While it seems to be widely agreed upon that Arkansas has the most difficult schedule in college football heading into the 2021 season, there seems to be a little disparity when it comes to Auburn football’s standing. Fly War Eagle reported a couple of months ago that ESPN’s College Football Power Index ranked the Tigers’ schedule as the second toughest in the nation, while PFF sticks Auburn at spot #8.
PFF’s list is populated by five SEC teams, three Big-10 teams, and two teams from the ACC. The Tigers land just ahead of the Florida State Seminoles at the #10 spot and the Ole Miss Rebels at the #9 spot. Coming in at #7 is Indiana, then Mississippi State at spot #6.
South Carolina’s schedule is labeled the fifth-toughest and Arkansas’ schedule is of course ranked as the hardest, meaning that three schools on Auburn football’s schedule this year reportedly have a more difficult schedule than the Tigers.
The top-10 hardest schedules in College Football pic.twitter.com/MvK7ZVpoHL
— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 24, 2021
When it comes to pre-season SEC rankings, Auburn is just ahead of all three schools with the more difficult schedules according to PFF, but the Ole Miss Rebels who were just behind the Tigers’ in difficulty were ranked one spot ahead of Auburn on 247Sports’ SEC Team Rankings List.
Auburn’s schedule is difficult this season due to the quality of the teams being played and the arrangement of the games. All of the Tigers’ non-conference opponents will be played back-to-back in the first four weeks, meaning that there will be cupcakes once Auburn gets into the nitty-gritty of an SEC schedule.
The Tigers will take their bye week right in the middle of the season on October 23, but then there is no rest ’til the Iron Bowl. Ole Miss, TAMU, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and then Alabama. Though a South Carolina win should be attainable right before the Tide rolls into the Plains, but you never know based on last year’s performance.