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It'd be hard to find many teams in the country with better ooc schedules than LSU the last 20 years and we've done okay, although the marquee games do indeed come near the beginning of the season.  The tradeoff to that as a fan, in a sense, is that every 4th year one of the patsies is really bad, as in FCS.  I could be wrong, but I believe there's a stipulation in place with someone/something that says LSU can't play an FCS team more often than that.  If I'm right about that, I think we're doing it as often as it's allowed.

I wanted to see what our Novembers looked like since the last expansion where we got handed A&M at or near the end of the season.  Excluding 2020 which featured only conference games, that's 10 seasons.  Body-bag games are so forgettable that I had to check, and we're at .500 for playing non-conference schmucks in November.  5 years we played a string of four SEC opponents.  3 years there was a schmuck scheduled in November.  The final two years featured only three games in November, with the now-usual pre-Bama bye week taking up a November spot.  Those seasons featured all-SEC Novembers, but with only 3 games played and not 4.  It should be noted that there would've been an additional year which would've replaced one of the 4-SEC-team Novembers, which was 2016 where LSU and Florida made up their October date canceled for hurricane reasons.  We played 4 SEC teams that November, but the original plan would've been a body-bag that was canceled so the conference game could be made up. 


fwiw, 2019 was a 4-SEC team November, which didn't matter at all.  And I assume this is the case for all the big boys...they're going to win their games no matter if they play a patsy or another SEC game...the best team almost always wins.  I'm skeptical this actually matters because the premise assumes Bama and UGA would be losing more games if they played SEC teams late instead of cream-puffs, and that is entirely unjustified imo. 

Agreed.  

Besides, most teams all play only one OOC marquee opponent, and even then you can try to schedule a marquee game but unless you've got Bama or Ohio State there is no guarantee that Washington, UCLA, Clemson, etc will be any good 7-9 years down the road.  

In related news, saw someone post this on surlyhorns.  I laughed.



But you know, if Texas secretly hated the SEC and wanted to take it down, what better way, than from the inside?

Muahahahahahahahahahaaaa

I liked

I'd have been disappointed if you didn't....

I haven't looked that closely at LSU's schedule (outside of 2019 for obvious reasons) but I do recall seeing teams like McNeese and Southern in the past, and if there are any D1-AA teams on the schedule at all, then I think I can find plenty of teams with better OOC schedules than LSU.

You shouldn't take it personally, you don't make the schedules, but having a 1-AA team on the schedule and then claiming it's a good OOC schedule, is a pretty immediate "no" from me.

 
Every 4th year...yeah, I said that.  

Doesn't detract from the fact we've had more P5 games on the schedule than many in that time span.  We also travel as far out of our territory as you get, although I realize that's atypical for an SEC team.  Well....we used to.  Seems we're in love with those neutral site one-offs now.  

But I wouldn't arbitrarily increase the weighted value of one game every 4 years whilst also admitting to not knowing who the other teams are or how they should be weighted and then make that claim.  

Tho, granted.....Having Texas on the schedule in 2019 really does drag our ooc look down.  Those guys have been bottom feeders for years now

Maybe every 4th year they can't play FCS?  There used to be something along those lines, I thought for sure.  Maybe I'm thinking of something further back prior to expansion, who knows. 

Ah well.  We have a lot of PAC and ACC teams in those years, often not bottom-feeders.  If there is an SEC team doing any better than what LSU's done the past 20 years, I don't know who it would be.  

Div I-AA Opponents.

Alabama
2022: Austin Peay
2021: Mercer
2020: N/A
2019: Western Carolina
2018: Citadel

Arkansas
2022: Missouri State
2021: Ark-Pine Bluff
2020: N/A
2019: Portland State
2018: Eastern Illinois

Auburn
2022: Mercer
2021: Alabama State
2020: N/A
2019: Samford
2018: Alabama State

Florida
2022: Eastern Washington
2021: Samford
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Martin
2018: Charleston Southern

Georgia
2022: Samford
2021: Charleston Southern
2020: N/A
2019: Murray State
2018: Austin Peay

Kentucky
2022: Youngstown State
2021: Tennessee-Chattanooga
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Martin
2018: Murray State

LSU
2022: Southern
2021: McNeese State
2020: N/A
2019: Northwestern State
2018: Southeastern Louisiana

Mississippi
2022: Central Arkansas
2021: Austin Peay
2020: N/A
2019: Southeastern Louisiana
2018: Southern Illinois

Mississippi State
2022: East Tennessee State
2021: Tennessee State
2020: N/A
2019: Abilene Christian
2018: Stephen F. Austin

Missouri
2022: Abilene Christian
2021: Southeast Missouri State
2020: N/A
2019: Southeast Missouri State
2018: Tennessee Martin

South Carolina
2022: South Carolina State
2021: Eastern Illinois
2020: N/A
2019: Charleston Southern
2018: Tennessee Chattanooga

Tennessee
2022: Tennessee-Martin
2021: Tennessee Tech
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Chattanooga
2018: East Tennessee State

Texas A&M
2022: Sam Houston State
2021: Prairie View A&M
2020: N/A
2019: Lamar
2018: Northwestern State

Vanderbilt
2022: Elon
2021: East Tennessee State
2020: N/A
2019: East Tennessee State
2018: Tennessee State

.
.
Note: 2020 was the Covid year with all non-conference games cancelled.

Div I-AA Opponents.

Alabama
2022: Austin Peay
2021: Mercer
2020: N/A
2019: Western Carolina
2018: Citadel

Arkansas
2022: Missouri State
2021: Ark-Pine Bluff
2020: N/A
2019: Portland State
2018: Eastern Illinois

Auburn
2022: Mercer
2021: Alabama State
2020: N/A
2019: Samford
2018: Alabama State

Florida
2022: Eastern Washington
2021: Samford
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Martin
2018: Charleston Southern

Georgia
2022: Samford
2021: Charleston Southern
2020: N/A
2019: Murray State
2018: Austin Peay

Kentucky
2022: Youngstown State
2021: Tennessee-Chattanooga
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Martin
2018: Murray State

LSU
2022: Southern
2021: McNeese State
2020: N/A
2019: Northwestern State
2018: Southeastern Louisiana

Mississippi
2022: Central Arkansas
2021: Austin Peay
2020: N/A
2019: Southeastern Louisiana
2018: Southern Illinois

Mississippi State
2022: East Tennessee State
2021: Tennessee State
2020: N/A
2019: Abilene Christian
2018: Stephen F. Austin

Missouri
2022: Abilene Christian
2021: Southeast Missouri State
2020: N/A
2019: Southeast Missouri State
2018: Tennessee Martin

South Carolina
2022: South Carolina State
2021: Eastern Illinois
2020: N/A
2019: Charleston Southern
2018: Tennessee Chattanooga

Tennessee
2022: Tennessee-Martin
2021: Tennessee Tech
2020: N/A
2019: Tennessee-Chattanooga
2018: East Tennessee State

Texas A&M
2022: Sam Houston State
2021: Prairie View A&M
2020: N/A
2019: Lamar
2018: Northwestern State

Vanderbilt
2022: Elon
2021: East Tennessee State
2020: N/A
2019: East Tennessee State
2018: Tennessee State

.
.
Note: 2020 was the Covid year with all non-conference games cancelled.

FCS.  It just means more.