One of the most important factors the college football playoff selection committee considers when compiling rankings is the strength of the schedule. Some teams have flashy non-conference records but build them up against Cream Puff. Others can take early losses against top-tier opponents .
There are many ways to measure the strength of a team’s schedule, but they are always based on some measure of the quality of their opponents. Teams cannot choose which conference games are on their schedule or their non-conference opponents. Them Conference opponents play, but the conference opponent’s non-conference slate matters little.
If the league tries to manipulate the system, have the best teams face at least one good opponent, show the committee that they are serious competitors, and schedule wins to non-competitors. Try to build quality records…for their opponents.
This is very difficult to do in football as most matches are scheduled years in advance.
With that in mind, here’s an assessment of each league’s non-conference schedule as it prepares for the 2022 season. The toughest ranking.
SEC
The SEC is one of only two Power Five conferences with just eight league games to date. The SEC team knows exactly what to do in extra games outside of meetings. It’s about playing against FCS opponents. Every team in the SEC has one on their schedule, and this is true almost every season. Two of these games are scheduled for the weekend before Thanksgiving, which I call “Sabbatical Saturday.” There are six non-conference games in the league that day, many of which serve as a nice break before the rivalry weekend.
The SEC is usually king when it comes to playing non-conference games at home and avoiding road trips. However, he was disqualified this season. Still, more than half of his non-conference games are at home, and he’s one of two leagues where he’s played less than 20% of the trip.
There are certainly some notable showdowns, most notably against Alabama in Texas on September 10th. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban will take on former assistant Steve Sarkisian in search of a signature win that will mark the Longhorns finally ‘back’. “
Other highlights include Georgia’s “Neutral Site” game against Oregon in Atlanta on Sept. 3, while Tennessee travels to 2021 ACC champions Pittsburgh next Saturday.
Toughest Schedule — Florida: The Gators open by hosting reigning Pac-12 champions and favorites to repeat at the top of the league, Utah. They also host South Florida and travel to Florida.
Weakest Schedule — Kentucky: Wildcats is one of three SEC schools that conduct all non-conference games at home. This year’s slate includes MAC’s Miami, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Youngstown, and in-state rival Louisville.
big ten
When it comes to home cooking, the Big Ten is the new king. He plays a whopping 62% of the league’s non-conference games at home and just 17% on the road. This is the lowest percentage of road games in any league. Eight Big Ten teams have played all three of his non-conference games at home.
However, while SEC still beats the Big Ten, it has the smallest percentage of games against other Power Five opponents. The Big Ten is 26.2% this season, while the SEC only plays his peers in 25% of non-conference games. The Big Ten are also rated for having the lowest percentage of matches against FCS teams.
That’s not to say there aren’t good games. Notre Dame will be visiting Ohio to kick off the season on September 3rd. The game could affect the college football playoffs. We also go to Auburn in Pennsylvania and Washington in Michigan. Also, on September 17th, the Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry will be updated.
Toughest Schedule — Anyone: It’s embarrassing not to be able to confirm a single schedule as the league is not going to actually test any particular team. Ohio State deserves a mention because besides Notre Dame, it also has MAC favorites Toledo and Arkansas State.
Weakest Schedule — Please Select: Minnesota is my pick for home games against New Mexico, Western Illinois and Colorado. It’s such a shame that a reporter asked Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh about it this summer. There are no road games in these schedules.
ACC
Similar to the SEC, all ACC teams will play four non-conference games, one of which will be against FCS opponents.well at least all of them tried Play against FCS opponents. Louisville was slated for James Madison, but Dukes was promoted to FBS this season.
Yet the ACC once again has the highest ratio of non-conference games to Power Five competition. This is true nearly every season, as there are four in-state rivalry games with SEC teams and five with Notre Dame. These games are a big reason why the ACC has the highest percentage of road games among the power conferences.
Notre Dame’s Clemson and Texas A&M’s Miami are the highlight games of the ACC non-conference slate. Both games could have playoff impact, but no team is currently predicted for CFP.
Toughest Schedule — Georgia Tech …two seasons in a row. This time, Yellow’s jackets welcome Georgia to Athens and Ole’s misses to home. They also play against his AAC contenders his UCF on the road.
Weakest Schedule — Duke: Even in two road games against Power Five opponents, the Blue Devils were able to put together the weakest non-conference slate in the ACC. Duke travels to Northwestern and Kansas to play at home against Temple and North Carolina A&T.
big 12
Due to the league’s size and full round-robin conference schedule, the Big 12 has the fewest number of non-conference games at 30. This will change when the reorganization begins next season. The league plays very few non-conference games in total, which puts him in the odd position of having the fewest games against FCS teams (8) and his second-highest percentage of such games (26.7%). .
The aforementioned Texas-Alabama game is a highlight of the Big 12’s non-conference slate. The other Big 12’s biggest game to appear in the preseason polls is BYU’s Baylor.
Toughest Schedule — West Virginia: The Mountaineers have reigning ACC champions Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech playing road games with a home game against Towson in between.
Weakest Schedule — Kansas: The Wildcats spend the nonconference portion of their schedule at their home facing South Dakota, Missouri and Tulane.
Pac-12
The relative isolation of the West Coast and the fact that each team only plays three non-conference games can make scheduling cumbersome. So it should come as no surprise that the league has his eight games against the Mountain West opposition and two more against BYU. That’s one-third of the league’s non-conference schedule. There are also annual games between USC and Stanford’s Notre Dame.
It’s no surprise to learn that the Pac-12 has the highest percentage of games played against FCS opponents in the Power Conference. All but two of his 10 games have been against other Western teams.
The USC-Notre Dame game will, as usual, highlight Pac-12’s non-conference schedule. The aforementioned Oregon-Georgia and Utah-Florida games should also be fun.
Toughest Schedule — Colorado: The Buffaloes may need to get off to a good start to keep manager Karl Dorell’s seat cool, but a home game against TCU and a schedule of trips to the Air Force and Minnesota make that difficult.
Weakest Schedule — UCLA: The Bruins should be able to do better at home than Bowling Green, Alabama, and South Alabama’s slate.
AAC
The AAC is again leading the Group of Five in percentage of non-conference games at home, by a large margin. The league plays his 41% of all games at home. The next closest conference is Mountain West at 31%.
Cincinnati is looking to once again qualify for the CFP as league champions, but this season’s non-conference schedule prevents that. Unlike last season, when a win at Notre Dame made the Bearcats floor in his CFP rankings, there won’t be a game like that this season unless Arkansas do much better than expected. Cynthie will also face Indiana, this time at home.
Toughest Schedule — Navy: Cadets have three fixed non-conference partners each year: Air Force, Army, and Notre Dame. All three of his games have been played away this season.
Weakest Schedule — Temple: We can hardly blame the owls for trying to emerge victorious. They will face Duke on the road, followed by Louisiana, Rutgers and UMass at home.
Other G5 Conferences
If you’re looking for this season’s Group of Five gatecrasher when it comes to CFP, I can show you some non-conference schedules, provided the teams involved can win all their games.
Boise State University is a favorite in the Mountain West, but one of the other contenders, Fresno State University, has a road game at USC among non-conference games. The Bulldogs have to move the tables and hope the Trojans do for them what Notre Dame did for Cincinnati last year.
Appalachia also hosts North Carolina and visits Texas A&M. His remaining two matches will be against his FCS team, which could pose a problem for the CFP selection committee. Winning every game will be a problem for the Mountaineers.
5 toughest non-meeting schedules
- Kent — Washington, Oklahoma, Long Island, Georgia
- ULM — Army West Point, Texas, Nichols, Alabama
- Rice — McNeice State University at Houston, Louisiana
- Navy — Delaware, Air Force, Notre Dame, Army West Point
- Central Michigan — Oklahoma, Southern Alabama, Bucknell, Pennsylvania
