SEC football schedules: Ole Miss has it tough; South Carolina tougher
College football schedules are notoriously imbalanced, especially throughout September.
Within the SEC East, South Carolina will play four Power Five opponents during the first month, including three preseason ranked teams. In contrast, Kentucky enjoys its usual cupcake-filled September. UK’s two Power Five opponents in September are among the SEC’s weakest teams.
Two SEC teams will play three preseason Top 25 teams within the season’s five September Saturdays. Georgia won’t face a preseason ranked team until November. Can you say, cakewalk?
We’ll know before the leaves drop whether LSU is a College Football Playoff contender or pretender. We won’t know about Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs until you’re preparing your Thanksgiving shopping list.
Here’s my ranking of the five toughest September schedules among SEC teams.
5. Florida
Opponents: at No. 14 Utah, McNeese State, No. 10 Tennessee, Charlotte, at Kentucky
Florida fans can find optimism in Billy Napier’s recruiting, but that upbeat attitude might waver after a rugged first month to Napier’s second season. The Gators are competing with one hand tied behind their back as long as they're hamstrung by weak quarterback play.
Beating Tennessee at The Swamp would foster goodwill. The Gators haven’t lost at home to the Vols since 2003.
Kentucky is an important swing game that could allow UF to escape September with a winning record. The Gators are a likely underdog at Lexington, though, and a loss would mark their first three-game losing streak to the Wildcats since dropping four in a row from 1948-51.
4. LSU
Opponents: No. 8 Florida State (Orlando), Grambling State, at Mississippi State, Arkansas, at No. 22 Ole Miss
LSU’s Sunday night opener against the Seminoles is the marquee game of Week 1. Each team returns a lot of production off of 10-win teams, including star quarterbacks. Although that game isn’t a CFP eliminator, a loss would leave no further margin for error.
LSU is one of three SEC teams that will play four Power Five opponents during September. The Tigers had their hands full in gritty wins over MSU and Arkansas last season, but the bigger test will come at the end of the month. Fresh off another raid of the transfer portal that elevated Ole Miss’ skill-position talent, the Rebels are dangerous.
3. Mississippi State
Opponents: Southeastern Louisiana, Arizona, No. 5 LSU, at South Carolina, No. 3 Alabama
The Bulldogs are one of two SEC teams that must play Alabama and LSU in September. Welcome to the job, Zach Arnett. That they’re home games won’t stop MSU from being multi-score underdogs.
MSU's most pivotal September game is sandwiched between those two. A successful trip to Williams-Brice Stadium is the key to unlocking a winning record in Arnett’s first September as a coach. MSU’s front six is the strength of its defense. Its secondary will be challenged by South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler.
MSU transitioned to a new offensive system, and if a silver lining exists to the Bulldogs’ docket, it’s that their two easiest opponents are out of the gates, affording some runway to smooth bumps in the new scheme.
2. Ole Miss
Opponents: Mercer, at No. 23 Tulane, Georgia Tech, at No. 3 Alabama, No. 5 LSU
The Rebels masqueraded throughout a soft first half of the schedule last fall before getting exposed in the last several weeks of the season. This season, their true colors will be revealed in September.
Facing the SEC West’s two best teams in consecutive weeks is brutal, and a land mine waits before Ole Miss reaches that point.
The Tulane road game was scheduled while Hugh Freeze coached the Rebels. Freeze, now at Auburn, might be snickering over this. Ole Miss boasts 12 straight wins against Tulane in a series that dates to 1893, but this isn’t your grandpappy’s Tulane. The Green Wave returned quarterback Michael Pratt off the team that upset Southern Cal in the Cotton Bowl in January.
1. South Carolina
Opponents: No. 20 North Carolina (Charlotte), Furman, at No. 1 Georgia, Mississippi State, at No. 10 Tennessee
The Gamecocks lead a list of teams that could be better this season without their record showing it, and their September schedule brings that into focus.
Week 1, they’ll meet Heisman Trophy hopeful Drake Maye. Week 3 is a road trip to face the two-time defending national champions. And that won’t even be the harshest road environment. Vols fans will be bloodthirsty when South Carolina arrives at Neyland Stadium at the month’s conclusion, after the Gamecocks’ upset of UT last November kept UT out of the playoff.
South Carolina is the SEC’s only team that must face the combination of four Power Five opponents and three preseason Top 25 teams throughout September.
Shane Beamer said it will be “weird” when the Gamecocks don’t play either Georgia or Tennessee in a 2024 schedule without divisions. Weird would be considered a blessing this season.
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