FAYETTEVILLE — This may be the year the SEC has gone and done it.

The conference that has claimed the past two Bowl Championship Series national championships, that uncovered a new road map to the title in 2007, might have scheduled itself out of championship contention before the season begins.

In a twist that would have seemed impossible a few years ago, every SEC team faces its toughest (on paper ) nonconference game of the year on the road, with the exception of national champion LSU (no nonconference road games ) and Alabama (vs. Clemson at a neutral site in the Georgia Dome on Saturday ).

Consider the consensus top two national title contenders in the SEC: Georgia and Florida.

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The preseason No. 1 Bulldogs will have earned their spot in the BCS Championship Game if they get there. The week after opening their conference schedule at South Carolina, the Bulldogs play at preseason AP No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20.

“What happened philosophically with [scheduling ] Arizona State... when we had the 12 th game added, we said, ‘Let’s find a BCS opponent outside the Southeast region,” Georgia Coach Mark Richt said. “We thought it would be good for our fan base, thought it would be good for recruiting and good for our current players to do that.

“ That’s why we’re doing it, and it certainly adds to a rugged schedule.”

Georgia also finishes the regular season against traditional rival Georgia Tech.

The winning percentage for Georgia’s opponents this season is 63. 2 percent, best in the country, just ahead of Florida (61. 8 percent ), Arkansas (61. 4 percent ), Alabama and UCLA (61. 0 percent ) and Auburn (60. 1 percent ).

Florida, the preseason No. 5 team and a popular pick to contend for the national championship, takes on perhaps the most fiendish college schedule ever devised. The Gators open Saturday with Hawaii, which went unbeaten in the regular season last year, and go toe-to-toe with in-state powers Miami and at Florida State in addition to their daunting SEC schedule.

“We saw this coming down the road and I was involved in this,” Florida Coach Urban Meyer said. “We certainly have our challenges when you play the two in-state schools, traditional powers, and then you throw in a BCS undefeated team from last year.

“ That’s done, though. We’re ready to go. We can’t start worrying about schedules. We do play a very difficult schedule, but that’s not uncommon around here.”

National champion LSU doesn’t go on the road outside the SEC, and it’s nonconference schedule isn’t considered that taxing. Yet the Tigers open Saturday against Appalachian State, a historic meeting of the previous year’s champions of the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision.

Every self-respecting football fan knows what Jerry Moore’s Mountaineers did to Michigan in last year’s season opener.

“They were ahead at Auburn several years ago, they played us tough a couple of years ago, and certainly there’s the example of Michigan last year,” LSU Coach Les Miles said of his dangerous opener. “We respect them.”

Those who debate such matters have concluded the SEC ranks as the nation’s best league. The league’s 47-10 nonconference record in 2007, which included bowl games, was six victories better than the second-best Big 12 ’s 41-15 mark. The SEC won a national-record seven bowls last season and its champion, LSU, blitzed Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game, the second consecutive year the Buckeyes had been blown away by an SEC team in the title game.

Now, some analysts are predicting that some combination of Southern California, Oklahoma and Ohio State will reach the BCS Championship Game because the SEC will brutalize itself along the way.

They may have a point. LSU had an unprecedented path to the championship — which included two triple-overtime SEC losses — in 2007, and that scenario will be hard to duplicate.

Tennessee will open its season Monday in Los Angeles against UCLA, part of the Vols’ long-standing plan for scheduling intersectional matchups to help in recruiting and other ways.

“With the BCS set up as it is, it gives us a chance to have a high-profile game, and hopefully a win, and that helps you,” Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer said. “Of course in our conference that might not be as important.”

Still, since the addition of the permanent 12 th game in 2006, most SEC schools have taken the freedom Richt spoke of and added a degree of difficulty to their schedules.

Should Auburn go unbeaten again this year, as it did in 2004, the Tigers shouldn’t be left out of the championship scenario, considering they play at preseason No. 8 West Virginia on Oct. 23. The game was scheduled after the disappointment of 2004, when Southern California and Oklahoma played for the BCS title.

“We’re going there in the middle of the season, in the middle of a very tough SEC schedule,” Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville said. “To prove what you can do, you have to take them to tough places.

“ The loser of that game makes no difference in our conference. Our No. 1 thing is to get to [the SEC Championship Game in ] Atlanta, because if you get to Atlanta and win, it still gives you a chance to play in the BCS and possibly in the national championship game.

“ If both [Auburn and West Virginia ], say, are undefeated, then whoever loses that game, it’s going to knock them back some, but it still gives you room to breathe with about four or five games left to work your way back up.”

Improbably, LSU did it after losing 50-48 in triple overtime to Arkansas in its regular-season finale last year, but what are the odds of that happening again ?