NCAAF Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
- See the college football strength-of-schedule rankings for all 131 FBS teams in 2023
- South Carolina has the toughest strength of schedule in the nation this year, and the top six are all from the SEC
- No Group of Five team has a schedule tougher than 25th (Houston Cougars)
The 2023 college football season is set to begin with Week Zero on Saturday, August 26. The charts and graphs below set out the strength-of-schedule rankings for the season.
Even more so than strength of schedule calculations in the NFL, SOS in college football should not be based too heavily on last season’s power ratings. There is far too much roster turnover from year to year. The calculations and rankings below factor in opponents’ efficiency ratings from last season plus how much production teams are losing, recent recruiting rankings, and major incoming transfers.
Use the rankings below in conjunction with the NCAAF win totals to find soft spots in the underbelly of the college football futures.
Jump to: National Rankings | ACC Rankings | Big Ten Rankings | Big 12 Rankings | Pac-12 Rankings | SEC Rankings
2023 NCAAF Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|
South Carolina Gamecocks | 1 | 128.1 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs | 2 | 125.4 |
Alabama Crimson Tide | 3 | 115.9 |
Florida Gators | 4 | 112.0 |
Ole Miss Rebels | 5 | 105.1 |
Missouri Tigers | 6 | 105.0 |
Minnesota Golden Gophers | 7 | 103.7 |
Utah Utes | 8 | 103.7 |
Purdue Boilermakers | 9 | 102.9 |
Michigan State Spartans | 10 | 102.3 |
Ohio State Buckeyes | 11 | 94.5 |
California Golden Bears | 12 | 94.5 |
North Carolina Tar Heels | 13 | 92.5 |
West Virginia Mountaineers | 14 | 91.6 |
Iowa State Cyclones | 15 | 90.5 |
Auburn Tigers | 16 | 90.3 |
Texas Longhorns | 17 | 86.8 |
LSU Tigers | 18 | 86.7 |
Colorado Buffaloes | 19 | 85.8 |
Kansas State Wildcats | 20 | 85.6 |
Texas A&M Aggies | 21 | 82.4 |
Indiana Hoosiers | 22 | 82.4 |
Tennessee Volunteers | 23 | 81.1 |
Kentucky Wildcats | 24 | 79.2 |
Houston Cougars | 25 | 76.4 |
Kansas Jayhawks | 26 | 74.8 |
Vanderbilt Commodores | 27 | 71.1 |
Arkansas Razorbacks | 28 | 70.9 |
BYU Cougars | 29 | 69.1 |
Stanford Cardinal | 30 | 68.5 |
Arizona State | 31 | 67.7 |
Washington Huskies | 32 | 67.1 |
Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 33 | 63.7 |
Illinois Fighting Illini | 34 | 62.6 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders | 35 | 59.2 |
Virginia Cavaliers | 36 | 57.6 |
Oklahoma Sooners | 37 | 52.4 |
Clemson Tigers | 38 | 50.4 |
TCU Horned Frogs | 39 | 50.3 |
Nebraska Cornhuskers | 40 | 50.0 |
Baylor Bears | 41 | 49.9 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 42 | 49.9 |
Georgia Bulldogs | 43 | 48.3 |
Pittsburgh Panthers | 44 | 47.9 |
Duke Blue Devils | 45 | 44.2 |
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 46 | 43.6 |
Michigan Wolverines | 47 | 41.8 |
USC Trojans | 48 | 41.2 |
Cincinnati Bearcats | 49 | 40.0 |
Florida State Seminoles | 50 | 39.8 |
Oklahoma State Cowboys | 51 | 39.6 |
Iowa Hawkeyes | 52 | 36.3 |
Arizona Wildcats | 53 | 36.0 |
Virginia Tech Hokies | 54 | 34.1 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 55 | 34.1 |
Wisconsin Badgers | 56 | 32.9 |
UCF Knights | 57 | 32.2 |
Northwestern Wildcats | 58 | 32.0 |
Maryland Terrapins | 59 | 31.6 |
Penn State Nittany Lions | 60 | 25.3 |
Miami Hurricanes | 61 | 22.1 |
Oregon Ducks | 62 | 18.3 |
Oregon State Beavers | 63 | 16.1 |
NC State Wolfpack | 64 | 14.2 |
UCLA Bruins | 65 | 9.8 |
Washington State Cougars | 66 | 7.4 |
Louisville Cardinals | 67 | 3.3 |
Syracuse Orange | 68 | 2.2 |
Boston College Eagles | 69 | -8.8 |
Charlotte 49ers | 70 | -33.8 |
UAB Blazers | 71 | -45.5 |
East Carolina Pirates | 72 | -52.0 |
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers | 73 | -63.4 |
Rice Owls | 74 | -66.8 |
UTSA Roadrunners | 75 | -71.7 |
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles | 76 | -73.2 |
Georgia State Panthers | 77 | -74.1 |
Marshall Thundering Herd | 78 | -75.7 |
Boise State Broncos | 79 | -78.7 |
Tulsa Golden Hurricane | 80 | -78.8 |
Florida Atlantic Owls | 81 | -79.9 |
North Texas Mean Green | 82 | -80.6 |
Georgia Southern Eagles | 83 | -81.8 |
Texas State Bobcats | 84 | -84.2 |
UL Monroe Warhawks | 85 | -84.2 |
Army Black Knights | 86 | -85.2 |
San José State Spartans | 87 | -89.0 |
Tulane Green Wave | 88 | -91.0 |
Western Michigan Broncos | 89 | -91.8 |
South Alabama Jaguars | 90 | -94.7 |
SMU Mustangs | 91 | -94.8 |
South Florida Bulls | 92 | -95.0 |
Old Dominion Monarchs | 93 | -95.7 |
Wyoming Cowboys | 94 | -97.6 |
Arkansas State Red Wolves | 95 | -97.9 |
James Madison Dukes | 96 | -102.1 |
Temple Owls | 97 | -102.6 |
UConn Huskies | 98 | -103.4 |
Memphis Tigers | 99 | -103.7 |
App State Mountaineers | 100 | -106.1 |
Central Michigan Chippewas | 101 | -108.8 |
Navy Midshipmen | 102 | -109.4 |
Troy Trojans | 103 | -113.1 |
San Diego State Aztecs | 104 | -113.4 |
UMass Minutemen | 105 | -113.7 |
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns | 106 | -117.5 |
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | 107 | -119.2 |
Ball State Cardinals | 108 | -120.6 |
Utah State Aggies | 109 | -124.3 |
Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors | 110 | -125.3 |
UNLV Rebels | 111 | -125.7 |
Bowling Green Falcons | 112 | -130.6 |
Kent State Golden Flashes | 113 | -133.8 |
Colorado State Rams | 114 | -135.3 |
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | 115 | -136.2 |
Buffalo Bulls | 116 | -137.5 |
New Mexico Lobos | 117 | -143.0 |
Nevada Wolf Pack | 118 | -143.1 |
Fresno State Bulldogs | 119 | -143.1 |
UTEP Miners | 120 | -147.0 |
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers | 121 | -148.2 |
Akron Zips | 122 | -148.2 |
Liberty Flames | 123 | -149.5 |
Northern Illinois Huskies | 124 | -150.4 |
Florida International Panthers | 125 | -154.9 |
Miami (OH) RedHawks | 126 | -164.4 |
New Mexico State Aggies | 127 | -167.2 |
Toledo Rockets | 128 | -175.9 |
Air Force Falcons | 129 | -180.2 |
Ohio Bobcats | 130 | -184.8 |
Eastern Michigan Eagles | 131 | -189.1 |
Notes on the SOS ratings:
- The toughest hypothetical schedule this year (12 road games vs Georgia) would score 394.7.
- The toughest schedule a team could play against 12 different opponents would score 334.2.
- The toughest real schedule (South Carolina) scores 128.1, which is 32.5% as tough as the toughest hypothetical schedule.
- The easiest Power 5 schedule belongs to the Boston College Eagles (-8.8) which is 69th in the nation
- The toughest Group of 5 schedule belongs to the Houston Cougars (76.4) which is 25th in the nation and tougher than 40 Power 5 teams
- The easiest hypothetical schedule against an FBS opponent (12 home games vs Kent State) would score -341.1.
- The easiest real schedule (Eastern Michigan) scores -189.1 , which is 55.4% as easy as the easiest hypothetical schedule.
- In theory, if FBS teams only played other FBS teams, the cumulative total of all the SOS scores would be zero. The team scores are a certain percentage above or below average. But in reality, the cumulative total of all the SOS scores is well below zero, because of dozens of games against FCS competition.
ACC Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | CONF. RANK | NAT’L RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|
North Carolina Tar Heels | 1 | 13 | 92.5 |
Virginia Cavaliers | 2 | 36 | 57.6 |
Clemson Tigers | 3 | 38 | 50.4 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 4 | 42 | 49.9 |
Pittsburgh Panthers | 5 | 44 | 47.9 |
Duke Blue Devils | 6 | 45 | 44.2 |
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 7 | 46 | 43.6 |
Florida State Seminoles | 8 | 50 | 39.8 |
Virginia Tech Hokies | 9 | 54 | 34.1 |
Miami Hurricanes | 10 | 61 | 22.1 |
NC State Wolfpack | 11 | 64 | 14.2 |
Louisville Cardinals | 12 | 67 | 3.3 |
Syracuse Orange | 13 | 68 | 2.2 |
Boston College Eagles | 14 | 69 | -8.8 |
Big Ten Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | CONF. RANK | NAT’L RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|
Minnesota Golden Gophers | 1 | 7 | 103.7 |
Purdue Boilermakers | 2 | 9 | 102.9 |
Michigan State Spartans | 3 | 10 | 102.3 |
Ohio State Buckeyes | 4 | 11 | 94.5 |
Indiana Hoosiers | 5 | 22 | 82.4 |
Rutgers Scarlet Knights | 6 | 33 | 63.7 |
Illinois Fighting Illini | 7 | 34 | 62.6 |
Nebraska Cornhuskers | 8 | 40 | 50.0 |
Michigan Wolverines | 9 | 47 | 41.8 |
Iowa Hawkeyes | 10 | 52 | 36.3 |
Wisconsin Badgers | 11 | 56 | 32.9 |
Northwestern Wildcats | 12 | 58 | 32.0 |
Maryland Terrapins | 13 | 59 | 31.6 |
Penn State Nittany Lions | 14 | 60 | 25.3 |
Big 12 Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | CONF. RANK | NAT’L RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|
West Virginia Mountaineers | 1 | 14 | 91.6 |
Iowa State Cyclones | 2 | 15 | 90.5 |
Texas Longhorns | 3 | 17 | 86.8 |
Kansas State Wildcats | 4 | 20 | 85.6 |
Kansas Jayhawks | 5 | 26 | 74.8 |
Texas Tech Red Raiders | 6 | 35 | 59.2 |
Oklahoma Sooners | 7 | 37 | 52.4 |
TCU Horned Frogs | 8 | 39 | 50.3 |
Baylor Bears | 9 | 41 | 49.9 |
Oklahoma State Cowboys | 10 | 51 | 39.6 |
Pac-12 Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | CONF. RANK | NAT’L RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|
Utah Utes | 1 | 8 | 91.63 |
California Golden Bears | 2 | 12 | 94.5 |
Colorado Buffaloes | 3 | 19 | 85.8 |
Stanford Cardinal | 4 | 30 | 68.5 |
Arizona State | 5 | 31 | 67.7 |
Washington Huskies | 6 | 32 | 67.1 |
USC Trojans | 7 | 48 | 41.2 |
Arizona Wildcats | 8 | 53 | 36.0 |
Oregon Ducks | 9 | 62 | 18.3 |
Oregon State Beavers | 10 | 63 | 16.1 |
UCLA Bruins | 11 | 65 | 9.8 |
Washington State Cougars | 12 | 66 | 7.4 |
SEC Strength-of-Schedule Rankings
TEAM | CONF. RANK | NAT’L RANK | SOS TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|
South Carolina Gamecocks | 1 | 1 | 128.1 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs | 2 | 2 | 125.4 |
Alabama Crimson Tide | 3 | 3 | 115.9 |
Florida Gators | 4 | 4 | 112.0 |
Ole Miss Rebels | 5 | 5 | 105.1 |
Missouri Tigers | 6 | 6 | 105.0 |
Auburn Tigers | 7 | 16 | 90.3 |
LSU Tigers | 8 | 18 | 86.7 |
Texas A&M Aggies | 9 | 21 | 82.4 |
Tennessee Volunteers | 10 | 23 | 81.1 |
Kentucky Wildcats | 11 | 24 | 79.2 |
Vanderbilt Commodores | 12 | 27 | 71.1 |
Arkansas Razorbacks | 13 | 28 | 70.9 |
Georgia Bulldogs | 14 | 43 | 48.3 |
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