SEC Schools Share Cautionary Tale on Non-Conference Scheduling

You hear it every summer. It becomes a topic before every Kentucky Governor’s Cup win over Louisville. The schedule.

“They ain’t played nobody PAAAAAAAWL.”

There is a group of people, particularly Louisville radio hacks, that love to mock the strength of Kentucky’s non-conference football schedule. It’s a great way to kill time in the month of August before the season. Some around the BBN have taken the bait too, sharing stats about Mark Stoops’ record against teams with winning records, SEC foes, etc.

Stop falling for it. You’re better than that.

The next time someone tries to put down the Kentucky football program because of the MAC teams on its schedule, I’d like to remind you of three SEC programs that are voluntarily putting their coaches on the hot seat because of the way they schedule in the non-conference.

Arkansas

Sam Pittman picked the Razorbacks out of the gutter Chad Morris put them in by guiding Arkansas to a 9-4 campaign in his second season that was capped off by a victory in the Outback Bowl. Arkansas had momentum with a talented quarterback under center and one of the SEC’s top runners in its backfield. The future was bright, until they ran into a scheduling buzzsaw.

They opened the 2022 season with a one-score win over a Top 25 Cincinnati team. They even snuck out of Provo with a win at BYU. Those are two quality Group of Five wins. Why they needed a third on the schedule, I do not know. A home loss to Liberty in the middle of an SEC gauntlet forced them to scratch and claw to reach the Liberty Bowl with a 6-6 record.

The program could not withstand the hits so easily last fall. A loss at home to BYU started a 6-game losing streak that turned into a 4-8 season. Pittman was not fired, but had to make a desperate move. He brought Bobby Petrino back to Fayetteville to call the Hogs’ offense. With an Oklahoma State team that played in the Big 12 Title looming in week two, this year’s schedule is paving the way for Petrino to return as Interim Head Coach.

Aug. 31, 2024 — vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Sept. 7, 2024 — at Oklahoma State
Sept. 14, 2024 — vs. UAB
Sept. 21, 2024 — at Auburn
Sept. 28, 2024 — vs. Texas A&M (in Arlington)
Oct. 5, 2024 — vs. Tennessee
Oct. 12, 2024 — BYE
Oct. 19, 2024 — vs. LSU
Oct. 26, 2024 — at Mississippi State
Nov. 2, 2024 — vs. Ole Miss
Nov. 9, 2024 — BYE
Nov. 16, 2024 — vs. Texas
Nov. 23, 2024 — vs. Louisiana Tech
Nov. 30, 2024 — at Missouri

South Carolina

Shane Beamer was the bell of the SEC ball this time one year ago. The Gamecocks upset Tennessee and Clemson to finish 8-4 and punch a ticket to the Gator Bowl against Notre Dame.

The offseason momentum crashed and burned in the season-opener. Spencer Rattler was sacked 72 times by a putrid North Carolina defense in a neutral site loss. They spent the rest of the season failing to get over .500 and finished their year ineligible to participate in a bowl game.

Shane Beamer will be looking for a new job if the Gamecocks aren’t at least .500 in 2024, and that may not be enough. If they can’t beat Kentucky on the road, that’s most likely in store for South Carolina. The Gamecocks could go six weeks without a win in the middle of the season and erase all of the good will Beamer built up in year two.

Aug. 31, 2024 — vs. Old Dominion
Sept. 7, 2024 — at Kentucky
Sept. 14, 2024 — vs. LSU
Sept. 21, 2024 — vs. Akron
Sept. 28, 2024 — BYE
Oct. 5, 2024 — vs. Ole Miss
Oct. 12, 2024 — at Alabama
Oct. 19, 2024 — at Oklahoma
Oct. 26, 2024 — BYE
Nov. 2, 2024 — vs. Texas A&M
Nov. 9, 2024 — at Vanderbilt
Nov. 16, 2024 — vs. Missouri
Nov. 23, 2024 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 30, 2024 — at Clemson

Florida

Sun Belt Billy Napier is in a similar situation to Beamer, without as much good will from the fans. Florida lost road games to Utah and Kentucky in September, paving the way for a 5-7 season. Now Florida is staring down the barrel at the most difficult schedule in college football in 2024.

Casual fans will praise Florida for scheduling a Sunshine State Round Robin. If they don’t go 2-1 against instate foes, which will not be easy, things could get ugly in a hurry. The Gators will finish the season with five straight games against foes that finished in the top 13 of the final CFB Playoff Rankings. It’s hard to imagine that Napier will survive to make it to year four in Gainesville.

Aug. 31, 2024 — vs. Miami
Sept. 7, 2024 — vs. Samford
Sept. 14, 2024 — vs. Texas A&M
Sept. 21, 2024 — at Mississippi State
Sept. 28, 2024 — BYE
Oct. 5, 2024 — vs. UCF
Oct. 12, 2024 — at Tennessee
Oct. 19, 2024 — vs. Kentucky
Oct. 26, 2024 — BYE
Nov. 2, 2024 — vs. Georgia (in Atlanta)
Nov. 9, 2024 — at Texas
Nov. 16, 2024 — vs. LSU
Nov. 23, 2024 — vs. Ole Miss
Nov. 30, 2024 — at Florida State

You Don’t Need a Difficult Non-Conference Schedule in the SEC

For teams in the middle of the SEC pecking order, scheduling difficult non-conference opponents is completely unnecessary. You might make the case that the top teams should still swing big. Georgia is doing that next year by playing Clemson to accompany road games at Texas and Alabama. Even so, do the Dawgs really need to play Clemson to prove they’re one of the best college football teams in the country? Of course not.

I understand fans that would love to play a significant part in college football’s opening weekend slate. A trip to Atlanta to play a team like Miami would be a fun road trip. You know what else is a fun road trip? A game at Texas and a tailgate in the Grove. Bowl games, those are fun road trips too. At Kentucky you can’t have it both ways.

The new SEC has created the most challenging landscape we’ve ever seen in college football. To actually enjoy the ride, it’s in the Big Blue Nation’s best interest to leave Louisville as the one Power Five non-conference foe on the schedule, or run the risk of falling into the depths of coaching turnover its peers are about to experience in 2024.