2008 SEC Football Scheduling News (Part II)

Earlier today, we talked about the best non-traditional out of conference games in the SEC for 2008. Let's look at the Bag Over the Head Circuit of Shame Award(TM) for worst non-conference schedule....and the winner is Alabama.

Western Kentucky
Tulane
UTEP
Northern Illinois

You have to admire the sense of humor of Mal Moore, Alabama's athletic director. Booking Mike Price's UTEP club for a game in Tuscaloosa will keep the Finebaums and bloggers of the world very busy.


UTEP vs. Bama was Destiny
After a great run of home/away series with UCLA and Oklahoma, the Tide has really hit the skids. They've canceled or move series with Penn State, Georgia Tech, and I think Notre Dame. In favor of four out of five years of non-sense such as:

2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
UTEP	FSU (Jax)	Hawaii	S. Miss	S. Miss
N. Illinois	Houston	Duke	MTSU	Utah St.
Tulane	UL-M	UL-M	Utah State	W. Carolina
WKU	W. Carolina	FIU

In other 2008 scheduling News:
-- LSU, Auburn and Ole Miss appear to need two more games to round out their schedules. It's unlikely that Auburn will schedule an additional top flight opponent given the WVU series, and Ole Miss already has Memphis and Wake on the books. Expect both of them to book small schools for the final slots.

-- LSU is still looking high and low for its final two slots (Baton Rouge Advocate). They have openings in Weeks 2 and 3. The Advocate also reports that Michigan has openings in Weeks 1 and 4. Missed each other by "that much" I guess. LSU's other non-conference games in 2008 are Troy and Tulane so they need a quality game to fill out their slate. Things are complex in their search because they need all four games to be at home (BTW -- 8 home games is ridiculous).

-- Georgia is also looking for a game in Week 2 of 2008. We're already playing Arizona State and Georgia Tech out of conference. We're rotating into LSU (road) and Bama (home) for the SEC West Games. Combine that with our once every four year match-up with Georgia Southern (season opener), and you can expect the final team to be a directional school or fictitious state.

-- The 2008 season will have two bye-weeks due to scheduling. So technically, Georgia has an opening in Week 2 or 6; however, it's likely the Week 6 slot will stay open as a bye before the UT home game.

-- Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina all lack quality non-traditional non-conference games. However, in UK and SC's defense they do play Louisville and Clemson respectively. That said, if anyone has any news on the NC State vs. SC potential series for '08/'09, let me know.

-- In non-SEC news, Ohio State at Southern Cal looks to be the flagship non-conference game of 2008.

PWD

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