Upcoming Match-ups
  • 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

Sports Betting Bonuses for College Football Betting

No matter what team you’re betting on and what their NCAAF strength of schedule looks like, claiming some sportsbook bonuses can help take your wagering success to the next level.

Whether you’re a new customer signing up at a sportsbook, or an existing user who’s on the hunt for the best odds boosts and profit boost tokens, the best sportsbooks are always offering some valuable bonuses during college football season.

Some of the best sportsbooks with top-notch NCAAF betting bonuses include the following options:

Click the links above to get more details on the best sports betting bonuses for NCAAF betting available at each sportsbook.

DraftKings

Excludes MA.

SIGNUP OFFER

Sign Up & Receive Up to $1,050 in Bonuses

Advertising Disclosure