, between vs Texas A&M and vs. Georgia

Skinny: It’s difficult to see Florida going undefeated against Michigan, Tennessee, LSU and Texas A&M before its Week 8 bye, but that’s what the Gators face.

With seven games before the bye week, Florida will also be on the verge of likely locking up bowl eligibility, so how it spends the week off will have a bearing on the balance of the schedule with teams like Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, UAB and Florida State.

Verdict: Winner

GEORGIA

Open date: Oct. 21, between vs. Missouri and vs. Florida

Skinny: With Notre Dame preceding three SEC East opponents, it’s likely that the trajectory of Georgia’s season will be all but decided when the Cocktail Party arrives. By the Florida game, Georgia will be ramping up for a championship run, or trying to salvage a what-could-have-been season.

Given the buildup around the game, and the importance of it, two weeks leading up to it makes sense, and it’s what both fan bases have become accustomed to. Still, the streaky rivalry has tiled Florida’s way in recent years save for a Georgia three-game winning streak from 2011-13.

Verdict: Winner

KENTUCKY

Open date: Oct. 14, between vs. Missouri and at Mississippi State

Skinny: The first half of Kentucky’s schedule includes three non-conference opponents. So the bye in Week 7 doesn’t appear to come at a dire time in the season, given five SEC games and the Louisville rivalry game await. It’s arguably more valuable later in the season when Kentucky is in the thick of the SEC East schedule.

Kentucky snapped a seven-game losing streak against cross-over opponent Mississippi State last year. But the Wildcats have won two consecutive against pre-bye opponent Missouri.

Verdict: Loser

LSU

Open date: Oct. 28, between vs. Ole Miss and at Alabama

Skinny: No fan or coach would ever argue against a bye week preceding a game at Alabama. But LSU also has to recover from three consecutive games against Florida, Auburn and Ole Miss.

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

A glance at the Tigers’ schedule shows the bye in Week 9 could almost come at any time given the final three games are Arkansas, at Tennessee and Texas A&M. But with five wins in the past seven meetings against Ole Miss, the Tigers could build some momentum and confidence entering the off week and then Alabama.

This is another case of comparing how Ed Orgeron will manage the bye week and build up for Alabama against his predecessor, Les Miles.

Verdict: Winner

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Open date: Oct. 7, between at Auburn and vs. BYU

Skinny: With three of the first five games on the road, the bye in Week 6 will be a time to enjoy Starkville, and presumably prepare to return to .500.

The Bulldogs open with two non-conference games, and then face LSU, Georgia and Auburn in successive weeks, which is no picnic.

The Bulldogs had an Oct. 1 bye week last year, and that’s a risky proposition given late-season games against Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss in consecutive weeks to close the season.

Verdict: Loser

MISSOURI

Open date: Sept. 30, between vs. Auburn and at Kentucky

Skinny: We likely won’t learn much about the Tigers given the early off week, but Missouri will still have two SEC games by then.

It comes after a rare meeting with Auburn after the teams’ only meeting was in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta in 2013, and before Kentucky, a division rival Missouri has struggled with and needs to beat consistently to move up in the conference.

The early, Week 5 bye also exposes a tough late season schedule that concludes with four consecutive SEC games, including on the road against Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

Verdict: Loser

OLE MISS

Open date: Sept. 23 between at Cal and at Alabama

Traveling across the country to face Cal is difficult enough. No sense in rushing home to prepare for a road trip to Tuscaloosa just days later. Instead, the Rebels will take an early break, in Week 4, to prepare for the Tide.

While the Rebels have no history against Cal, the extra week would help get them back in upset mode following last year’s loss after two straight wins against the Crimson Tide.

The week off precedes meeting with four SEC West opponents in five weeks, but it also breaks up three straight road games.

Verdict: Winner

SOUTH CAROLINA

Open date: Oct. 21, between at Tennessee and vs. Vanderbilt

Skinny: The Gamecocks have won two straight against Arkansas, but not since 2013. But the Tennessee series has been surprisingly even in the past decade, 5-5, including last year’s South Carolina upset.

The Week 8 bye falls after five conference games. Of course, last year’s bye week will always be remembered as the starting point of the Jake Bentley-led turnaround for the second half of the season.

Verdict: Winner

TENNESSEE

Open date: Oct. 7, between vs. Georgia and vs. South Carolina

The Week 6 bye falls at a time when fans and media can really dissect the SEC East given that the Volunteers will have faced Florida and Georgia before mid-October, presumably the three favorites for the division title.

One would think Tennessee would have preferred the bye a week later, after South Carolina and before Alabama. But it still prevents three consecutive against Tennessee’s biggest rivals and threats to a crown.

Verdict: Loser

TEXAS A&M

Open date: Oct. 21, between at Florida and vs. Mississippi State

A week later than last year, the Aggies will need a break in more ways than one after facing Alabama and Florida in back-to-back weeks.

The Aggies and Gators haven’t met since 2012, a 20-17 Florida victory in College Station. The Aggies have alternated wins with the Bulldogs.

The timing is somewhat ideal because the Aggies open the season against three consecutive non-conference foes, and it comes after three consecutive conference meetings. Anyone would need a break at that point.

Verdict: Winner

VANDERBILT

Open date: Oct. 21, between at Ole Miss and at South Carolina

Skinny: A week earlier than last year, Vanderbilt’s reward for getting through Alabama-Florida-Georgia-South Carolina is having Week 8 off.

Falling just after the middle of a tough schedule, Vanderbilt could use a bye almost anywhere, given its non-conference opponents are better-than-average Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky.

Verdict: Winner