Texas A&M's Schedule is Unenviable // SEC 2012: The New SEC

This is an overview. Predictions come later. Home games in CAPS.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

8/30: at Louisiana Tech

9/8: FLORIDA

9/15: at SMU

9/22: SOUTH CAROLINA STATE

9/29: ARKANSAS

SEC schedules: you're sort of doing it right so far, Aggies. The opening month of the year is for tune ups and one to two conference games depending on how the calendar for the year works. This set of games certainly follows that pattern. However, going on the road to WAC/CUSA teams is not generally done except for the Mississippi schools. I'll give you a pass this time because this is your first year in the league and you were once in a conference with SMU. Tighten this up a bit in the future, won't you? Anyway, the Florida game is nice to have at home but it adds a sense of foreboding when it come to the schedule as a whole. This is one of the tougher SEC schedules this year. The offensive fireworks in the Arkansas game will be entertaining, that's for sure.

OCTOBER

10/6: at Ole Miss

10/13: BYE

10/20: LSU

10/27: at Auburn

The schedule makers were kind enough to space out the toughest SEC West teams with Arkansas last month and LSU here with Bama yet to come. October is usually the month where conference slates get painful, but this one certainly could be worse. Yes, the visit from the Bayou Bengals will hurt, but having Ole Miss and Auburn be two of the four SEC road games is not so bad this year. The Rebels are the weak man of the West, so better to get them on the road than use up home field advantage against the division's consensus basement dweller. And Auburn? Well, Auburn will definitely be feisty, but let's just say it won't be a repeat of 2010 on the Plains.

NOVEMBER

11/3: at Mississippi State

11/10: at Alabama

11/17: SAM HOUSTON STATE

11/24: MISSOURI

Again, having Mississippi State on the road is not so bad. Well, it is bad for your hearing thanks to all those blasted cowbells. However three of the four conference road games are against teams that, along with A&M itself, are projected to be in the bottom four of the division. The trip to Tuscaloosa, on the other hand, is not a show of mercy. It will not end any other way than a multi-touchdown loss with the home crowd helpfully pointing out that they just beat the hell outta you. The customary late season cupcake is a nice SEC-ish touch, and as I understand it, A&M is familiar with the final team on the slate. Getting Mizzou out of the East is another way that the schedule is unkind, because both the Tigers and Gators will be in contention for the division crown for much (if not all) of the season. There are good aspects and bad aspects to this schedule, but certainly no one is envying it. The entire West plus two of the best East teams adds up to a a near worst-case scenario, with only the absence of Georgia and/or South Carolina lightening the load.