For the next almost 12 months, SEC football fans will debate which SEC teams have the toughest and easiest 2026 schedules. Given that around 20-30% of each team's rosters are probably not set for next season, assumptions will change as talent levels ebb and flow. Every season has surprise teams, though it is difficult to believe that the SEC will have one in 2026 as surprising as the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2025.
Additionally, coaching carousels remain active, and it is not impossible Michigan could nab a current SEC head coach (just not one named Kalen DeBoer).
Despite the unknowns, it is never too early to argue about Strength of Schedule (SOS). Add my name to the many who stated the 2026 Alabama Crimson Tide had a gauntlet of games. A different word, or words, are needed for the 2026 season. College Football News opined that Alabama football has "no gauntlet (in 2026), just a typical SEC schedule, with plenty of tough tests and nasty games to deal with."
Without using the 'gauntlet' word, let's say 8 weeks of football for Alabama, with no bye week, is an onslaught. For Alabama in 2026, weeks 6-8 are Georgia, at Tennessee, and Texas A&M. Alabama will have lost some spring in its step by the time it gets to Knoxville, and more the following week in Tuscaloosa.
As SEC football schedules go, Alabama's is too not bad
The Alabama schedule is not all bad. Five games to mold a new team before taking on Georgia is a plus. Unlike the 2025 season, no SEC team has an open week advantage over the Crimson Tide. The first five weeks are: East Carolina, at Kentucky, FSU, South Carolina, and at Mississippi State.
So way, way, way too early, what SEC teams have the toughest schedules? Dustin Lewis of SI's College Football HQ says they are: LSU, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Vanderbilt. SEC Network experts picked three different teams on the rollout broadcast. Gene Chizik picked the Missouri Tigers. Roman Harper picked the Auburn Tigers, and Cole Cubelic picked the Texas Longhorns.