Spring games are wrapping up and we are officially a little more than four months from the kickoff of the 2014 season. With a new season come new schedules and new rankings for each team’s schedule. Let’s take a look at the schedules for each SEC team and pick a couple of games that you don’t want to miss when kickoff gets here. This week we will take a look at the SEC East and count down from the easiest to the toughest schedule for 2014.
7. Missouri Tigers
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Almost everything about Missouri’s 2014 schedule looks to be in their favor. The out of conference schedule has three teams that should be wins in South Dakota St, Toledo, and Indiana. The only bad part is those are three of the first four games of the season instead of being spread out within the schedule. Not to worry though as those three games should give Maty Mauk and company plenty of time to get on the same page and warmed up for South Carolina. The one out of conference team that will give South Carolina a challenge is UCF and that game promises to be a great showdown. The other two big games on the schedule(Georgia and Texas A&M) are preceded by off weeks. It doesn’t get any better than that. As I said earlier, that UCF game will be one you don’t want to miss as it may give us a picture of what to expect from Missouri the rest of the season. Also, the rematch of last year’s overtime thriller with South Carolina will be huge.
6. Vanderbilt Commodores
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Temple, UMass, Charleston Southern, and Old Dominion round out the Vanderbilt non conference schedule. Honestly, it looks like Vandy got its basketball and football schedules confused. Also, Vanderbilt has its non conference games spread out evenly across the schedule giving them a break before their bigger conference games. The only down side of the schedule is that Vandy drew two from the west that many think will be surprise teams for 2014 in Ole Miss and Mississippi State. That rematch with Ole Miss could prove huge for the season and the Florida game on Nov. 8 could be big for two teams battling to get to bowl eligibility.
5. Kentucky Wildcats
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While LSU and Mississippi State are by no means easy, the non conference schedule for Kentucky puts them at number five on the list. UT Martin, Ohio, and ULM are all very winnable games for a Kentucky team that returns nearly every starter from last year’s team and were in several games they shouldn’t have been in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they have a killer stretch of eight tough games in a row in the middle of the schedule. By the time in-state rival Louisville rolls around in week 14, the lack of a bowl bid will be a foregone conclusion. Kentucky seems to give Mississippi State their best shot each year so watch for that one. Also, if they find a way to beat someone they’re not supposed to, they will fight to the last second with Tennessee for a chance at six wins.
4. Tennessee Volunteers
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Butch Jones put together quite a recruiting class in the off-season but it probably won’t show right away and the Tennessee schedule in 2014 doesn’t help at all. Not only did they draw Ole Miss and Alabama from the West but they play them back to back, just before taking on South Carolina. On top of that they have Oklahoma for game three, who will look to make an example of another SEC team like they did against Alabama in last year’s Sugar bowl. Tennessee will attempt to avenge their overtime loss to Georgia last year on Sept. 27 and the final week matchup with Vanderbilt could very well be worth a bowl bid for the winner.
3. South Carolina Gamecocks
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The 2014 schedule could definitely be better for South Carolina but it could be worse too. They drew a dangerous team from the West in Texas A&M but they get them the first game of the season when the Aggies will be breaking in a brand new quarterback not named Johnny Football. They also get the defending West Champions in the Auburn Tigers and they will bring an offensive machine to every game in 2014. Add to that two in-state foes (Clemson and East Carolina) who would love nothing more than to ruin the Gamecocks season and its two biggest division games (Georgia and Missouri) within two weeks of each other. It will not be an easy road for South Carolina in 2014. Those Auburn and Clemson matchups look like really good games but the East will be South Carolina’s focus and that road will take them through Georgia and Missouri.
2. Georgia
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Last year was no cake walk for the Georgia Bulldogs and this year looks to be just as grueling. Georgia starts and ends the 2014 season about as tough as anyone. It all starts with Clemson in week one followed by a trip to South Carolina in week three. They get Missouri right in the middle of the Season and then end with Auburn and in-state rival Georgia Tech in weeks 12 and 14. Not to say that everything in between is smooth sailing. Florida may be down but “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” is always hard-fought. It’s safe to say that Georgia will have a hard time having that “season to remember” once again in 2014. As for must see games, I expect Georgia will have pay back in mind for the week one game against Clemson, and the South Carolina matchup following the bye week could decide the East Division.
1. Florida Gators
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Don’t let Idaho, Eastern Michigan, or Eastern Kentucky fool you into thinking Florida is going to have it easy in 2014, because Alabama, LSU, and Florida State will keep that from happening. Yeah, Florida is the unfortunate SEC East team to draw the two powerhouses from the West this year and probably has the toughest schedule to deal with in the East in 2014. The good news for Florida is they should start the season 3-0 and have some momentum going into the meat of the schedule. Three more wins and bowl eligibility are definitely doable for this Gator team. Now we get to the “must see” games for Florida. Call me crazy but I think the week four matchup between the Gators and Alabama could be a good one. It will showcase one of the SEC’s better defenses for Florida against the bruising running game of Alabama. The Gators will be Alabama’s first real test of the season and I don’t think Saban will be comfortable with whoever wins the QB job that early in the season. I’m not ready to call an upset but I truly think it will be a tight game until the end and boost Florida into the tough part of their schedule. Past that, watch out for the week 11 matchup with Vanderbilt as both teams will be looking for their sixth win by that point in the season.
fbschedules.com puts out a Helmet Schedule for the SEC and other conferences that you can print out or even save to your iphone if you want and it can be found here.
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