LITTLE ROCK — Ranking football schedules of SEC West teams based on degree of difficulty, simple math identifies Arkansas as the unquestioned anchor.
Add Vanderbilt’s appearance on the Razorbacks’ schedule for the time since 2011 and subtract a Power Five conference opponent from the list of non-conference foes to come up with the No. 7 position for Arkansas.
Yes, the Razorbacks have the easiest schedule in college football’s hardest division.
Any SEC team with a game against Vanderbilt is one up on others in the league. In four years under Derek Mason, Vanderbilt is 6-26 in the SEC, including 1-7 last year. Considering the five new coaches in the league, Nick Saban’s success, Kirby Smart’s national runner-up finish, Gus Malzahn’s new contract, Ed Orgeron’s stout finish in 2017, Mark Stoops’ consecutive bowl games streak and removal of interim from Matt Luke’s title, Mason is alone on the SEC hot seat.
Every SEC team plays an opponent from a Power Five conference except the Razorbacks, who take on an FCS team (Eastern Illinois) and three from the Group of Five (Colorado State, Tulsa and North Texas) because of Michigan’s cancellation of a series that was supposed to begin this year.
Advantage, Arkansas.
Moving on, Ole Miss edges its in-state rival for No. 6 on the list, mostly because of the presence of Vanderbilt on the schedule. Also, the Rebels’ non-conference headliner is Texas Tech while Mississippi State plays Kansas State.
Sorting out the other four involves guesswork about who is likely to offer the most serious challenge to Georgia in the East and whether Florida or Tennessee figures to make the most progress in the first year under new coaches.
No. 4, Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s opponents from the East are Tennessee and Missouri and, although the Tigers’ Drew Lock has an NFL-type arm, protecting the quarterback is always a major obstacle when Alabama is in pursuit. At Tennessee, there is talk that Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst will be the quarterback and he is not yet on campus. Also, Alabama’s big-time non-conference opponent is Louisville, which is starting over at quarterback.
No. 3, Texas A&M. Playing Clemson the second week of the season elevates the Aggies’ schedule. Quarterback Kelly Bryant, who led Clemson to the College Football Playoff last year, is a senior, but coach Dabo Swinney says the Tigers can win with any of four quarterbacks. A&M also plays Kentucky and South Carolina. The former has been .500 in the league each of the last two years and the latter, with Jake Bentley at quarterback, should be No. 2 in the East in the preseason polls.
The mere presence of Georgia bumps the schedules of LSU and Auburn to the top of the list.
A 13-game winner last year, Georgia beat Auburn by 21 points in the SEC title game and Oklahoma 54-48 in the first round of the CFP before losing to Alabama in overtime in the title game. Against Auburn and OU, freshman quarterback Jake Fromm was 36-of-51 with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Expectations at Georgia are out the roof, reflected by an announced crowd of more than 82,000 for the spring game.
Those adamant about a home field advantage will contend that LSU is better off than Auburn because the Georgia game is in Baton Rouge. Personally, the site of the game is not a big deal — the best teams regularly win on the road in front of capacity crowds.
Factoring in the other East opponent and the non-conference schedule doesn’t settle anything. LSU vs. Florida should be more difficult than Auburn taking on Tennessee, but Auburn must deal with Washington and four-year quarterback Jake Browning, while LSU plays Miami.
The tie-breaker is the way the schedule is arranged and LSU is the winner, if that’s the appropriate label. LSU is one of four SEC West teams with four conference games on consecutive weekends and that is a grind, no matter the opposition.
Auburn doesn’t have more than three consecutive weekends with an SEC game, and plays LSU and Alabama in weeks following games against Alabama State and Liberty.