Auburn’s Unbelievable Schedule

[Zeek 16,660]

10 hours ago, AUloggerhead said:

Ever since that debacle I have never taken the collective opinion of sportswriters (the AP) very seriously. 

I still claim 2004 and USC having to vacate that title vindicates us even further 

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Yep the odds are stacked against us to say the least

[sevenlee36 1,654]

1 hour ago, Zeek said:

I still claim 2004 and USC having to vacate that title vindicates us even further 

Is that the only year where a team had to vacate a championship ? At the least it should be shared between us and Oklahoma 

[NoALtiger 3,873]

The divisions need to be done away with anyways. No more permanent games or any of that crap. 

[wde1968 262]

On 9/29/2019 at 4:18 PM, jmcrosson said:

I realize this is a subject that is brought up here and there, and serves as information that everyone that follows college football is generally aware of, but I wanted to deep dive into exactly how difficult our schedule is compared to other contenders. For time’s sake, I will not include the Oklahoma’s, Ohio State’s, and Clemson’s of the world seeing as their schedules are generally substantially easier than their SEC counterparts. 

I was interested to see where this schedule strength ranks against the bamtards, LSU, GA, Florida, and TAMU since they are all currently ranked. 

Starting with what we know best, Auburn has to play the following:

Oregon - ranked 11 at the time - at a neutral field 

TAMU - ranked 17 at the time - away

FL - ranked 10 - away 

LSU - ranked 4 - away 

GA - ranked 3 - home

AL - ranked 1 - home 

should Auburn make it to the SEC Championship, it would likely be GA again - probably ranked in the top 10. 

CFP - Auburn would play 2 of either the 4, 3, 2, or 1 teams in some order depending on seeding. Count the SEC championship as a home game for GA or at best “neutral”, and the playoffs as neutral, and Auburn will have had to play 7 of their 9 games against ranked opponents at their home field or at a neutral site. 

This is staggering. 

As a point of comparison, LSU will have had to have played 5 ranked teams including an impressive away win at Texas, home against FL, Auburn, and TAMU, and at Alabama. 3 of 5 ranked opponents are at Death Valley. 

Florida plays a total of 3 ranked teams, with 2 (GA and AU) at home, and at LSU.

TAMU also plays 5 ranked teams including at Clemson, at Georgia, and at LSU - the last two games serving as their “amen corner” with those contests being back-to-back and away games. They get only Auburn and Alabama at home. In my opinion, they are easily sitting in the second seat for most difficult schedule in the SEC. 

Georgia’s schedule is almost as laughable as Alabama, in that they play 4 ranked opponents. Give them props for playing ND at home instead of scheduling someone like Duke, but the other 3 ranked opponents are FL (at a “neutral” site in Jacksonville), Auburn away, and TAMU at home. 

Last and certainly least is The pride of Birmingham herself, the “eye test” media darlings, the Updyke Nation, the row tighders, the bamtards. Honestly, if Alabama was playing the University of Satan, I’d be completely neutral. True to form, Alabama gets all of the benefits of playing in the SEC with a fraction of the responsibility. They play 3 ranked opponents. Three! At TAMU, at Auburn, and they get LSU at home. 

By comparison, if Auburn or LSU is to accomplish the goal of reaching the SEC championship, they have to navigate nearly twice as many quality opponents on top of such nuances in Auburn’s case as not playing a single home game in the month of October. 

Im not sure what the answer is, but there has to be some measure of equality in dealing with scheduling. I think it was a kick in the balls, personally, for the powers that be to swap Georgia for LSU in terms of scheduling. 

 

 

 

 

Just my humble opinion but we run that gauntlet they're the best team in the history of college football. Laugh if you must but NO ONE has ever had that many ranked teams. With 7 ranked on road/neutral field.

[AUsince72 11,084]

3 hours ago, wde1968 said:

Just my humble opinion but we run that gauntlet they're the best team in the history of college football. Laugh if you must but NO ONE has ever had that many ranked teams. With 7 ranked on road/neutral field.

Without actually researching it, I'd still feel comfortable that you're probably correct.

[doverstutts 1,643]

Before season began, I expected to be 3-2 at this point. No complaints, even if we lose to UF. AU has traveled to Gainesville many times with the best football team and came back with a whupped butt in my almost 60 years of being a fan, so I am a bit anxious. I don't like him, but Mullen is a better coach than some of ya'll think he is