We have a whole lot of uninteresting games to get through before the two that actually look great.
I can’t wait to watch Alabama go to Auburn on Nov. 25. And three weeks before, it’ll be fun to watch Georgia go to Auburn. These teams are legitimately somewhere between very good and incredible. And if you have three teams of that caliber, you are a legitimate league.
But other than that? This SEC schedule is a snoozer. About half of the fan bases in the league want to fire their head coaches. Vanderbilt (!) has been on CBS and ESPN national broadcasts in back-to-back weeks.
The reason the schedule is so bad is the number of teams who just can’t be taken seriously as threats to win the conference or even to challenge the conference contenders in a given game.
- Texas A&M blew a 34-point lead to a UCLA team that’d lose to Memphis.
- LSU got stomped by Mississippi State and gave up 190 yards to Troy’s running back in a loss in Death Valley.
- That Mississippi State team subsequently lost to Georgia and Auburn by a combined score of 80-13.
- Arkansas was stomped by TCU.
- Ole Miss is a disaster.
And that’s just in the West.
On the East side, it’s Georgia and the six dwarves.
- Two-time defending East champ Florida was crushed by a baby-faced Michigan that lost everyone from 2016 to the draft and needed miracles to escape Kentucky and Tennessee.
- Tennessee lost to Georgia 41-0 in Knoxville.
- Kentucky lost to Florida by twice failing to have a cornerback in the game to cover a receiver. The Wildcats beat Southern Miss, FCS Eastern Kentucky, and Eastern Michigan by an average of just a touchdown.
- Vanderbilt has its best team in a half-decade ... and lost at home to Alabama by a score of 59-0.
- Missouri is one of the worst teams in the Power 5, having lost at home to Purdue, South Carolina, and Auburn by a combined 87 points.
I don’t envy new CBS announcer Brad Nessler.
Having to hype up this slate of games is going to be brutal. The SEC is normally a national brand, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find people, outside of those wearing the colors of the teams in the game, who want to watch teams that have already showed themselves to be far from the standard the SEC normally boasts.
SEC Network games will be pure comedy gold, as the announcers have to try and shill for these sad-sack teams.
What other games do you really want to see in this league?
Maybe Georgia vs. Florida, just for the weirdness?
If you’re in a pool to bet on which game Butch Jones makes it to, the road trip to Kentucky might be interesting to you, and only you.
If you’re not an LSU or Florida fan, do you care about the stupid hurricane-related spat that was borne out of mismanagement by the SEC office last year?
Do you care when Auburn goes to Death Valley, after seeing how War Eagle crushed the Mississippi State team that did the same to LSU?
I don’t personally care to watch Arkansas try to bring its pro-style offense to Tuscaloosa and get brained for the umpteenth year by a Tide defense that loves to face teams that don’t run the spread.
What about Week 12, when half of the league is facing Group of 5 cupcakes or FCS opponents?
Does watching Will Muschamp’s South Carolina host a Florida that still plays like it is coached by Muschamp intrigue you? Oh right, I forgot to include South Carolina in the list above. There’s probably a reason for that.
Wake me up come November.