As we move into the NFL Playoffs and with sports best tournament, the Final Four in college basketball on the horizon, here is peek over the horizon, the so called ‘look down radar’. A sneak preview of the 2022 college football schedule.
1st up, is the Mighty Southeastern conference!
On Sully’s College Football Page, we use a system of color coding to make the reading of a particular team’s, strength of schedule, easily recognized and understood!
The color Red is used to identify conference games, Yellow, for Power Five (P5) opponents, Green, to signify Group of Five (G5) teams, and finally, we use Light Blue for the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The FCS can offer up to 63 scholarship (not more than 63, yet can offer fewer), while the Football Bowl Subdivision ( P5 & G5) must provide 85 scholarships or lose their status as an FBS program!
https://sullyscollegefootballpage.com/Football_Stats/Conference_Listings.cfm?MCID=1&DVID=6
In should be noted, the terms P5 & G5 are not NCAA language, but rather the constructs of five conferences (ACC, B-10, B-12, PAC 12, & SEC) and Notre Dame! No one is quiet sure of the origin of these terms, Power Five & Group of Five, they seem to have evolved over time, suffice to say, they are not NCAA Terms!
That said: the Southeastern Conference plays 56 Non-Conference games and in 2022, 16 of the tilts are vs Power Five program, 27 vs G5s, & 13 vs FCS teams!
Lets begin in the West Division by identifying their P5 opponents and putting a number to the G5 & FCS teams they will play in 2022.
From the West Division, Alabama Travels to Austin to take on Texas, Arkansas heads west to take on BYU (the SEC & B-10 count BYU & Army as P5 opponents for scheduling purposes) while Auburn hosts’ Penn State on Sept. 17th. LSU opens its season @ Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans vs Florida State, Mississippi State travels west to battle Arizona, while fellow Mississippian, OLE Miss, travels to Georgia to take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and finally, Texas A&M welcomes the Miami Hurricanes to College Station. The West Division’s seven (7) members each play one (1) game against a P5 opponent!
The West Division plays a G5 opponent on fifteen (15) occasions and have scheduled FCS teams on six (6) dates.
The West Division’s schedule breakdown is 28 NC games, 7 vs P5, 15 against G5s and 6 with FCS squads! Texas A&M is the only team in the West that is not playing an FCS opponent!
In the East Division, Vanderbilt travels to North Carolina to take on Wake Forest, Tennessee heads North to battle Pitt, South Carolina stays home and gets it on with in-state rival, @ Clemson. Missouri crosses a state line, to line it up vs Kansas State, Kentucky stays in the Blue Grass State and kicks it off, @ home, against Louisville, Georgia takes on two (2) P5s, Oregon @ a neutral site (Atlanta) & Georgia Tech @ home and finally, Florida, just like its friends from Georgia, plays two (2) P5s, 1st the Gators welcome Utah to the ‘Sunshine State’ and then travel from Gainesville to Tallahassee, to “lace-em-up” vs Florida State, in the Chop or Chomp Game! The East plays nine (9) P5 teams, every member plays one (1) with the exception of Georgia & Florida, who battle two (2) P5s!
The East Division plays a G5 opponent on twelve (12) occasions and have schedule seven (7) FCS teams!
The East Division’s schedule breakdown is 28 NC games, 9 vs P5, 12 against G5s and 7 with FCS squads! Every team in the East plays, at least, one (1) P5, one (1) G5, & one (1) FCS program!
The Southeastern Conference plays 8 conference games and 4 Non-Conference (NC) games to reach their allotted regular season 12 game total. As a result, the conference has to schedules 56 NC games (14 teams X 4 = 56) to reach their their conference total of 168 games (112 conference games + 56 NC tilts = 168 total blood-baths in the Southeastern Conference).
As a conference, they play 16 P5 opponents; two (2) of these games are at Neutral Sites, Five (5) are to be played in Southeastern Stadiums, & Nine (9) of these games will be played as true road games; (two (2) in B-12 Arenas, one (1) in an Independent Stadium, one (1) in a PAC 12 House, & four (4) in ACC territory)!
The SEC plays 27 G5 and 13 FCS all @ home, except for Vanderbilt, who plays @ Hawaii (I get that, I would like to go with them) yet, I’m confused as to why Commodores are traveling to Dekalb, IL to take on Northern Illinois, a MAC team? These games are usually best thought of as ‘cash for a home date/win’ as a result, the P5 teams rarely travel! I do not believe, since I started the site (2009), I have ever seen a P5 program, play two (2) G5s on the road in the same season (one, yes … two, 2 never). Interesting!
The 2022 Southeastern Non-Conference season looks like this, 56 NC games, 43 are home contests, 11 are road battles, & 2 are scheduled at neutral sites!
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