I think the overall problem is half of the schedule having a bye week before they play us. The Iron Bowl is simply the biggest example. Let me be exact, since Chizad will go apeshit if I don't.
You can't honestly say that one team having 5 days to prepare for the biggest rivalry in football, and the other team having 12 days to prepare doesn't give the team with 12 days an edge.
Let me state this as slow as I can, so you bammers will be able to understand it. If Scandalous Plagued University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (SPUAT) has to prepare for Georgia State, then there are a shit load more problems to worry about on the team than other team's schedule.
As much as I hate to say this, SPuat is the best team in the SEC this year, atleast they are on paper. But, if they're worrying about preparing for Georgia State, then they might not be that good afterall. What Coach little bitch could do is move the Georgia State game to their open date, that way they'd have an opening before the Iron Bowl...just like a couple years ago....but that would mean SPuat would have to play 11 straight before their open date, just like Auburn did last year and will do again this year.