The 2021 SEC football schedule has officially been released; here are the top 5 non-conference matchups to look forward to next season.
With the Alabama Crimson Tide bringing the college football National Championship hardware home to the SEC for the sixth time in the past decade, it’s obvious that football down south is just different.
The SEC college football schedule has been released and we’re looking ahead to some of the best non-conference matchups. We can anticipate the kind of competition we’ll get from intra-conference play, but the non-conference games typically tell us a few things about each SEC squad.
Bama will surely be back for championship contention while LSU will look to bounce back from an unexpected 5-5 record. The Georgia Bulldogs will be looking to take that next big leap under Kirby Smart while Florida will have some offensive questions to answer.
Next year’s schedule looks loaded. Let’s take a look at the best non-conference games on the SEC schedule.
Ranking the 5 best non-conference games on the 2021 SEC football schedule
5. Ole Miss vs. Liberty, Nov. 6
Former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze makes his return to Oxford as the head coach of a Liberty team coming off an incredible year that saw the Flames finish 10-1 and in the final AP Top 25. Ole Miss is looking to build on last season’s 5-5 record as Lane Kiffin enters his second year with the Rebels. A solid national signing day should give them some extra confidence as well.
4. LSU at UCLA, Sept. 4
Not many could’ve anticipated LSU finishing 5-5 last season after winning the national championship the year before but it definitely happened. In addition to quarterback struggles, LSU had the No. 97 scoring defense last year (34.9 points per game) which obviously made wins difficult to come by. Ed Orgeron will need to have his team ready to face a UCLA team that struggled last year as well. Chip Kelly’s 10-21 record with the Bruins over the past three years has been the worst stretch for the team record-wise since the early 1920s. Yikes. They’ll be looking to beat a team like LSU to gain some momentum. The Tigers are set to open the season with UCLA on Sept. 4.
3. Alabama vs. Miami (Miami), Sept. 4
Alabama will simply retool as they always do after winning the College Football National Championship for the 5th time this decade. Nick Saban and his squad came out champions in a pandemic year filled with postponements and cancellations. Miami finished 8-3 last year and ended the season third in the ACC behind Clemson and Notre Dame. They’ll look to make another big leap next year but will have their work cut out for them in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl against the reigning national champions.
2. Auburn at Penn State, Sept. 18
The Brian Harsin era has officially begun at Auburn after Gus Malzahn wore out his welcome on the Plains. They finished at 6-5 last season and will want to get their new coaching staff off to a good start. They’ll have a great non-conference test against Penn State, who will play host to Auburn on Sept. 18. Penn State is also coming off an underwhelming year so the winner of this game could get some early-season momentum in what their fans hope will be bounce-back years.
1. Georgia vs. Clemson (Charlotte)
The best non-conference matchup for an SEC team next year will absolutely be the Georgia Bulldogs vs. the Clemson Tigers. The Dawgs will kick off the 2021 season against Clemson on Sept. 4 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. These two teams have played 64 times total with Georgia leading the series, 42-18-4. The winner of this game should have a clear path to the College Football Playoff while the loser will have to be perfect the rest of the way, which would be more difficult for Georgia in the SEC. This likely will be a matchup of top-5 teams, if not top-3 teams and Heisman candidates at quarterback with Georgia’s JT Daniels and Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalaleli.
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