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Mind of Mike: SEC winners and losers, season outlook dims

Ed Orgeron
Ed Orgeron (AP Images)

The Mind of Mike is a dangerous place. Here are the latest thoughts from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell about the college football season.

MORE: As football season heads toward collapse, which conference will go first?

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... I was excited to write a feature about the winners and losers from the SEC's conference schedule announcement Friday, but then the MAC postponed its season on Saturday and rumors spread that the Big Ten was considering doing the same.

Let’s start there. First off, let’s not downplay the affect this has on these MAC players who have been working hard to prepare for a football season. Now they are stuck. Should they transfer to another program that is currently scheduled to play this fall and run the risk that the season will be postponed across all levels of the NCAA? Do they wait and play in the spring and risk being an afterthought if the Power Five follows through with playing this fall? There are no good answers here.

This is not a good sign for college football. Optics are key in this world, and if the Power Five plays while others shut it down, it enhances the perception that major college football is more about money than it is about the players.

... Now for some fun stuff as we continue to look ahead to a season that, at least for right now, is scheduled to be played this fall. The SEC announced two additional cross-divisional opponents for each of its teams on Friday and some programs got great news, while others were dealt an unlucky hand. Here are my winners and losers.

SEC WINNERS

LSU — The reigning champs got Missouri and Vanderbilt, which could be the easiest combination of new additions in the SEC.

Georgia — The Bulldogs added two should-be wins on the schedule in Arkansas and Mississippi State.

Alabama — The Tide will likely be heavily favored over both Kentucky and Missouri.

Mississippi State — I count this as a win because Vanderbilt should be an easy victory. Getting Georgia on the docket isn’t ideal but a split would be a solid result for Mike Leach.

Ole Miss — South Carolina and Kentucky aren’t guaranteed wins for Lane Kiffin but you have to think they are happy with this draw.

Auburn — South Carolina is a good draw and Tennessee could be tough, but these should both result in wins for the Tigers.

Florida — Arkansas is an easy win and Texas A&M is tough, but it could have been worse.

South Carolina — Auburn isn’t great and Ole Miss could be tough but this isn’t a bad draw at all.

SEC LOSERS

Missouri — Welcome to the SEC, Eli Drinkwitz, where the league takes care of the big boys. The Tigers got saddled with Alabama and LSU. Yikes.

Arkansas — Pittman, a longtime SEC veteran, should not be surprised that the league took care of its prominent programs. The Razorbacks now have Florida and Georgia on their schedule in addition to their brutal division opponents. Wow.

Texas A&M — Florida is a bad draw and Tennessee is not a pushover so things could have gone better.

Tennessee — Texas A&M and Auburn are a nasty duo to add to the schedule.

Kentucky — Alabama is no fun and likely a big loss while Ole Miss will be challenging. Friday could have been better to the Wildcats.

Vanderbilt — LSU is a loss and Mississippi State will be tough but I can’t see a way Vandy would be a winner here short of getting Arkansas as one of their two new additions.

...It's difficult to look at the SEC's Friday schedule additions and not think that the league took care of its power teams in order to try and maximize the conference's playoff chances. The SEC is counting on two of LSU, Alabama, Georgia or Florida to contend for a playoff spot and didn't make their path to the postseason more difficult on Friday. What the SEC Isn't counting on? There could be more upsets than ever this season with some programs fielding potentially depleted rosters - due to player opt-outs and/or Covid outbreaks - and no fans in the stands.

... Finally, a rumor surfaced Saturday that if the Big Ten pushed its season to the spring that Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska would join the Big 12 for this season only and form a temporary super conference of sorts. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous and a few sources I checked with laughed because the idea is so outlandish. However, a Big Ten coach liked the tweet that started this rumor, and that started a frenzy.

Just for fun... How would the Big 12-Ten shake out this season? I think Ohio State would run through the Big 12, Nebraska would likely finish with a losing record, Michigan would get upset at least twice and Penn State would finish third behind the Buckeyes and Oklahoma.

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