Last year, we said of UT and OU’s entrance into the SEC:

Just as Clemson and FSU have been shielded by a woeful ACC schedule, Texas and Oklahoma sat in the Big 12’s catbird seat since its inception. There aren’t two or three games to plan for; every week is a ruthless slog with a loss waiting just around the corner. Steve Sarkisian didn’t handle that sort of schedule well at USC and Washington. And, frankly, we have no idea what Oklahoma even has in Brent Venables.

We’ll learn much about both programs when they have to put on their big boy pants every week. For my part, I suspect the football takes a step back, and perhaps the basketball teams, as this is a physical hoops league. But I believe their other programs will thrive, even dominate: Gym, softball, and baseball in particular should do well. (Oklahoma’s outstanding Title IX programs will have a lot of success).

Damn, talk about prescient. Oklahoma and UT barely made 20 wins, finished in the bottom 1/3rd of hoops. One coach was fired, another almost was. As of this writing, OU has claimed the SEC and National titles in Gymnastics; Texas is the No. 1 baseball team in the conference and country; and the Sooners and Horns softball teams are half-a-game out of first place.

Football, however, did see that expected dropoff. Despite having the easiest SEC schedule in memory, the Horns went 0-for-Georgia (and dropped all three games against Power 5 playoff teams); while Venables barely clawed his way to a .500 season and a bowl berth.

These programs were, as we predicted, precisely what they appeared to be: talented teams that are every bit the artifact of their schedule.

So, what does Year 2 have in store for that duo, and the remaining half dozen SEC squads? Let’s find out.

Part One is linked below. But, in order to adduce difficulty of schedule we look at a combination of rested opponents, back-to-back road games, and who is played on the road. Since we are now in divisionless play, we’re also adding winning teams to the matrix — Birmingham controls how hard your schedule is, not the geographic happenstance of a weak division (point and laugh at the old SEC East, if you must).

And, as a rejoinder here. A complaint I read to Part One is that “this is just the same schedule flipped around.” That may be true to the extent of teams placement, but it is not accurate in terms of placement on the calendar, who’s rested, opponents coming off a bye, back-to-back road trips, and the like. Those other factors, not just the opponent, are responsible for drastic swings in difficulty. It’s how UGA went from having one of the hardest schedules in the conference last season to one of its easiest this year. It’s why Texas A&M will be lucky to finish at .500 and why Vanderbilt is probably not making a bowl.

Let’s find out why.

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Mississippi State:

• Bye Opponents: 1 (dual-bye vs. Ole Miss)
• Tough Road Games: 4 (Missouri, Florida, Texas A&M, and even Arkansas is tough for this team)
• Consecutive Road trips: 1 (Texas A&M, Florida)
• Bowl teams: 8

Last Year’s Prognosis: …The Bulldogs face six winning teams on the schedule. They host Florida, as well as Aggie coming off a bye. But it’s the road schedule that’s the real twist in the knife here: at Texas, at Georgia, at Tennessee, at Ole Miss. Woof.

We feared a new coaching staff would not find much reprieve with the schedule. In fact, the Bulldogs did not — MSU won just two games all year, and went winless in the conference. That godawful defense didn’t exactly help either.

Is 2025 a little kinder? Absolutely not. The road games are a little more forgiving, but every single SEC opponent is coming off a bowl bid. Three of them won 10+ games. And even the “easy” games, like Arkansas, are on the road. But it’s the home slate that will kill them. What home game best represents a chance for an upset? Ole Miss? Tennessee? Georgia? Texas? Every single game in the SEC is going to be hard for this bad team, but this is an unkind cut for the ‘Dogs, and would be hard for most teams — don’t be surprised for one second if Mississippi State goes winless in league play for a second straight season. One of the hardest schedules in the league, though not perhaps as bad as Vanderbilt or Alabama.

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Missouri:

• Bye Opponents: 1 (vs A&M)
• Tough Road Games: 1 (at Oklahoma, maybe Auburn and/or Vandy if you’re feeling generous)
• Consecutive Road trips: 1 (at Auburn, Vanderbilt)
• Bowl teams: 4

Last Year’s Prognosis: Mizzou was an 11-win, Top 10 team last season. And the SEC, it seems, has no intention of allowing the Tigers to lose that momentum…This is easily one of the best schedules in a brutal league. Anything fewer than 9 or 10 wins would be a severe letdown.

Drink chalked up another 10-win season for the oft-injured Tigers. Mission accomplished.

Can Mizzou set a program record and claim a fourth-straight ten-win campaign this year? Probably. The Tigers once again have a laughably bad OOC schedule (ULL, UMass, Central Arkansas, and Kansas). And, once again, the SEC shielded the Tigers from some of the league’s heaviest hitters: No LSU, Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss. Of the four tough games, three of them are at home (Alabama, A&M, USCe). In fact, only one real road game of consequence stands out: a trip to Oklahoma. But let’s not pretend the Sooners are a 10-win playoff sort of squad either. And, BHM even did them a solid by scheduling the Tigers with four games against teams who finished below .500 in SEC play. The only other smidge of difficulty came by giving the Aggies an extra week before facing Mizzou — but, even so, that’s a Mizzou home game. By far one of the easiest roads to travel in the SEC. Perhaps the easiest overall.

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Oklahoma

• Bye Opponents: 0
• Tough Road Games: 3 (Alabama, Knoxville, South Carolina).
• Consecutive Road trips: 0
• Bowl teams: 7

Last Year’s Prognosis: If I’m Oklahoma, I’m more than a little pissed about my maiden voyage in the SEC, particularly when they look south and see what the league gifted the Longhorns (more on that in a minute). The Sooners simply find no reprieve here…This is “back nine at Carnoustie”-tough. You go back and forth on who has the SEC’s toughest schedule, Alabama or the Sooners, and this genuinely might be it. Oklahoma could be a pretty good team this year and not even make a bowl.

The Sooners barely squeaked into a bowl, but frankly even getting there required some yeoman’s work by Venables and that Sooners defense — paired with an auspicious upset here and there. OU got absolutely hammered by the league office last season.

In 2025, the faces may remain the same, but the sledding is significantly easier. The Sooners go from facing the most rested opponents (4, with Alabama), to the fewest: zero teams will play OU with an extra week’s rest and prep. Three of the home games are tough, but they are at home, at least: LSU, Ole Miss, and Mizzou. Of the half-dozen SEC games they play against teams with 9-plus wins, four of them are at home, one is neutral, and only one is a true road contest. There are no B2B road games. And they even get the bye before facing Alabama, who will have no such luxury. Is it a hard schedule? Absolutely, one of the 4-5 toughest. But it’s not unfairly so, and as much as you can rebound against that many quality opponents, this is set up very nicely for the Dirt Burglars to get to 7-8 wins. The road games are going to determine how well OU bounces back though; they’re all tough: Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina. The Sooners compounded that degree of difficulty too by adding Michigan to the schedule. Brent Venables doesn’t lack for balls, I’ll give him that.

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South Carolina:

• Bye Opponents: 0
• Tough Road Games: 4 (at LSU, Mizzou, A&M, Ole Miss)
• Consecutive Road trips: 1 (at Ole Miss, A&M)
• Bowl teams: 6

Last Year’s Prognosis: The schedule-makers did the Gamecocks a tremendous boon in allowing USCe to dodge Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia, but that’s about the only favor from Bammerham. And, it is also more than offset by a grinding month in the middle of the year that is far tougher than most Octobers. It is a month that will define the season, in fact, and perhaps determine Shane Beamer’s fate: Aggie, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss — with back-to-back road trips to Norman and Tuscaloosa.

Buoyed by a breakout freshman star QB, one of the SEC’s best RBs, and it’s best defensive lineman, the ‘Cocks were a darling of 2024, and had every bit the case for the playoffs of Tennessee, Alabama, or Ole Miss. Sustaining momentum has always been the hard part in Columbia. But last October, as expected, made the season for USCe: 3-1 against that month was awesome.

In terms of balance, this is medium-tough schedule. The Gamecocks travel to Baton Rouge and College Station, and have a tilt in Baton Rouge, but they do dodge the Bulldogs and Longhorns, and they get ‘Bama and OU at home. Just six teams on the schedule were bowl-eligible, and even the worst road games are winnable ones. Can USCe sustain last season’s success? That is to be determined, but they can’t point to the schedule in either case as the reason for that success or lack thereof — it’s a tough conference; this is about average. Maybe even on the forgiving end, facing zero teams with an extra week to prep and rest, and their one B2B road swing broken up with a bye. Still, those are four harder road games, and visits by ‘Bama and the Sooners are nothing to sneeze at. We’ll say 7 wins and a step back.

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Texas:

• Bye Opponents: 2 (Kentucky, at Florida)
• Tough Road Games: 2 (at Florida, at Georgia)
• Consecutive Road trips: See below — there is a nasty month on the road
• Bowl teams: 5

Last Year’s Prognosis: This schedule is a joke, an outright joke. The Horns play two rested opponents: one is a mutual bye, the other is woeful Arkansas. Only half the schedule made a bowl game last year, and of those, only Georgia scares you. Speaking of: even that game is at home. There are no back-to-back road trips. The first true road game is not even until October 26th! Only a season-ending clash at the Hate Barn insulates this thing from being an ACC schedule…Texas may have the easiest schedule in the SEC that we will ever see. They’re going to win 10-11 games, and be absolutely insufferable about it too, scarcely realizing what an absolute gift landed in their gilded laps.

Every word of that bore foul fruit, right down to the one “scary” game actually materializing into a loss.

Is it a tough schedule this year? No, it’s pretty forgiving. But it is a lot harder than last season. Last year the Horns didn’t even go on the road until Halloween; this year, Texas spends an entire month away from Austin, though two of them are very easy trips, they’re still road trips: Florida, (n) OU, Kentucky, Mississippi State. They also add a late-season visit to Athens, where the Bulldogs await. So, of the four true road games, at least two are existential threats, and OU figures to be a lot better this year. The home schedule sees A&M, but that’s really about it, in terms of peer-level threat. The season will be made in the opening week in Columbus (vs. OSU), and the first B2B games away from DKR — in the Swamp and the Red River Shootout. But, it’s still a Grade A pampering overall by the league, and once again one of the easier schedules. Still, the extra difficulty and Road Sark’s flaky play, I think keeps UT bogged down at 9-10 wins as the ceiling. Not quite Missouri-easy, but close.

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Texas A&M:

• Bye Opponents: 2 (vs USCe, at Mizzou)
• Tough Road Games: 3 (LSU, Texas, Missouri)
• Consecutive Road trips: See below — similar to Texas
• Bowl teams: 7

Last Year’s Prognosis: If the Shorties were handed a 10-win schedule, then the Aggies weren’t too far behind from their Birmingham benefactors…The SEC blew up its 80-year history in 2012 to gain the Texas market. It doubled down on that deconstruction this year, diminishing itself with the addition of the Longhorns and Sooners. If the scheduling has shown you anything, by god the league will ensure that there are successful teams in the Lone Star State, even if they have to stack the deck. And they plainly did.

What did Elko produce in Year One? The most fraudulent 8-5 record in a schedule that was custom-built to hand the Ags ten wins, though we had to pretend for about two months that this team was actually decent.

Once again, A&M dodges the ‘Bama/Georgia duo. But this year, the hill is a bit steeper to climb for Aggie, and it is so for the same reason Texas’ schedule is a bit tougher in 2025: They spend a solid month on the road. Though not playing four straight games (the Aggies do have a bye in there,) Texas A&M travels to Baton Rouge, CoMo, and Fayetteville for three straight games. A&M gets Florida and USCe in College Station, which certainly helps. But there’s a nasty trap game against Auburn in the Hate Barn, and the Aggies finish the season in Austin — after a devastating no-show last year on their home field. While A&M faces just two rested teams, they’re some of the better ones on the schedule (Mizzou and South Carolina). Last year was set up for 10 wins. This year, facing seven teams coming off bowls instead of four, and with that added trip to Notre Dame thrown in, A&M is set up for 7-8 wins. Maybe. Their floor is just as easily .500.

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Tennessee:

• Bye Opponents: 1
• Tough Road Games: 2 (at Alabama, at Florida)
• Consecutive Road trips: 0
• Bowl teams: 6

Last Year’s Prognosis: Tennessee, gifted a schedule from the Gods in 2022, got another one in 2024. The Vols are tied for the fewest teams with winning records on their schedule. They don’t face a single team coming off of a bye week. They have no back-to-back road trips. And about half of their heavy lifting is at home, including three of their traditional rivals: Alabama, Florida, UK all come to town. Their season really will come down to a two-game swing at Norman and at Athens — even so, only one of those should actually scare them. We have no idea how good UT really is, and this schedule could easily get them to 10 wins even if they’re merely above average.

The Vawls road that pansy schedule all the way to the playoffs. A stellar defense and Dylan Samson helped, of course. But this team was protected by a soft slate and it showed in Athens and Columbus.

Somehow, the Vols finessed another schedule that’s about as easy as last year. Tennessee faces just one team off a bye (pitiful Arkansas); has just two road trips of objective difficulty (‘Bama, Gata); gets the Dawgs early in the season at home; and even their trap game against the Sooners is in Knoxville. It is a little harder in two respects, though. 1. This year, the Vols face Syracuse on a neutral field versus last year’s miserable OOC soup cans, and 2. There is a B2B road trip for Tuscaloosa and Lexington. Kentucky isn’t anything to write home about, but Stoops’ teams play out of their mind against UT, and especially at home. Not as manageable as last season, but definitely one of the easiest 3-4 schedules in the SEC. How easy? Half the schedule is against teams that finished below .500 in league play. Again.

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Vanderbilt:

• Bye Opponents: 1 (at Kentucky)
• Tough Road Games: 4 (at Missouri, at LSU, at Auburn, at Kentucky)
• Consecutive Road trips: 0
• Bowl teams: 7

The league slammed the ‘Dores with 7 winning programs in their 8-game schedule: tied for the most in the SEC. They have four nasty road games. The home schedule is not at all manageable, with only one realistic chance for an upset: Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and South Carolina…If this team somehow flirts with five wins, give Lea a key to the city.

Welp. There was a home upset…but it was Alabama. And, Lea not only flirted with five wins, he got to seven. Great job by the ‘Dores against a very tough schedule. While Nashville did not give him a key to the city, Vandy Pimp was born. (And, honestly, this season-long sketch and some deserved humbling of our fanbase was probably worth the L, no matter how flukish).

For an encore, the ‘Dores have a lot of their heavy lifting to do this year, and especially on the road. I don’t know that seven wins is in the cards for this squad. For a start, Vandy faces four teams on the road that won 10+ games last season — two made the playoffs, the other two had strong cases to. VU hosts another 10-win team, in Mizzou; faces the ‘barn and 9-win LSU in Nashville; seven of its eight opponents went bowling; and it doesn’t even get Mississippi State to ease the burden. This is a simply filthy schedule, eclipsed by only Alabama in toto, and there’s a very good case to be made that it is the hardest SEC schedule. It’s going to take a Herculean effort to simply get bowl-eligible; even very good teams would be in dogfights more often than not against this slate. Woof.

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Thus concludes our annual schedule recap. Sound off below. Who has a sneaky-hard schedule? Is there a “tough” one out there that may be easier than it first appears?