It’s shaping up to be a year of significant change in the SEC.
Divisions are gone as the league expands to 16 teams with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, and the result has been some absolute gauntlets — Florida’s schedule, in particular, has gained national attention for its difficulty.
LSU has its fair share of tough games in conference play, facing Alabama and Ole Miss, and in non-conference play, it draws Big Ten newcomers USC and UCLA.
However, not every SEC schedule is created equally, and the Tigers dodge some major bullets in conference play. CBS recently ranked every schedule in the league in terms of difficulty, and LSU’s ranks in the back half at No. 10.
LSU’s schedule is a weird one. The Tigers have to play both USC and UCLA but won’t step foot in the state of California for either. Their road games are manageable, outside of a trip over to College Station to play Texas A&M, and they dodge both Georgia and Texas. Still, 10 games against Power Four teams is tough to contend with
It’s certainly not a cakewalk for the Tigers, but with the expanded playoff and plenty of conference teams having tougher schedules on paper, there could be the opportunity for Brian Kelly’s team to make some noise in Year 3.
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