Alabama Football: New SEC scheduling might hurt the Crimson Tide
By Dakota Cox
Alabama football might be at a disadvantage with scheduling.
The college football season remains uncertain, but the SEC officially has a plan. Teams will play 10 games in a conference-only schedule. Eight of those games were already decided for Alabama football, but two remain up in the air.
There have been plenty of suggestions listed for how to handle the addition of two games. Alabama would love for the SEC to balance out strength of schedule. The Crimson Tide already had one of the toughest schedules in all of college football. Adding teams like Missouri or Kentucky would be ideal in terms of balance. However, the most popular suggestion has been to add Florida and Vanderbilt to the schedule.
These teams have been lofted because they are next on the rotation of SEC East opponents. In terms of not showing bias, this is the fairest way for everyone. However, this would be terrible for Alabama football.
Why would this schedule hurt Alabama football?
Florida would be a road game in this scenario. Alabama would now host Auburn, Georgia and Texas A&M. Adding in road games to LSU and Florida, and this schedule is devastating. Even if everything goes right for the Crimson Tide, it seems nearly impossible to go undefeated with that schedule. Even if they did, an SEC Championship game and a College Football Playoff would be insurmountable. In the meantime, Clemson would essentially have a cake walk through the ACC on their way to the College Football Playoff.
Will this happen? It’s too soon to tell. Alabama will be advocating for balance, and the Crimson Tide have a lot of pull in the SEC. However, conference executives have to realize that a postseason is not guaranteed. We might not even make it to the end of the regular season. With this in mind, the SEC might just schedule exciting games as early as possible. Let the Iron Bowl play out in September. Add Florida to Alabama’s schedule. Let chaos reign.
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Alabama football fans should be rooting against this. If it happens, the path to a national championship will get even more cloudy.