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Not only will Alabama lose Trent Richardson and 7 off off their #1 ranked defense, they will also face a very difficult schedule next season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/37351/mcgee-alabama-named-2012-schedule-loser

Could be.  Who do you think finishes ahead of them?  LSU and Arkansas?  They have to play both on the road next season?

  I'm not talking to you, ESPN is talking to you.  Again, here is the link.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/37351/mcgee-alabama-named-2012-schedule-loser

There is no question they could lose both.  Neither will be easy, particularly LSU.  LSU will not only catch Alabama at home next season, but they also have a bye the week prior.

Furthemore, the LSU game will be Alabama's 3rd conference road game in a 4-week stretch.  So that definitely looks like the most likely loss on their schedule at this point.

Your memory is serving you better than mine is.  I think I'm boarderline Alzheimer's at this point.

Well both Alabama & LSU play Arky on the road so that's a wash.  I think @Missouri and @Texas A & M kind of cancel each other out, as does @Tennessee and @Auburn.   That leaves Alabama with LSU, while LSU has Florida.

Alabama plays at LSU after LSU has a bye week, and LSU plays at Florida after the Gators have a bye week, so that seems to be pretty even.  But because right now LSU is considered to be a better team than Florida, Alabama's road looks slighlty harder to me.

Also, as noted above, Alabama has to play 3 of their road games in a 4 game stretch, whereas LSU's road games are spread equally across their schedule.  I also think that makes LSU's overall road schedule slightly easier as well.

When we factor in out-of-conference schedules, again Alabama's is probably slightly tougher with Michigan, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic & Western Carolina.  By comparison LSU has North Texas, Washington, Idaho and Towson (Towson has a football team???  Who knew???)

Because LSU and Alabama play in the same division of the same conference, their schedules will always be very similar, but I would give a slight edge to Alabama for having the tougher overall schedule next season.

I'm not about to look through 120 football schedules, so I can't say whether I agree or disagree with the article.  Furthermore, no one really knows how good or bad any of these teams will really be, so clearly it is extremely speculative.  I just thought it was an interesting article that might provoke a good discussion on this board.

Does Alabama have a tough schedule.  Yes, I think they do.  Is it the toughest in the country?  I have no clue, and I don't think anyone else does either.  I do, however, tend to agree with the general consesus in this thread that, while it may be a difficult schedule, it is a manageble one for Alabama, and is not a schedule that is out of line with some other SEC teams.