An early look at SEC schedules

Hey, if I crapped on CFN for doing a weak job in one spot, it’s only fair to give them a nod when they post a fun read like their look at the 2010 SEC schedules.  How sad is that first week of games when there are arguably six less compelling games than ULaLa at Georgia?

But on to the meat of it:   check out what CFN has to say about Georgia’s schedule in particular.

Georgia won’t be the best team in the SEC, but it has the schedule to look that way. Any SEC East team worth its salt would take this slate in a heartbeat. There’s no Alabama or LSU to deal with, Florida, as always, is at a neutral site, Tennessee is a home game, and the road games are at South Caorlina, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Auburn. Throw in a home date against Vanderbilt and anything less than a New Year’s Day bowl appearance will be a mega-disappointment. Even the non-conference schedule works out well with the Georgia Tech game at home and the one tough road trip at Colorado. On the negative side, the game against the Buffs is coming off a road trip to Mississippi State for the only back-to-back road games of the year, and the week off doesn’t come until late November.

There’s a lot there that’s hard to argue with.  And they show Georgia’s likely finish at 10-2, the same as Florida’s and Alabama’s.  Be still, my heart.

Looking at the schedules in the West, there’s a pretty good-sized disparity in the non-conference slates of Arkansas, Auburn and Ole Miss versus those of Alabama and LSU.  (Although I’ll be interested to see if there are more Tide fans who attend the Duke game than the home folks.)

In the East, Tennessee’s schedule is front-loaded in terms of difficulty.  If Dooley can get to the ‘Bama game at 3-3, he’ll be doing well, but the back end has the potential to generate some momentum for the Vols.  Kentucky’s non-conference opponents are a weak bunch;  Joker’s got a good chance to extend the ‘Cats bowl run for another year.  It’ll be interesting to see how much attention the Southern Miss game is able to draw away from Spurrier’s summer preparation towards the Georgia meeting.  And Florida having to play LSU and Alabama from the West means that there’s a shot that the game in Jacksonville is going to mean something big in the division race.

Vanderbilt?  At least Vandy’s got itself a bye week this season.