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The sport’s power brokers want the College Football Playoff selection committee to place greater emphasis on strength of schedule going forward. While the CFP has tweaked its formula and will introduce new metrics for its 13-person committee this year, debates will continue for months over which team — and which conference — faces the toughest schedule in the country.
The challenge is that any number generated by a computer can feel subjective, especially when based on such a small data set. (After all, teams play only 12 regular-season games.) College football is also inherently regional, making comparisons even more complicated.
Asking a computer — or a data scientist — to develop strength of schedule metrics often fails to provide proper context. It’s one thing to play Alabama in September and LSU in November. It’s another to face Texas, Alabama and Georgia in a five-week span.
No team is the same week to week. Coaches and players are human. They get tired, they suffer injuries, and they’re more prone to mistakes in the middle and late parts of the season. Road games also add real challenges.
“Strength” is a relative term. So in this exercise, I used data and projections, along with an examination of game placement and bye weeks, to determine which SEC team faces the most difficult schedule. The results are still subjective, but I believe you deserve transparency about the process.
What we can agree on is that the gap between the No. 1 and No. 16 strength of schedule rankings isn’t especially large. Every team in the SEC has a demanding slate, and most analysts would place the majority of the 16 SEC schedules in the national top 30.
I’m sure plenty of you will disagree with my rankings, but here’s how I see the strength of schedule across the SEC — from the toughest to the least challenging.
SEC 2025 Strength of Schedule
