[Disclaimer: Our schedule is hardly murderer's row and the first 10 games are a major disappointment to anyone on the hunt for strength of schedule points, but let's take a quick look elsewhere. Also, it's very early to try and sort out the playoff picture, this year especially given multiple top 10 teams have lost several weeks in a row.]
I looked around a bit at remaining schedules, and Bama's especially caught my eye. They truly are masters of scheduling complete garbage or Bye before games that will be shown on a national stage and have season-altering consequences. Granted these schedules are made years in advance for the most part, but how on earth does Bama do this year after year after year? Not even the rest of the SEC manages it. I've heard Saban complain about coaches scheduling softballs before they get Bama but his team is as/more guilty.
| Date | opponent | outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 9/5 | (20) Wisconsin | W 35 - 17 |
| 9/12 | Middle Tenn. St. | W 37 - 10 |
| 9/19 | (15) Mississippi | L 37 - 43 |
| 9/26 | LA Monroe | W 34 - 0 |
| 10/3 | @ (8) Georgia | W 38 - 10 |
| 10/10 | Arkansas | W 27 - 14 |
| 10/17 | @ (9) Texas A&M | W 41 - 23 |
| 10/24 | Tennessee | 3:30 pm ET |
| 10/31 | Bye | |
| 11/7 | (5) LSU | |
| 11/14 | @ Mississippi St. | |
| 11/21 | Charleston Sou. | |
| 11/28 | @ Auburn |
- seealso http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/teams/aad/
Talking points:
- MTSU before Ole Miss
- La Monroe before Georgia on the road
- Bert before @ Aggies
- Bye before LSU
- Chicken Shit Charleston Sou. before Auburn
They get 2 weeks to prepare for any game which might grace national television. Rather astonishing and more than uncanny if you ask me.
Also of note, it looks like they will have only played 2 still-ranked opponents entering championship weekend. Assuming we win out and so do they, SEC West strength of schedule won't really apply for them; they will have 2 and so will we (MSU and TUN). As of today (and therefore unlikely to actually play out but still seems possible) they would get Florida and we would get undefeated Iowa. Advantage Buckeyes, I think. That being said, I really don't think anyone has much footing in that category as there is a mountain of mediocrity this season across the board.
