Nick Saban Reveals Dark Horse With Easiest Path To SEC Championship

With the 12-team playoff now in effect, scheduling matters as much as anything in college football, since the right slate can set a program up for a special season.

Nick Saban believes that's the case for one SEC contender. With the new 16-team SEC, there's bound to be some imbalance with the schedules, and he sees one program with a very friendly path. Meanwhile, a team like Georgia has a really tough road.

"I'm going to say something about SEC and the scheduling," Saban said on "College GameDay" Saturday morning. "If you look at everybody's schedule, Missouri has the easiest path to get in the championship game."

Mizzou does get a nice draw coming off of their incredible 11-2 Cotton Bowl champion year in 2023. The Tigers face three lower-conference foes, Vanderbilt and then at Texas A&M. But UMass and a home game vs. Auburn make up a pretty light first seven games.

Even in the back end, a road trip to Alabama is tough, but surely not as horrifying as when the Tide had Nick Saban. Then, there are games against lowly Arkansas, South Carolina and Mississippi State all mixed in.

Whether Missouri is a top-two team in the SEC remains to be seen, but they certainly have one of the league's easiest schedules. Eli Drinkwitz hopes to turn that opportunity into a title appearance, or better yet, a CFP berth.

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