ESPN college football experts analyze who has the toughest schedule in the SEC for 2024

The game of college football never sleeps, especially in the SEC, home of the some of the most ravenous and fanatical fan bases in the sport. It’s never too early to look ahead to next year and on Wednesday night, ESPN’s panel of college football experts did just that. They took an early look at the 2024 slate for the SEC.

And a number of their college football experts gave their take on Sunday night who had the most brutal schedule for the 2024 season in the SEC.

Who do they think has the toughest football schedule in 2024?

Paul Finebaum

“Yeah, it’s Florida,” Finebaum said. “And it would be one thing if Billy Napier was in good shape. He is not. He’s had two very dissapointing, frustrating seasons. He’s trying to hold onto a recruiting class. He’s trying to hold onto a recruiting class which is currently ranked No. 3 in the country, but when you look at this Laura.

“Miami, A&M, Mississippi State, UCF, and Tennessee. They become must wins for this reason. You end with Georgia, Texas on the road, LSU, Ole Miss, and at Florida State. Possibly an underdog in all five of those games. It’s essential that the Gators win early.”

Greg McElroy

McElroy agreed with Finebaum that the Gators had the most difficult schedule in college football and he had plenty of stats to back that up.

“It’s Florida,” he agreed. “I mean 10 of the 11 FBS teams that they’re playing are competing in a bowl game this year. That’s absurd. They play six teams that finished in the College Football Playoff top 20. And four of those six are away from home. I mean, it’s amazing.

“Three of the four away from home actually finished in the Top 6 in the CFP between Georgia, Texas, and Florida State. So, it’s a brutal schedule. And look, I think they’ll probably be better than we’re giving them credit for because they’ve always got dudes. But they haven’t been consistent in a while. So, if they can just be consistent next year, it still might not be enough.”

Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow essentially agreed with Finebaum and McElroy that the Florida Gators have an absolutely brutal stretch but decided to toss out a different team out there.

“But I also wanna add, it’s when they play them as well. Five in a row that are all in the Top 13. No byes in between it. That’s a gauntlet,” he added. “Even if you get through the first couple and you get banged up. I mean, you’ve got five in a row. That is what I believe, the toughest stretch in college football.

“But to be a little different, I’m gonna throw out another team and that’s Arkansas. Arkansas is at Oklahoma State, at Auburn, Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas, and then you finish at Missouri, who I also believe has a chance to start Top 10. That’s a really tough schedule for Arkansas. And they’re also reloading, they need quite a few dudes to be competitive again. So, they have a really tough schedule.”

Joey Galloway

Galloway decided to go with a different team. The team that was snubbed from this year’s College Football Playoff — the Georgia Bulldogs.

“I’m gonna go with Georgia,” he said. “Going on the road in the SEC is tough. So, if you look at Georgia’s schedule, you’re playing Clemson. It’s in Atlanta. So, it’s not home. They have to go at Kentucky, at Alabama, at Texas, at Florida which is in Jacksonville. And at Ole Miss. There is a lot of at on that schedule. When we talked to Coach Drinkwitz, what did he pick out, Mississippi State and South Carolina. It was because those games are on the road.

“He’s letting you know in the SEC, when you have to go on the road to play football games. It almost doesn’t matter who the opponent is. It’s the fact that you’re at their home stadium. And Georgia has a lot of games on the road. Now, they’re gonna be a really good football team and be really angry they didn’t get in the playoff this year. And they’re gonna be ready to go, but that’s a tough schedule.”