fbpx

2021 SEC Football Schedule and Off-season: Answering a Few Questions

A few days ago the SEC released the 2021 schedule and guess what, it’s a full slate, Covid-19 be damned.

At first glance there are three usual winners (Georgia and Texas A&M) and losers (Florida and Ole Miss). That the Bulldogs are a preseason schedule winner shouldn’t come as a surprise because they somehow seem to luck out every single year.

But we’ve still got to play the games and we’re here now to go over some of the highlights and answer a few fun questions.

Biggest Winner: Texas A&M.

The Aggies catch a break by missing out on the top two teams from the East. And they beat Florida last year.

They do have two neutral site games with Colorado in Denver and Arkansas in Arlington for the Southwest Classic but that’s not out of the ordinary. Other than that though, both Alabama and Auburn are home games at Kyle Field.

The toughest road game is probably at LSU but that is certainly winnable. The rest of the slate is easily manageable and should lead to another 10-win season and possible berth in the CFP.

Biggest Loser: Florida.

Man, oh man, where to start. The Gators lose everybody of note on offense and it’s not like their defense can stop a high school team.

They avoided Alabama in the regular season last year but it ended up not mattering thanks to Marco Wilson and a shoe toss. This year tough, Alabama comes to The Swamp and despite playing the Tide close in last year’s SEC Championship Game this year could be quite different.

Aside from their annual date with LSU, which is on the road this year and the always entertaining matchup with Georgia in Jacksonville the Gators play at USF and Florida State is back on the schedule.

Say what you want to about the Seminoles but as a Gators fan I’ve got to tell you that game is always different.

Best conference game: Alabama at Florida.

This game has the potential to upset all of college football. It’s big. Really big.

Yes, the Crimson Tide have won seven straight against the Gators including four SEC Championship Games and yes, the last Gators win against the Tide was way back in 2008 but this one is in The Swamp.

It’s also the third game of the season for both teams as they undergo offensive (and defensive) changes.

I’m calling it as of now: if the game is during the day Alabama wins but if it’s at night Florida will win.

Best non-conference game: Georgia vs. Clemson in Charlotte, NC.

The Bulldogs just might be getting Clemson at the right time.

Gone from the Tigers are Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne but with the way that Dabo Sweeney recruits replacing those two might be fairly easy.

Only…

This is game one. And the Bulldogs are just as fantastic at recruiting as the Tigers are. Oh, and they’ve got more experience on the offensive side of the ball now that Kirby Smart appears to have finally settled on a starting quarterback.

In what could turn out to be a matchup of who fixes their holes first – Clemson’s offense or Georgia’s defense – I’d give the Bulldogs a very slight edge as of now.

Will Tennessee win more than six games? 

For about a decade now I’ve considered the Volunteers to be a dead program. They will not consistently win 9-10 or 11 games a year like they did in the 1990’s.

Robert Neyland, Johnny Majors and Philip Fulmer aren’t walking through that door. Well, Fulmer might just to collect the last few of his athletic director paychecks, but other than that the Volunteers are a program that modern football has past by.

They aren’t in a natural recruiting base, can’t beat a rival, can’t get a decent coach and can’t even, oh wait, they did finally beat Vanderbilt last year, right?

I mean, come on. I’m not even going to discuss or take into account any upcoming NCAA issues that they might have due to the Jeremy Pruitt era.

After opening the season against Bowling Green the Vols welcome Pittsburgh to Rocky Top and that game is a must win. The other two non-conference games are Tennessee Tech and South Alabama.

Aside from their East slate of teams the Vols play Alabama and Ole Miss from the West. On a good note though, five of the first seven games are at home so, yeah, I’d put the odds of winning more than six games at about 50/50.

What about Auburn?

After years and years of being on the hot seat, the Auburn Tigers finally parted ways with Gus Malzahn and hired Bryan Harsin from Boise State to take his place.

Harsin, whose worst year at Boise was 9-4 in his second year won 12 games a year a few times during his tenure on the blue turf but the SEC and especially the West division is a different animal.

Instead of teams like New Mexico, UNLV and Utah State he’ll now face Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M every year.

This year his biggest non-conference game is at Penn State early on in the season. I think he’ll get things going on the plains but it might take a while.

Put me down for eight wins at the moment. Basically your typical Auburn year.

And LSU?

Now that the wheels have fallen off I expect the car to crash. It was only just a matter of time anyway.

After catching lightning in a bottle in 2019 and getting somewhat lucky in 2020 despite a still dreadful year the Ed Orgeron show is about to end.

Starting off the year at UCLA, traveling to Kentucky and with Florida out for blood to the rest of the West, things could spiral out of control quickly.

With two new coordinators I have my doiys

And it couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys.

Who has the better year, Miss State or Ole Miss? 

Without looking at the schedules I’ll say Ole Miss but for the sake of this exercise let’s dive into them.

Ole Miss beings the year with Louisville in Atlanta, they get Tennessee and Vanderbilt from the East and the rest of their non-confidence slate is manageable.

One of the most interesting games on the Rebels’ schedule is the return of Hugh Freeze. The Rebels are set to host the Liberty Flames in early November.

Either way though, they’ll win eight or nine games, easy.

Miss State on the other hand is probably another year or two away. It has always taken Mike Leach a couple of years to get things going. Got to burn the house down to ground first I guess.

As for their schedule, a trip to Memphis could be tricky, but getting Vanderbilt and Kentucky from the East is nice though. Alabama and LSU are both home games but they play Texas A&M in the middle of those two so a 0-3 start in conference play is to be expected.

When it comes down to comparing the Rebels and Bulldogs though, the answer begins and ends with quarterback Matt Corral. I’d also give the coaching edge to Lane Muffin but it’s close.

A 6-6 or 7-5 year for Mississippi State should be the expectation.

What about the others? Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Honestly, there’s no need to discuss Alabama or Georgia’s schedule because they’ll both win 11 or 12 games no matter what.

Georgia vs. Clemson, sure, I’m in. The Bulldogs season will come down to Jacksonville anyway, as it always does.

Alabama vs. Miami in Atlanta, hell yes, any loss for The U is fantastic. Roll Tide.

Arkansas and Vanderbilt are about the same in terms of expected results, but just keep an eye on the Razorbacks. They played above their weight last year for new coach Sam Pittman and are looking for an encore.

South Carolina gets Clemson as always and will probably struggle to win six games. Missouri should honestly be thrown out of the conference. They just don’t belong.

And for a finale, my as of now top-5 SEC games for 2021:

  1. Georgia vs. Clemson
  2. Alabama at Florida
  3. Florida vs. Georgia
  4. Alabama at Texas A&M
  5. Auburn at Penn State

Man is it close in the race for the No. 1 spot. I’m extremely excited for both games but in reality I’m just as excited for all of them.

As of now give me Georgia over Clemson, if it’s at night I’ll take Florida over Alabama, Florida over Georgia, Alabama over Texas A&M and Auburn over Penn State.

Now all we have to do is wait until spring practices begin.

Tags

More College Football Commentary Articles

0 thoughts on “2021 SEC Football Schedule and Off-season: Answering a Few Questions”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

MAXIMIZE YOUR EDGE

Categories

Archives

Follow Us



2023 CFB Premium Pick Results 

GOSOONERS         69-79 (46.62%)
PEZGORDO           104-70 (59.77%)

YTD RECORD       180-153 (54.05%)