5 SEC Schools Make List of 10 Hardest Football Schedules

Here in the South if we're not watching college football, we're talking about college football. And yeah, if you're reading this from another part of the country we do have a chip on our shoulders about the sport. You might be familiar with the Southeastern Conference's current marketing slogan, "It just means more". Well, that's because it does.

If your team plays in the Southeastern Conference and you come out of the season with more wins than losses then you've had an okay year. But, that kind of record won't even get you a sniff of the SEC football championship game. You've got to be truly special to play for the SEC title, which almost assures you a chance to play in the College Football Playoff tournament.

We say all that to say this. Playing in the SEC is tough. How tough? Well, ESPN recently released their rankings of which schools have the hardest football schedules in 2023. To no one's surprise five schools in the conference made the list. In fact, ESPN's computers say Ole Miss will have the hardest schedule. Then the "worldwide leader" lists Florida at number three and Auburn with the fifth hardest schedule.

Arkansas and Tennessee are the other SEC schools that have schedules in ESPN's Top Ten hardest. The Razorbacks have the sixth hardest schedule while Tennessee's schedule is ranked at number eight.

The other schools listed within the ESPN Top Ten list were Minnesota at two, Maryland at four, Michigan State at seven, Rutgers at nine, and Indiana at number 10. Oddly enough USA Today's listing of "strength of schedule" found that Georgia, LSU, and Alabama all have some of the "easiest" schedules in the conference this year.

But no matter what the preseason pundits have to say about "how hard or how easy" you still have to play the game on the field. These prognostications can't take into account injuries, or field conditions, or trips through the transfer portal either. So, I guess this is something to talk about until the first week in September when all the talk turns to what is happening on the field.