2023 SEC Schedule Power Rakings
Southeastern Conference football is not for the faint of heart. The SEC has won 13 of the last 17 - and 5 of the last 6 - college football national championships and, as such, has unequivocally established itself as the dominant conference in college football. With the highest non-conference Power 5 win percentage among all power conferences, the SEC's dominance over its peers extends even beyond the national championship picture. In a conference that routinely features multiple national title contenders and a collection of the most talented teams in the country, no team is immune from a challenging schedule. However, while no SEC schedule is a cinch, every year there are a few teams in the league that bear a disproportionate burden in the scheduling process and the 2023 season is no different.
The following is a power ranking of the 5 most difficult 2023 schedules among the 14 teams in the SEC.
5. Arkansas
Western Carolina, Kent State, BYU, @ LSU, Texas A&M (Arlington, TX), @ Ole Miss, @ Alabama, Mississippi State, @ Florida, Auburn, FIU, Missouri
One of the stranger quirks in SEC scheduling in recent years has been the consistently burdensome schedule the league has saddled Arkansas with. This year is no different, as the conference once again did the Razorbacks no favors. Road games at LSU and Alabama - the two prohibitive favorites to win the division - might be a matter of unfortunate timing, but when the Razorbacks travel to Gainesville to play Florida in November it will mark the fourth time in the last five meetings between the two schools that the game will have been played in the Swamp.
Playing both Alabama and LSU is part and parcel of playing in the SEC West, but after hosting the Tigers and Crimson Tide a year ago, Arkansas has to travel to Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa. Further complicating matters for the Razorbacks is the fact that in odd-numbered years, the annual game against Texas A&M in Arlington, TX also counts as a home game for the Hogs, leaving them with only three conference home games.
Arkansas has to travel to Tuscaloosa this season, a place they have not won at since 2003.
4. South Carolina
UNC (Charlotte, NC), Furman, @ Georgia, Mississippi State, @ Tennessee, Florida, @ Missouri, @ Texas A&M, Jacksonville State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Clemson
With road games in Athens and Knoxville against the two teams likely to be projected to finish No.1 and No.2 in the Eastern Division when the media casts its votes at SEC Media Days next week, the Gamecocks have an exceptionally difficult path to try to take the next step as a program under third-year Head Coach Shane Beamer and make a push to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. Add to that divisional draw two non-conference games against ACC teams that are likely to begin the season inside the top-25 and a trip to College Station to take on one of the five most talented teams in the country and the schedule becomes especially daunting.
3. Florida
@ Utah, McNeese, Tennessee, Charlotte, @ Kentucky, Vanderbilt, @ South Carolina, Georgia (Jacksonville, FL), Arkansas, @ LSU, @ Missouri, Florida State
Not only is Florida afflicted with an annual rivalry game against the two-time defending national champion at the height of its powers, but this year’s game against Georgia in Jacksonville, FL counts as a home game for the Gators, leaving them with only three SEC home games. Of those conference home games, only the game against Vanderbilt is a game Gators fans should feel comfortable about winning heading into the season.
Florida’s conference schedule also includes a trip to Lexington to play a Kentucky program that has beaten the Gators two years in a row and a trip to Baton Rouge to face an LSU team that won the SEC West a year ago and with a returning quarterback, a strong wide receiver unit, and perhaps the SEC’s top-defender could reasonably be even better in year two of the Brian Kelly era. The Gators get Tennessee at home, but the Volunteers are coming off of a 10-win season and still possess a more talented roster than Florida.
Florida, led by second-year Head Coach Billy Napier faces one of the most daunting schedules in the country in 2023.
Any SEC schedule is going to be challenging, but when a conference slate is supplemented by a true cross country road game in Salt Lake City against the two-time defending Pac 12 champion and a home tilt against rival Florida State who is a popular preseason College Football Playoff pick, a schedule becomes borderline unmanageable
2. Auburn
UMass, @ California, Samford, @ Texas A&M, Georgia, @ LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, @ Vanderbilt, @ Arkansas, New Mexico State, Alabama
At least the Tigers catch a break and get them at home this season, but any team that has both Georgia and Alabama - the two teams that have combined to win each of the last three College Football Playoff National Championships - on its schedule instantly qualifies as a contender for the most difficult schedule in the country. On top of playing the two national powerhouses, Auburn also has to travel to LSU, who won the SEC West a year ago, and Texas A&M who is still only two years removed from hauling in the highest-rated recruiting class of all time.
When the third-tier games on your schedule are a home game against Ole Miss and a road trip to Arkansas, a team that is poised to be sneaky good this season, you know it's going to be a long season. Sure, Auburn draws Vanderbilt from the East to provide a slight breather, but that does little to alleviate the sheer brutality of its 2023 schedule.
1. Ole Miss
Mercer, @ Tulane, Georgia Tech, @ Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, @ Auburn, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, @ Georgia, ULM, @ Mississippi State
Along with Auburn and Kentucky, Ole Miss is one of three SEC teams to have the distinct misfortune to have to face both Georgia and Alabama in the 2023 regular season, but the Rebels are all alone in having to play the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide both on the road. Having to play in Tuscaloosa is difficult enough but requiring Ole Miss to follow that trip up with a game against the defending SEC Western Division champion LSU Tigers is just cruel on the part of the SEC.
Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin cannot be thrilled with the excessively brutal schedule his team has to face in 2023.
Exacerbating the overly onerous SEC portion of their schedule is a non-conference slate that features a game against Georgia Tech and a downright scary week two true road game against a Tulane team that won 12 games a year ago en route to a Cotton Bowl win over Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans. To be fair to those responsible for putting together Ole Miss’ non-conference slate, no one could have foreseen the Green Wave being this good heading into 2023, but that is the reality that the Rebels face nonetheless.
Other Georgia News:
- UGA Demands Retraction from AJC
- 2023 Season Preview: Can South Carolina Pull Off the Upset?
- Brock Bowers Slotted as Mid First-Round Pick To Start Season
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