SEC football schedule 2021 – what are the five things you need to know? What are the five things that matter?

SEC Football Schedule 2021: 5 Things You Need To Know

SEC Schedules, Analysis, Best/Worst Scenarios
East Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | Missouri
South Carolina | Tennessee | Vanderbilt
West Alabama | Arkansas | Auburn | LSU
Mississippi State | Ole Miss | Texas A&M

The 2021 SEC football schedule was released. There’s anger, excitement, and a whole lot of looking ahead to what should be a full schedule again this fall as if 2020 never happened.

Here are five things about the schedule that matter including who misses the big teams from the other division, the non-conference analysis, the one big difference in this year’s slate, the winners and losers, and starting out with …

5.  Who gets the rested teams?

There was a time not all that long ago when SEC teams took an Alabamacation.

You have the Crimson Tide on the schedule? Okay … just make sure you get a week off to rest up and get ready first. In the end that time off usually didn’t matter much, but that’s changed now.

Every SEC team has one off week and one light scrimmage against an FCS or some other cream-filled pastry of a paycheck game, but this year, that easy date isn’t always coming before a key SEC date. That matters, too – sometimes it’s nice to get a few easy games to gear up.

SEC East

Florida
The open date comes before: Georgia, Oct. 23
The FCS scrimmage: Samford before at Missouri, Nov. 20

Georgia
The open date comes before: Florida, Oct. 30
The FCS scrimmage: Charleston Southern before at Georgia Tech, Nov. 27

Kentucky
The open date comes before: at Mississippi State, Oct. 30
The FCS scrimmage: Chattanooga before at South Carolina, Sept. 25

Missouri
The open date comes before: at Vanderbilt, Oct. 30
The FCS scrimmage: SE Missouri State before at Boston College, Sept. 25

South Carolina
The open date comes before: Florida, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: Eastern Illinois before at East Carolina, Sept. 11

Tennessee
The open date comes before: at Kentucky, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: Tennessee Tech before at Florida, Sept. 25

Vanderbilt
The open date comes before: Kentucky, Nov. 13
The FCS scrimmage: East Tennessee State before at Colorado State, Sept. 11

SEC West

Alabama
The open date comes before: LSU, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: Mercer before at Florida, Sept. 18

Arkansas
The open date comes before: Mississippi State, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: Arkansas-Pine Bluff before – and here’s one of the SEC’s most interesting schedule quirks – the Oct. 30 week off

Auburn
The open date comes before: Ole Miss, Oct. 30
The FCS scrimmage: Alabama State before at Penn State, Sept. 18

LSU
The open date comes before: at Alabama, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: McNeese State before Central Michigan, Sept. 18

Mississippi State
The open date comes before: Alabama, Oct. 16
The FCS scrimmage: Tennessee State before Ole Miss, Nov. 27

Ole Miss
The open date comes before: at Alabama, Oct. 2
The FCS scrimmage: Austin Peay before Tulane, Sept. 18

Texas A&M
The open date comes before: Auburn, Nov. 6
The FCS scrimmage: Prairie View before at LSU, Nov. 27

– The games against the teams from the other division

NEXT: Who misses the big boys from the other division?