According to the ESPN FPI, only two SEC football teams have an easier schedule than Alabama. They are the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Georgia Bulldogs. With a Crimson Tide schedule that includes Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and LSU, why does Alabama have one of the SEC's easiest schedules? The answer is Alabama's projected weak opponents. Also, one of the least challenging SEC schedules is not weak compared to the entire FBS. The FPI ranks Alabama No. 15 in Strength of Schedule (SOS) overall.
Using Brian Fremeau's F+ rankings, the weakest team Alabama will play (excluding ECU and Chattanooga) is Mississippi State at No. 45 nationally. The Kentucky Wildcats are at No. 39, Florida State No. 34, South Carolina No. 29, Auburn No. 26, and Vanderbilt No. 25. The Crimson Tide plays three of those 'weaker' teams on the road. Except for the cowbell factor in Starkville, Davis-Wade Stadium does not boost State significantly. Lexington and Nashville are not daunting road environments either.
Computer models offer no consensus in the ranking of SEC teams. Human predictions are even more inconsistent, except for almost everyone ranking Arkansas as the SEC's worst. Recently the Texas A&M site Aggies Wire power-ranked the SEC teams. Vanderbilt ranked next-to-last, at No. 15. Other Crimson Tide opponents, Auburn and Kentucky, ranked No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.
Alabama fans will enjoy and Auburn fans hate
Aubies will not like that ranking, but it is less of an insult than what Joel Klatt recently said about the Tigers' program: "Auburn reminds me a lot of Texas A&M in that there's not a ton of consistency, but the expectations are always that they're going to be great... They're a popcorn program just like A&M. They're an average program that pops up every once in a while."
My take is that choosing the worst Alabama opponent is a toss-up between Kentucky and Mississippi State. Given that the Wildcats will only be in game two with a new coaching staff, I'll give the 'worst' nod to Will Stein's Kentucky Wildcats.
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