PALMER: Odd years look promising in new-look schedule

By Hunt Palmer

Producing a four-year football schedule that satisfies 16 sets of coaches, players and fans borders on impossible.

Coaches want wins. Fans want rivalries. Players want experiences. Everyone is checking for “fairness.” All of those priorities involve different opponents at different frequencies.

The bottom line is that there are no “easy” schedules in a Southeastern Conference with eight national championship programs over the last 30 years. The Big 10 has four. The ACC has three. The Big 12 doesn’t have one.

The other three power four leagues combined fall short of the SEC in that 30-year time frame.

The other piece to this puzzle is that we don’t know what every program will be in this four-year period. Missouri and Ole Miss, non-traditional powers, have been better than Florida and Auburn, multi-time national title game participants this century, over the last four.

Vanderbilt was better than Oklahoma last year. There has never been a 10-win season in Vanderbilt history. Oklahoma has seven national titles.

There are just so few certainties. It’s hard to speak in absolutes. Nick Saban was a certainty. He’s gone. Kirby Smart has taken his spot atop the conference. The Bulldogs have won at least 11 games every full season since 2017. Assuming Smart is still in Athens the next four years, the Bulldogs will be very good.

Everyone else feels at the mercy of a coach and likely whatever quarterback transfers in for that period.

With all of that uncertainty in mind, here are some thoughts on LSU four-year draw.

HAPPY HOME FANS

If you’re a season-ticket holder, get that deposit in early for 2026. Good grief, what a schedule. LSU welcomes Clemson, Alabama, Texas and Texas A&M to Tiger Stadium in addition to Mississippi State.

If you’re one of the fans who just wants to see big games, you got ’em. Clemson is going to have some significant roster turnover. Theoretically, the other three could have incumbent quarterbacks. Saturday nights in Death Valley are going to feature monster brands in 2026.

That’s got to be as good a home slate as LSU has ever had in a season. Now, who’s playing quarterback?

EYES ON 2027

It’s almost impossible to forecast things two years out in this sport, but 2027 looks like a manageable schedule right now. Clemson rolls off the non-conference docket, and Houston comes on.

The Tigers will play five home SEC games—Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt—as opposed to four. Four of those five games are against what you would historically call the bottom half of the league. Ole Miss hasn’t fit that criteria under Lane Kiffin, but we’re speaking in traditional terms. The road trips include South Carolina, Florida, Texas A&M and Georgia.

The trek to Athens should be brutal, but Florida is a mess right now. We’ll see what 2027 holds. A&M and South Carolina are wildcards, but LaNorris Sellers very, very likely won’t be in Columbia, and Marcel Reed may not be in College Station.

Essentially, that home schedule feels very manageable, the non-conference game is one LSU should be favored in, and that means a loss and maybe two on the road won’t keep you out of a 12-team playoff.

When you lump all that in with the fact that LSU is going to lose a truckload of production in 2026, 2027 may be a really good shot for LSU to have a roster loaded to compete against a schedule that rolls Texas, Alabama and Clemson off.

TEN YEAR TOAST

I’m assuming Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson will be busy in the fall of 2029, but it will be the 10-year anniversary of the 2019 team. Many of their teammates will return for a reunion that fall, and I like the way the schedule lines up if you just base things on tradition.

LSU misses Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Auburn. LSU’s road trips include two of the smallest venues in the SEC, Missouri and Vanderbilt. Oklahoma and Texas A&M won’t be easy trips, but Georgia and Florida have to come to Baton Rouge this time around. It’ll be Georgia’s first trip to Tiger Stadium in 11 years. The other home games are Arkansas, Ole Miss and South Carolina.

The odd years are the schedules with five home games. Those years feel like LSU’s smoothest paths. But, again, it’s impossible to forecast program strength four years out in this era.