BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Understand this about SEC football schedules: There is no formula for perfect balance. There will always be inequities filled with good luck and bad luck since every team doesn't play each other.
In the 21-year history of the SEC's eight-game format, Alabama possesses the third-easiest conference schedule and Auburn has the second hardest, according to an AL.com analysis of opponents' SEC records. The easiest schedule belongs to Florida, which has the most SEC titles since the conference championship game started, and the hardest belongs to Vanderbilt.
"Nobody ever said it's supposed to be fair," said South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, a frequent critic of SEC scheduling. "We all know last year Georgia did not play the top three on the Western side: Alabama, LSU or Texas A&M. But a lot of people don't know Alabama didn't play the top three on the Eastern side -- us, Florida and Georgia. So those are the two that won the divisions. Scheduling. Pepper Rodgers (a former college football coach) at one time said a coach is as good as his players and his schedule."
How important is scheduling? That's what AL.com attempted to quantify in analyzing the league schedules for every SEC team since 1992, when eight conference games started across the board to usher in the SEC Championship Game.
Evaluating schedules can be subjective so AL.com kept the criteria simple. Who did a team play each season? What were those opponents' SEC records each year? And what are each teams' opponents' total SEC winning percentage since 1992?
SEC Football Schedules Since 1992
| Team | Opponents' SEC win % | Games vs. Vandy/KY | Games vs. SEC's 6 Best Teams | Division Titles |
|---|
| Florida | .469 | 42 | 83 | 10 |
| Georgia | .471 | 42 | 75 | 5 |
| Alabama | .483 | 20 | 75 | 8 |
| Tennessee | .485 | 42 | 77 | 5 |
| Ole Miss | .496 | 29 | 90 | 0 |
| Mississippi State | .498 | 27 | 84 | 1 |
| LSU | .511 | 20 | 77 | 5 |
| South Carolina | .512 | 42 | 84 | 1 |
| Kentucky | .514 | 21 | 89 | 0 |
| Arkansas | .522 | 13 | 91 | 3 |
| Auburn | .528 | 15 | 83 | 4 |
| Vanderbilt | .539 | 21 | 92 | 0 |
Note: "Games vs. SEC's Best 6 Teams" means the six schools with the best all-time SEC records: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. The SEC divided three into the East and three into the West in 1992 when the conference expanded to 12 members.How teams were originally slotted into divisions naturally plays a big factor in these results. Playing Kentucky and Vanderbilt every year is usually a nice treat for SEC East teams.
Who teams play annually from the opposite division has a significant impact, too. For the first 11 years of the eight-game schedule, when teams played two permanent cross-divisional opponents, Auburn drew Florida annually while Alabama faced Vanderbilt.
And, of course, the cyclical nature of college football success plays a role. When Georgia went 11-20-1 in SEC games from 1993 to '96, Auburn benefitted by playing the Bulldogs annually while Alabama played a more difficult Tennessee team on the verge of a national championship. These days, the Vols are down and Georgia is up, an advantage for Alabama.
Florida has played the easiest schedule since 1992, with its opponents owning a .469 SEC winning percentage over those years. Close behind the Gators are Georgia (.471) and Alabama (.483).
Vanderbilt, which naturally can't enjoy the benefits of playing itself, has faced the hardest schedule (.539). Auburn has the second-toughest schedule (.528), followed by Arkansas (.522).
"There will be some years when you'd have a favorable schedule just based on what the situation is in that particular year and how the rotation gets set up," SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack said. "Those things are cyclical. If you do a 12-year schedule, strengths and weaknesses are going to change over that 12-year period."
The SEC is trying to determine how it wants to schedule beyond the next couple years. Fixed cross-division games occur because Alabama-Tennessee and Florida-Georgia games preserve SEC tradition.?
But since the SEC went from 12 to 14 teams and stayed at eight games, the fixed opponent can now become even more of an advantage or disadvantage. LSU wants to eliminate the permanent opponent since it plays Florida every year.
Other findings of the AL.com study of SEC schedules:
* Last year, Alabama and Georgia played the first SEC Championship Game in which both participants avoided the top three teams from the opposite division. The opponents for Alabama and Georgia each had a combined .375 SEC winning percentage, tied for the third-easiest schedules ever by SEC division winners.
* Six of the eight easiest paths to Atlanta have occurred since 2008. Georgia's road in 2011 was the easiest ever (.313 opponents' SEC winning percentage), slightly ahead of Mississippi State's schedule in 1998 (.328).
* Nine SEC division winners had opponents who finished with a combined SEC record of .500 or greater. That's happened only twice within the past nine years: South Carolina and Auburn, both in 2010.
* Eighteen of the 21 SEC West champions played a cross-division game against Vanderbilt and/or Kentucky, who are the weakest SEC members since 1992. Only Auburn 1997, LSU 2003 and Alabama 2012 reached Atlanta without playing either Vanderbilt or Kentucky.
* Arkansas and Auburn have played Vanderbilt and Kentucky the fewest number of combined times at 13 and 15 games, respectively. In the West, the most games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky belong to Ole Miss (29) and Mississippi State (27).
* When the SEC expanded in 1992, the six teams with the best historical records were split up -- Alabama, Auburn and LSU to the West, and Florida, Tennessee and Georgia to the East. Alabama and Georgia have played the fewest games since 1992 against fellow "Big 6" teams with 75 each; Auburn and Florida have played the most with 83 each.
* Since 1992, Alabama has played more games against Vanderbilt (14) than Florida and Georgia combined (12). Auburn, which plays Georgia annually and used to have an annual series against Florida, has faced the Bulldogs and Gators a total of 35 times.
* Florida and LSU, who are annual cross-division opponents, have both been ranked in the Top 25 in nine of their past 10 meetings. Here are the number of times both teams were ranked in other annual cross-division games over the past decade: Auburn-Georgia, four out of 10; Alabama-Tennessee, one out of 10; and Arkansas-South Carolina, one out of 10.
* SEC division champions are nearly as likely to lose at home (22 times) than on the road (23). Florida has the most wins over a division champion (nine), followed by Auburn and Tennessee (seven each). Vanderbilt and SEC newcomer Missouri are the only schools that haven't beaten an opponent in a year it wins a division title.
Easiest SEC Division Titles
| Team | Opponents' SEC win % |
|---|
| Georgia 2011 | .313 |
| Mississippi State 1998 | .328 |
| Alabama 2012 | .375 |
| Georgia 2012 | .375 |
| Tennessee 1997 | .391 |
| Alabama 2008 | .391 |
| Florida 2009 | .391 |
| LSU 2011 | .391 |
| Florida 1992 | .398 |
| Alabama 1992 | .406 |
| Florida 1994 | .406 |
| Arkansas 2006 | .406 |
| Alabama 1996 | .422 |
| Florida 1999 | .422 |
| Florida 1995 | .438 |
| LSU 2005 | .438 |
| Georgia 2005 | .438 |
| LSU 2007 | .438 |
| Alabama 2009 | .438 |
| Alabama 1994 | .453 |
| Arkansas 1995 | .453 |
| Tennessee 1998 | .453 |
| Florida 2008 | .453 |
Hardest SEC Division Titles
| Team | Opponents' SEC win % |
|---|
| Florida 1996 | .469 |
| Tennessee 2001 | .469 |
| Arkansas 2002 | .469 |
| Georgia 2003 | .469 |
| Tennessee 2004 | .469 |
| Florida 2000 | .484 |
| Georgia 2002 | .484 |
| Auburn 2004 | .484 |
| Florida 2006 | .484 |
| Tennessee 2007 | .484 |
| Alabama 1999 | .500 |
| Auburn 2000 | .500 |
| Auburn 2010 | .500 |
| South Carolina, 2010 | .500 |
| Florida 1993 | .508 |
| Auburn 1997 | .516 |
| LSU 2001 | .516 |
| LSU 2003 | .516 |
| Alabama 1993 | .547 |
Source: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/07/sec_football_schedules_alabama.html
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