LSU Tigers 2016 College Football Docket Reason People Knock SEC Schedules

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

For years the media has wrongly knocked the SEC for easy non-conference schedules creating a subculture movement and belief among college football fans that only FCS programs are scheduled to fatten win-loss records. The reality is the SEC typically schedules tough games across the board, or at least one tough non-conference game per team per season.

LSU’s 2016 college football schedule does not help move the needle on the “easy” SEC lineups.

The Tigers’ non-conference scheduling has gone from laughable in 2008 to fairly tough and back to laughable by 2016. The overall SEC myth of scheduling cupcakes could have started in 2008 when LSU’s toughest non-conference game was against FCS No. 1 Appalachian State (43-13). The Tigers’ three other non-conference games that season were rounded out by North Texas, Tulane, and Troy; all wins.

The scheduling was kicked up a notch in 2009 with a season opener in Seattle against Washington (31-23). The Tigers continued to add now known as Power Five Conference teams playing their 2010 opener vs. No. 18 North Carolina (30-24) in the Georgia Dome and in Week 4 vs. No. 22 West Virginia (20-14). The 2011 season opener was against No. 3 Oregon (40-27) in Cowboys Stadium and they also played No. 16 West Virginia at Mountaineer Field (47-21). Week 2 in 2012 was against Washington (41-3) and in 2013 LSU started the season off against No. 20 TCU (37-27) at Cowboys Stadium. The 2014 season opener was at NRG Stadium in Houston against No. 14 Wisconsin (28-24).

Over this time period LSU has not disappointed their fan base or the SEC winning all of their non-conference games. The disenfranchised will point out that only two of the games over the seven year period were played at the opposition’s home field, at Washington in 2009 and at West Virginia in 2011. The reality is four of the games were played on neutral sites with only two games played in Death Valley as part of a home-and-home series against Washington and West Virginia.

The 2015 schedule had a named Power Five conference program in Syracuse out of the ACC, a road game played in the Carrier Dome, and Western Kentucky (48-20), a bowl berth candidate and potential Conference USA champion. But all of the forward momentum of proving the misinformed wrong will go out the window when breaking down LSU’s 2016 schedule. Who can argue the merits of playing Wisconsin-Green Bay, Jacksonville State, Southern Miss, and South Alabama?

Every other SEC team plays at least one reputable team in 2016:

Alabama

Southern Cal (USC) – Arlington

Western Kentucky

Arkansas

Louisiana Tech

TCU – Amon G. Carter Stadium

Auburn

Clemson

Arkansas State

Florida

Florida State

Georgia

North Carolina – Atlanta

Georgia Tech

Kentucky

Louisville

Ole Miss

Florida State – Orlando

Memphis

Mississippi State

BYU

Missouri

West Virginia

South Carolina

East Carolina

Clemson

Tennessee

Virginia Tech – Bristol

Texas A&M

UCLA

Vanderbilt

Georgia Tech

Western Kentucky

LSU 2016 College Football Schedule

DATE	OPPONENT
Sept. 3	Wisconsin (Green Bay)
Sept. 10	JACKSONVILLE STATE
Sept. 17	MISSISSIPPI STATE
Sept. 24	at Auburn
Oct. 1	MISSOURI
Oct. 8	at Florida
Oct. 15	SOUTHERN MISS
Oct. 22	OLE MISS
Oct. 29	open date
Nov. 5	ALABAMA
Nov. 12	at Arkansas
Nov. 19	SOUTH ALABAMA
Nov. 24 (Thurs)	at Texas A&M

Photo credit: jimfiest.com; LSU cheerleaders fire up the crowd.