But you're right--this makes 5 straight years of neutral site openers.

Now--my attempt at rating the OOC schedules, using Steele's power index and generally excluding AAA teams and not adjusting for Home/away. I'm generally pretty pleased with the outlook and a lot of these were pretty close calls on which order to go in (UGA gets some extra points for 2 actual ACC teams, for instance). Oh and surprise, surprise Miss St brings up the rear (and even they draw BYU):

Ole Miss
2 Florida State
58 Memphis (American?)
72 Georgia Southern (SunBelt)
Option Wofford

Auburn
5 Clemson
60 Arkansas State (SunBelt)
127 La-Monroe (SunBelt)

Bama
15 Southern Cal
63 Western Kentucky (CUSA)
102 Kent State

Georgia
26 North Carolina
46 Georgia Tech
92 La-Lafayette (SunBelt)

Florida
2 Florida State
125 UMass
126 North Texas (CUSA)

South Carolina
5 Clemson
99 East Carolina
125 UMass

Arkansas
11 TCU
98 LaTech (CUSA)
128 Texas State (SunBelt)

Texas A&M
16 UCLA
124 New Mexico State (SunBelt)
123 UTSA (CUSA)

Kentucky
23 Louisville
79 Southern Miss (CUSA)
124 New Mexico State (SunBelt)

Vanderbilt
46 Georgia Tech
63 Western Kentucky (CUSA)
71 Middle Tennessee (CUSA)

Tennessee
39 Virginia Tech
66 Appalachian State
90 Ohio

LSU
36 Wisconsin
79 Southern Miss (CUSA)
118 South Alabama (SunBelt)

Missouri
44 West Virginia
71 Middle Tennessee (CUSA)
110 Eastern Michigan

Miss State
43 BYU
118 South Alabama
125 UMass

Now, where will the next SEC-SunBelt upset or surprising challenge come from? Well, barring a bowl game, one of the following, by my suspected quality of game (# is, again, the Steele power rank):

60 Arkansas State v. 19 Auburn
124 New Mexico State v. 74 Kentucky
66 Appalachian State v. 6 Tennessee
72 Georgia Southern v. 10 Ole Miss
92 La-Lafayette v. 29 Georgia
118 South Alabama v. 35 Mississippi State
128 Texas State v. 28 Arkansas
127 La-Monroe v. 19 Auburn
124 New Mexico State v. 25 Texas A&M
118 South Alabama v. 3 LSU

Arky lite v Auburn gets top billing due to their sandwiching between Clemson and TAMU, plus the hilarious game against Jacksonville State last year. State returns a ton of their best players and may actually be upgrading QB with an Oklahoma transfer. This should still be a scrimmage, but a good one.

Kentucky's next because they're bad enough to lose anything, and will be at an emotional low coming off another loss to Florida--possibly a heartbreaking one, or a not close one which makes them feel bad compared to last year. I actually think New Mexico State is over rated at #125.

Tennessee is #6, in theory, but I'm slightly skeptical of that. Seems like just a year ago people were declaring the whole program dead & buried. Oh, it was just a year ago. The Appys are nothing if not cantankerous and ambitious. I expect a heartfelt attempt, and possibly eye-gouging.


The complete Sunbelt OOC's, by spitball difficulty:

66 Appalachian State
6 Tennessee
18 Miami
96 Akron
106 Old Dominion

127 La-Monroe
4 Oklahoma
19 Auburn
80 New Mexico

118 South Alabama
3 LSU
35 Mississippi State
45 San Diego State

72 Georgia Southern
10 Ole Miss
46 Georgia Tech
54 Western Michigan

92 La-Lafayette
29 Georgia
31 Boise State
122 Tulane

116 Idaho
8 Washington
48 Washington State
105 UNLV

60 Arkansas State
19 Auburn
69 Toledo
84 Utah State

124 New Mexico State
25 Texas A&M
74 Kentucky
80 New Mexico
103 UTEP

128 Texas State
28 Arkansas
30 Houston
90 Ohio

101 Troy
5 Clemson
79 Southern Miss
125 UMass

119 Georgia State
36 Wisconsin
55 Air Force
121 Ball State

Considering Auburn almost lost to Jax St last year I would be a bit concerned about Arky St. But Arky St is the game after the Clemson opener so if we get dumped by Dabo I'll be extremely concerned about this game and the rest of the year

Football is such an uphill battle without a QB

How about the Conference USA/SEC "upset" outlook. I'll be hoping for 2 CUSA wins out of this bunch. First up is the BigPoppa invitational:

63 Western Kentucky v. 70 Vanderbilt
71 Middle Tennessee v. 70 Vanderbilt
71 Middle Tennessee v. 62 Missouri
79 Southern Miss v. 74 Kentucky
98 LaTech v. 28 Arkansas
123 UTSA v. 25 Texas A&M
126 North Texas v. 22 Florida
63 Western Kentucky v. 1 Alabama
79 Southern Miss v. 3 LSU


The complete CUSA OOC list:

104 Rice
7 Stanford
14 Baylor
95 Army

59 Marshall

23 Louisville
32 Pitt
96 Akron

63 Western Kentucky
1 Alabama
70 Vanderbilt
120 Miami (Ohio)

100 Florida Atlantic
18 Miami
41 Kansas State
121 Ball State

123 UTSA
25 Texas A&M
37 Arizona State
97 Colorado State

71 Middle Tennessee
62 Missouri
70 Vanderbilt
83 Bowling Green

115 Charlotte
23 Louisville
61 Temple
110 Eastern Michigan

106 Old Dominion
47 NC State
66 Appalachian State
125 UMass

109 FIU
57 Indiana
85 Maryland
111 UCF
125 UMass

79 Southern Miss
3 LSU
74 Kentucky
101 Troy

98 LaTech
28 Arkansas
67 Texas Tech
125 UMass

103 UTEP
24 Texas
95 Army
124 New Mexico State

126 North Texas
22 Florida
95 Army
113 SMU

Jesus that ****ing DA.

ALABAMA

THE SOUTH

The judge didn't wanna ruin his future! Guess football player's futures matter more than us regular folk

So Sony Michel broke his arm, prolly will miss first couple games. Haven't heard anything about Rub a Dub Chubbs return. Looks like Jacob Eason is gonna have to grow up real quick

Why would anyone want to be a Georgia RB

You're going to get hurt

Man UGA runs bad with rbs lately

Nah, wasn't even the judge it was the DA and said, "Let me be clear; I'm only doing this because these two are football players." Seems like the usual strategy would be to slip in the word "not" somewhere, at least.

I got Chubb and Sony being fine for game 3 at the latest. Still depth at RB, though sorta sucks to play a decent team in the opener, although it's at the Dome.

has anyone bothered to tell Coach Hat and the rest of the players someone considers them to be a 'decent team'?

So I was wrong about the second guy. Thought they had advanced down there in the 30 years since I left.

Dan Mullen. JFC. Nuke this clown

PSU: "No one's responsible." Nuke 'em!
MSU: "We're all responsible." Nuke 'em!

Goldilocks is still searching for the middle moral high ground.

http://wspa.com/2016/07/11/no-suspen...na-possession/

Meh, it's just weed. It's not like they had guns in their possession

*ahem*

2nd Amendment

if there's any silver lining to these cases it's that people seem to finally be done getting OUTRAGED over weed, Southern people even

Weed is illegal

Also apparently not outraged about dudes beating the **** out of a woman on video

maybe in your state, but not mine.

And then when Mullen was asked what he would think if that had been his daughter, he just said that she wouldn't have been in a situation like that. I hope that lucky bitch with such good judgment is grown and not living on or near campus during football season.

I think I'm going to buy a single wide and a Camry and move to Ashland and drive for Uber

Get some hydro growing