Kentucky’s schedule ranks among easiest in SEC

Winning in the SEC is never easy, but the Kentucky Wildcats schedule isn’t as bad as some of their conference rivals.

Brad Crawford of 247sports ranked Kentucky’s schedule second easiest in the conference behind just Missouri, who was ranked as having the most favorable schedule.

In addition to their SEC East matchups and annual cross-division game with Mississippi State that will be played in Starkville this season, the Wildcats will host SEC West foe LSU, who is coming off a subpar 5-5 2020 season but are just one season removed from going undefeated and being crowned national champions.

The Wildcats non-conference slate features Louisiana-Monroe, who went 0-10 last season, FCS foe Chattanooga who went 3-2, New Mexico State who went just 1-1 in a COVID-19 shortened 2020 season and in-state rival Louisville, who went 4-7.

Here’s a look at the full rankings from hardest to easiest and each team’s non-conference slate and add on SEC game.

1. Arkansas Razorbacks: Non Conference: vs. Rice, vs. Texas, vs. Georgia Southern and vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff. SEC Add-On: at Georgia
2. Auburn Tigers: Non Conference: vs. Akron, vs. Alabama State, at Penn State and vs. Georgia State. SEC Add-On: at South Carolina
3. Ole Miss Rebels: Non Conference: vs. Louisville, vs. Austin Peay, vs. Tulane and vs. Liberty. SEC Add-On: At Tennessee
4. South Carolina Gamecocks: Non Conference: vs. Eastern Illinois, at East Carolina, vs. Troy and vs. Clemson SEC-Add On vs. Auburn
5. Mississippi State Bulldogs: Non-Conference vs. Louisiana Tech, vs. North Carolina State, at Memphis and vs. Tennessee State. SEC Add-On: at Vanderbilt
6. Vanderbilt Commodores: Non-Conference: vs. East Tennessee State, at Colorado State, vs. Stanford and vs. UCONN. SEC Add-On vs. Mississippi State
7. LSU Tigers: Non-Conference: at UCLA, vs. McNeese State, vs. Central Michigan and vs. Louisiana-Monroe SEC Add-On at Kentucky
8. Florida Gators: Non-Conference: vs. Florida Atlantic, vs. South Florida, vs. Samford and vs. Florida State. SEC Add-On: vs. Alabama
9. Tennessee Volunteers: Non-Conference: vs. Bowling Green, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. Tennessee Tech and vs. South Alabama SEC Add-on: vs. Ole Miss
10. Texas A&M Aggies: Non-Conference: vs. Kent State, at Colorado, vs. New Mexico and vs. Prairie View A&M SEC Add-On: at Missouri
11. Alabama Crimson Tide: vs. Miami (Atlanta), vs. Mercer, vs. Southern Miss, and vs. New Mexico State. SEC Add-On: at Florida
12. Georgia Bulldogs: vs. Clemson (Charlotte), vs. UAB, vs. Charleston Southern and at Georgia Tech. SEC Add-On: vs. Arkansas
13. Kentucky Wildcats: Non-Conference: vs. Louisiana-Monroe, vs. Chattanooga, vs. New Mexico State and at Louisville. SEC Add-On: vs. LSU
14. Missouri Tigers: Non-Conference: vs. Central Michigan, vs. Southeast Missouri State, at Boston College and vs. North Texas. SEC-Add On: vs. Texas A&M