The only for-sure loss on that schedule is Georgia. That's not to say we will go 7-1 but we have at least a puncher's chance in the other ones.
2024 Schedule
- Thread starter dawgnabit
- Start date
As long as that pencil comes equipped with an eraser.
We are going to have some growing pains, so nobody is going to have a perfect schedule that they are completely happy with, but I do think you're right; this is a very eclectic schedule... without Alabama.
Alabama has at least two sacrificial lambs, so I'm sure they're happy.
Zoom in on the gators, sharks and tenner in that graphic. That’s some grade A trolling!
Im replying before reading any responses, but this looks easier than most years to me
Agree. UGA and not playing BAMA is a wash. We lose to either no matter where played. Hard to say on all the others. What I do see is we will play @ AZState this year, BUT..... will not play them for the return game in Starkvegas..... IF.....we go to a 9 game SEC schedule in 2025. It's shocking to me that we, for the first time in my life time, will not play BAMA, AUB, or LSU. Almost hard to comprehend. Like all of a sudden........ no taxes and no death ahead to anticipate.
Agree the 2024 schedule is more favorable. We know we always lose to BAMA and UGA....so that's a wash. And lose most of the time to LSU. All the others it's hard to predict which ones will be the latest upstart teams. I see TN and TX as problematic. The rest are winnable if we play reasonably well. The 2024 home schedule has the possibility of us winning all 4 SEC contests.
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I like our chances. When was the last time Ole Miss, Missouri, $&M, Texas, Florida and Arkansas were just too good to beat. Even Tenn going back 20 years have had only 7 seasons where they won more than 7 games, and 8 losing seasons. This schedule is the way it's going to be going forwards. Where we will get screwed is the following season where we will have to play one or two of those schools twice on the road.
You're assuming the P5 mandate goes away if we go to 9 games. That may or may not happen. Honestly, I hope we keep the P5 mandate. I like playing these games and I think they're good for the SEC and good for college football.
I do like playing some new teams and as far as SOS it's the SEC. It will never be easy. There are not very many Vandy's in this league. Iron sharpens iron and all those silly statements.
This is a terrific traveling fan road schedule. Beats the hell out of Bama/LSU/Ole Miss/Kentucky and Auburn/A&M/Arkansas/Other.
Texas is soft. I can’t wait to see our LBs smashing baby Manning and see their arrogant fans watching on in horror.
Yep those other home games are E. Ky (Aug 31), Utah St (Sept 14) , UMASS (Oct 19). Ahhhh yes, E. Ky on Aug 31 in Starkville @ 94' 98% humidity and an 11:00 kickoff. What more could a college football fan ask for, although, it could be worse I guess and hotter w/ a 3:00 kick off
I think p5 will remain. Part of the carrot to get ESPN to pay more
I think so too. What is going to get the most money out of ESPN? 14 games vs. teams like Troy St. or 14 games vs teams like Arizona St.?
Last time we played Georgia, we gave them all they wanted with a roster smaller than my high school. If we catch them early enough with enough players suspended or in jail, we have a chance.
As far as playing Texas goes here are my thoughts in one picture.
As far as playing Texas goes here are my thoughts in one picture.
So... after I've had a day to digest this, I feel kind of optimistic about this schedule.
Georgia Away - Meh, we replaced Alabama with Georgia. At least we don't have them both in the same season.
Ole Miss Away - That's always a toss-up regardless of where it's played and no matter who's better at any given time.
Tennessee Away - Likely a loss, but who knows what they're going to look like in 2 years? Heupel had an 'up' year last year, but we'll know more about sustained success after the 2023 season.
Texas Away - I'll never be a believer in Texas as a power and I don't think it makes a difference which stadium this is in. This is a 50/50 match-up.
Arkansas Home - I think we win this one, but that's quietly been a good series since Pittman has taken over.
Florida Home - I think we win this one. I think Billy Napier could be a lame duck by the time this game comes around. If it's late in the season, this could be an interim.
Missouri Home - Unless we suck and Mizzou has a surge, I think we win this one too.
Texas A&M Home - I'll say 50/50, but I think we win this one. Good chance they have a rebuilding year in 2024 with a new head coach. We've somehow had their number in years where they should win going away.
So, for the SEC part of the schedule, I'm seeing:
2 likely losses: Georgia, Tennessee
3 likely wins: Arkansas, Mizzou, Florida
3 toss-ups: Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M
Beats the hell out of a lot of years.
For the non-conference section:
Eastern Kentucky - Win
UMass - Win
Utah State - Win
Arizona State - Win, even out in the desert. They've been terrible and I don't think a new coach is going to turn that battleship around in 2 years. Also, they could be transitioning to a totally new conference where they have to travel to Florida and Ohio, so I think this is a win.
My somewhat optimistic 2 year out prediction is 8-4 with an outside chance to go 9-3. We win all of our non-conference games, beat Arkansas, Mizzou, and Florida. We lose to Georgia and Tennessee and win one (and maybe 2) of Ole Miss, Texas, and Texas A&M.
Georgia Away - Meh, we replaced Alabama with Georgia. At least we don't have them both in the same season.
Ole Miss Away - That's always a toss-up regardless of where it's played and no matter who's better at any given time.
Tennessee Away - Likely a loss, but who knows what they're going to look like in 2 years? Heupel had an 'up' year last year, but we'll know more about sustained success after the 2023 season.
Texas Away - I'll never be a believer in Texas as a power and I don't think it makes a difference which stadium this is in. This is a 50/50 match-up.
Arkansas Home - I think we win this one, but that's quietly been a good series since Pittman has taken over.
Florida Home - I think we win this one. I think Billy Napier could be a lame duck by the time this game comes around. If it's late in the season, this could be an interim.
Missouri Home - Unless we suck and Mizzou has a surge, I think we win this one too.
Texas A&M Home - I'll say 50/50, but I think we win this one. Good chance they have a rebuilding year in 2024 with a new head coach. We've somehow had their number in years where they should win going away.
So, for the SEC part of the schedule, I'm seeing:
2 likely losses: Georgia, Tennessee
3 likely wins: Arkansas, Mizzou, Florida
3 toss-ups: Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M
Beats the hell out of a lot of years.
For the non-conference section:
Eastern Kentucky - Win
UMass - Win
Utah State - Win
Arizona State - Win, even out in the desert. They've been terrible and I don't think a new coach is going to turn that battleship around in 2 years. Also, they could be transitioning to a totally new conference where they have to travel to Florida and Ohio, so I think this is a win.
My somewhat optimistic 2 year out prediction is 8-4 with an outside chance to go 9-3. We win all of our non-conference games, beat Arkansas, Mizzou, and Florida. We lose to Georgia and Tennessee and win one (and maybe 2) of Ole Miss, Texas, and Texas A&M.
I think once Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC, you won't have many places to hide.
Georgia hasn't played at Kyle Field since A&M joined. Considering where Georgia is now vs where they were when A&M joined, I think A&M is ok with that.
Not sure Texas is soft. They had BAMA beat last year until Bryce Young pulled a last minute rabbit out of his hat. Don't think Manning will be the starter either. They got 2 other QBs with more experience than him. He will see a lot of PT though.
We have played Alabama more and anyone else in the SEC.
We have played LSU more than anyone in the SEC
We have played Auburn more than anyone but UGA
We have played Ole Miss More than anyone.
The last time Bama, LSU or Auburn were not on the schedule was 1924 ( not counting 1943 when we didnt have a team)
Then it took a late TD to beat a bad ISU team .
Where Texas and OU will struggle is the "no weeks off" of the SEC schedule.
When A&M joined, all the aggies LOVED that they had the "Mississippi schools" on the schedule because they thought we were "easy wins where they could rest the starters".
They think differently now...
Unless they got Vandy on their schedule (I haven't looked). Everybody's week off in the SEC is if they're lucky enough to get the Commodores on their schedule. If they don't have Vandy, then yes, pretty much no weeks off for everybody.
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I expect the trade-off for 9 games is going to be removing the P5/ND requirement, partially because we're probably 2-3 seasons away from the Power 5 no longer existing and partially because an extra conference game plus a strong OOC game decreases the chances of middle to lower SEC teams making a bowl.
But, yes, we'll still have OOC games, but after the move to 9 games, it will likely be a combo of 1 FCS, 1 Sun Belt, and 1 from AAC/MAC/CUSA with a rando MWC thrown in there from time to time. I expect existing contracts to still be honored (ASU, Minnesota, TTU, WSU), but I don't see us adding new P5 opponents. If you notice, State hasn't announced a future P5 opponent in 3 years and I don't expect them to any time soon.
Problem is, we’re probably not going to 9 games unless ESPN comes up with more money. And if they’re paying more money, they’re going to want to keep the P5 OOC games and lose the Troy St. games.
Well… I get what you’re saying, but when we do a home and away with a Big Ten like Minnesota, that away game will 100% not appear on ESPN since the Big Ten will be divided between Fox, CBS, and NBC. We know Fox will get some Big 12 games and we have no idea what the Pac is going to look like, so outside of the ACC, there’s no guarantee a P5 OOC is going to even be on ESPN.
So I guess the question is… to ESPN, is one Mississippi State vs Minnesota game worth two Mississippi State vs Troy games? I don’t know the answer to that.
Or better yet, are we going to reach a point where ESPN starts discouraging SEC-Big Ten matchups (or anything not guaranteed to land on ESPN) and pushes more ACC matchups? We’ve already seen this in basketball with ESPN killing the Big 12/SEC challenge and replacing it with the ACC/SEC challenge.
I think you may be on to something there. It’ll be very interesting to see how it plays out.
Texas had receivers that Bama couldn’t cover for sure but they lost one QB and damn near lost another. They played a good game against Bama at home but I don’t have faith that they will hold up for a twelve game season.
And for us "gray hairs," the final 4 games of 1986 still give some PTSD. After racing out to 6-1, the final games were a true murderers' row:
vs #7 Auburn, 6-35 (Starkville)
vs. #8 Alabama, 3-38 (Starkville)
vs. #11 LSU, 0-47 (Jackson)
vs. Ole Miss, 3-24 (Jackson)
Outscored 144-12