Last year both Texas and Oklahoma were added to the SEC. Texas drew the favorable schedule avoiding Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina and Missouri (all ranked) while Oklahoma drew all 6 of those and also had to face Texas. Texas ended up in the title game and Oklahoma went 6-6. With the Power Four conferences going to as many as 18 team leagues, who you play and who you miss is even more important.
Today I look at the SEC. The SEC plays an 8-game schedule but there are two games that are played at a neutral field. There were plenty of years during the magazine where the Georgia/Florida team that had 5 games away from home and 3 home games finished below the Georgia/Florida team that had had 3 true road games. The team that gives up its home edge for the neutral site game is at a disadvantage. There are two neutral site games this year with Texas/Oklahoma and Georgia/Florida.
The teams with just 3 true SEC road games are Oklahoma and Georgia.
The teams with just 3 SEC Home games are Texas and Florida
The next category to look at is conference records from last year. Last year when Texas and Oklahoma who went 8-1 and 7-2 so a combined 15-3 were added and the opponents records for SEC teams equaled 54.6%. This year all the teams remain the same, so the math adds up with 512 wins and 512 losses for opponents.
In this category Mississippi St plays the toughest schedule with their opponents 41-23 last year and Oklahoma (once again) is right behind them at 40-24 62.5%. Texas once again draws the easiest slate along with Tennessee as those two’s SEC foes combine for just a 24-40 record in SEC play last year! Missouri is close behind with their foes 25-39 39%.
I have the chart color coded. Now, you may disagree with my ratings, but I went with the Power Poll for the most part but could easily have made some Pink teams RED or some Blue teams Pink, etc. I have put the teams in four colors.
The top level of teams are the superpowers. I list those teams in RED for you do not want to play them. That top level category in no particular order are Texas, Georgia, Alabama and LSU which will all be top 10 teams in this year’s AP preseason Poll.
The next level is Pink (almost RED) and these are teams I could easily have included in the Super Power category as each of them are in the top 11 of my Power Poll.
The next level is in Blue and they are teams that look like bowl teams or bowl caliber teams for this year. Naturally this is the SEC so most teams that are not in the first two categories fall into this slot. For the first time since I have been doing this exercise, Vanderbilt is not a GREEN team this year as Pavia is back and they showed last year they can knock off the big boys.
The bottom level is GREEN for teams that you want to draw. Only two SEC teams this year fit that category and they are Miss St and Kentucky.
There are five teams that take on 6 teams from the RED and Pink categories with Oklahoma and Florida two of the three teams that face 3 of the preseason Top 10 teams. The team with the best schedule is Texas facing just one of the top 10 teams and 4 from the Pink, RED categories. .
Missouri avoids Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas. Texas avoids Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, South Carolina and Ole Miss.
Here is the chart and here is how I grade this year’s CONFERENCE schedules, keep in mind non-conference games are not included in this strength of schedule.
I know many of you order the magazine in advance so that you can be the FIRST in the country to receive one. The VIP’s have had access to the digital version of the magazine since June 9th and we mailed out all VIP’s their magazine on June 11th.
When you purchase the VIP deal you get the magazine before it hits the bookstores, you get the digital magazine for FREE, you get 4 weeks of my Inside the Pressbox newsletter for FREE, and you get my FCS magazine for FREE as well. That is over $200 worth of football info for just $39.95. That deal closed on May 30th as it is the only way to ensure all our VIP got taken care of on time.
The VIP digital bonus was even better than expected once again as all VIP members had access to the magazine three days after we sent it to the press and were reading it for close to a full week before it was even printed (3 weeks before it hit the newsstand). Also, we did not open access to the digital magazine to anyone but VIP members for a full week after that! All VIP members had a full week of EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version!
I have opened a Second Chance VIP. There are a couple of minor differences in the Second Chance VIP. Naturally right now people that sign up for the digital or buy a magazine through us online all get immediate access to the digital version so you will not have the EXCLUSIVE access that the VIP’s had but you will have immediate access to the digital magazine.
The pre-May 30th VIP’s signed up well in advance (some in December) so they got that $39.95 price. Your price is still a great one and just a little more at $45 but you get over $200 worth of stuff included! The early bird does get the worm.
The VIP DEAL gets you FOUR free issues of my Inside the Pressbox Newsletter which sells for $20 per issue. The newsletter gives you my personal analysis of every game for the weekend and supplies you with my computer’s forecast for each game projecting each team’s rush yards, pass yards and points. Your second chance comes with 4 Free College Issues (Week 0, 1, 2, 3) plus one bonus NFL week the exact same that the pre-May 30th VIP’s receive.
The VIP DEAL also will get you my 2025 Phil Steele FCS magazine (digital only) FREE and this is a $25 value! This year there are 126 games between FCS and FBS teams and you can become an instant expert on all 128 FCS teams getting the magazine in much the same format as the FBS magazine. You get two FULL pages on EVERY FCS team! Keep in mind most states have legalized gambling, and they post numbers on FCS vs FCS games, and you will have remarkable line value on these games being an expert while the majority of folks know very little about the FCS teams.
To get my second chance VIP Click here.
Last year I added a SUPER VIP deal. The price is just $25 more or basically the cost of one magazine mailed to you. In the SUPER VIP you get TWO magazines and also access to Phil Steele Plus ($99) for a FULL year thru the Super Bowl! If you are thinking of subscribing to Phil Steele Plus again for 2025, just get the SUPER VIP deal and save $30 plus get two magazines and all the other bonuses. To get the SUPER VIP membership CLICK HERE> Click here to pre-order magazine. You can also order by calling 1-866-918-7711.
