Monthly Archives: September 2010

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 6: SEC

Let’s hastily conclude our survey of the 2010 non-conference schedules with the Southeastern Conference.

  1. Louisiana State (1.5 legit, 1): N-North Carolina, West Virginia, McNeese State, Louisiana-Monroe. Well, that UNC game’s lost a little lustre in the past two weeks, with the entire starting Carolina defense potentially ineligible. Otherwise, WVU-LSU matches perhaps two of the most inebriated fanbases in college football, with the rest of the schedule consists of the requisite DI-AA sacrifice and a Sun Belt team.
  2. Florida (1.5, 1): Miami (OH), South Florida, Appalachian State, @Florida State. Nope, wrong Miami! At any rate, when a rivalry game and USF propel to a tie for first place in your conference’s OOC schedules, well, that’s pretty bleak I’d say. Let’s soldier on.
  3. Georgia (1.25, 1): Louisiana-Lafayette, @Colorado, Idaho State, Georgia Tech. Well, in fairness, there were points in the past 10-15 years in which Colorado would rate above a 0.25. This is not that time, as most observers would say that Dan Hawkins is only around because the university can’t afford to fire him, and that they may even have to delay their entry to the Pac-10 due to money issues. As for UGA, well, they do have both “halves” of the 1990 national title on their schedule, so that’s interesting, even if they play half of that every year anyway.
  4. Alabama (1.25, 1): San Jose State, Pennsylvania State, @Duke, Georgia State. Penn State: good! The rest of this schedule: horrendous! I’m sure someone will wax poetic about the olden days of the SIAA or whatever by visiting Wallace Wade. Nonetheless, I think Georgia State traveling to Tuscaloosa to cap off their inaugural season will make the time Bill Curry had a brick tossed through his window seem pleasant by comparison.
  5. Vanderbilt (1, 0): Northwestern, @Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, Wake Forest. This is a pretty solid Vandy schedule, and if they have a good year they could win all these games. Or they could lose three of them. Them’s the breaks when you’re Vandy.
  6. Tennessee (1, 1): Tennessee-Martin, Oregon, Alabama-Birmingham, @Memphis. Tennessee throws Memphis a bone by traveling to the Liberty Bowl, otherwise, there’s not much to see here except for Tennessee’s bi-annual West Coast roadtrip.
  7. South Carolina (1, 1): Southern Mississippi, Furman, Troy, @Clemson. Them’s pickin’s? Yeah, they’re starting to get slim.
  8. Auburn (1, 1): Arkansas State, Clemson, Louisiana-Monroe, Tennessee-Chattanooga. Well, at least Auburn-Clemson isn’t an annual rivalry. Nonetheless, USM pushed South Carolina over the edge in terms of a tiebreaker. But, hey, Tigers-Tigers, woo!
  9. Arkansas (0.5, 1): Tennessee Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, N-Texas Agricultural and Mechanical, Texas-El Paso. Outside of the now-annual rivalry matchup at Jerry Jones’s Intergalactic Space Palace, there’s not much to see here. An easy schedule for a potential SEC/national darkshorse.
  10. Kentucky (0.5, 1): @Louisville, Western Kentucky, Akron, Charleston Southern. Noir Rich Brooks thinks your schedule is weak, weak like the firing pin of a gun that’s been fired one too many times.
  11. Mississippi State (0, 1): Memphis, Alcron State, @Houston, Alabama-Birmingham. Okay, Houston is probably worth more than “0”, which is what broke the tie with their cross-state comrades down at…
  12. Mississippi (0, 1): Jacksonville State, @Tulane, Fresno State, Louisiana-Lafayette. Well, okay, Fresno State is perhaps roughly equivalent to Houston, but still, come on! It’s like half this conference isn’t even trying, but then again, ESS-EEE-CEE! WOO!

That’s all I got for now. I’ll put together a slapdash epilogue as well, just give me a minute.