Phil Steele has published his 2024 college football strength of schedule rankings. The Florida Gators have the toughest schedule in 2024, while the Liberty Flames have the easiest, per Steele.
Last season, Phil Steele’s toughest and easiest schedule was also Florida’s and Liberty’s, respectively.
Steele arrives at his preseason toughest schedule ratings by combining his “9 sets of Power Ratings” with the amount of home and away games. This differs from the Win/Loss method, which is strictly based on the opponent winning percentage from the previous year.
The newly expanded Big Ten and SEC lead Phil Steele’s rankings this season with eight teams each in his Top 25 toughest schedules. They are followed by the Big 12 with five teams and ACC with four.
Phil Steele’s 10 toughest schedules for 2024
1. Florida (2023 SOS rank: 1st) – Florida has the toughest schedule in the country in 2024 per Steele, and it includes games against a whopping eight preseason AP Top 25 teams — vs. No. 19 Miami (FL), vs. No. 20 Texas A&M, at No. 15 Tennessee, vs. No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville, Fla., at No. 4 Texas, vs. No. 13 LSU, vs. No. 6 Ole Miss, and, finally, at No. 10 Florida State.
2. UCLA (2023 SOS rank: 72nd) – The Bruins open the 2024 season at Hawaii before hosting Indiana to open their inaugural Big Ten slate. It gets tough after that, as UCLA will visit No. 13 LSU, host No. 3 Oregon, and visit No. 8 Penn State in consecutive weeks. There’s also No. 25 Iowa and No. 23 USC at home and trips to Nebraska and Washington in November.
3. USC (2023 SOS rank: 50th) – USC also gets a tougher schedule in 2024 after moving to the Big Ten, but first they have to battle No. 13 LSU in Las Vegas to open the season. Other ranked opponents include No. 9 Michigan on the road, while they will host No. 8 Penn State and No. 7 Notre Dame.
4. Georgia Tech (2023 SOS rank: 26th) – Georgia Tech opens the season with a tough ACC opponent, No. 10 Florida State, in Ireland. The Yellow Jackets will also host No. 7 Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will close the season against three preseason Top 25 opponents — vs. No. 19 Miami (FL), vs. No. 24 NC State, and at No. 1 Georgia.
5. Houston (2023 SOS rank: 33rd) – Houston’s non-conference slate in 2024 is respectable, with game against UNLV and Rice at home and No. 16 Oklahoma on the road. In Big 12 action, the Cougars get preseason No. 12 Utah and No. 18 Kansas State at home. Road tilts include No. 22 Kansas, No. 21 Arizona, Cincinnati, and TCU.
6. Purdue (2023 SOS rank: 5th) – The Boilermakers’ first three games of the season are non-conference contests, highlighted by No. 7 Notre Dame at home and Oregon State on the road. In Big Ten action, Purdue will host No. 3 Oregon and No. 8 Penn State and will visit No. 2 Ohio State. If you are counting, that’s four games against preseason Top 10 teams.
7. West Virginia (2023 SOS rank: 14th) – The Mountaineers open the 2024 season with a big non-conference contest at home against No. 8 Penn State. In Big 12 action, West Virginia hosts No. 22 Kansas and No. 18 Kansas State and travels to No. 17 Oklahoma State and No. 21 Arizona.
8. Georgia (2023 SOS rank: 56th) – Georgia’s non-league slate this season is highlighted by the season-opener against No. 14 Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Bulldogs have a gauntlet of road SEC games, including No. 5 Alabama, No. 4 Texas, and No. 6 Ole Miss. Georgia will also host No. 15 Tennessee in November.
9. Alabama (2023 SOS rank: 8th) – Alabama plays a trio of non-conference opponents to open the season — vs. WKU and USF before visiting Wisconsin. The SEC slate includes No. 1 Georgia and No. 11 Missouri at home, with road tilts at No. 15 Tennessee, No. 13 LSU, and No. 16 Oklahoma. The Tide close the season hosting Auburn at home in the annual Iron Bowl contest.
10. Stanford (2023 SOS rank: 17th) – Stanford’s first season as an ACC member begins with a non-conference contest at home against TCU. The Cardinal open ACC play with consecutive road games at Syracuse and No. 14 Clemson. A road tilt at Notre Dame looms in October. Matchups in November for the Cardinal include No. 24 NC State on the road, Louisville at home, and Cal on the road.
The rest of Phil Steele’s toughest schedule rankings for 2024 are listed below:
11-25
(11) Virginia, (12) Florida State, (13) Colorado, (14) Vanderbilt, (15) Michigan, (16) Mississippi State, (17) Oklahoma, (18) Arkansas, (19) Arizona State, (20) Wisconsin, (21) Washington, (22) Michigan State, (23) BYU, (24) Kentucky, (25) Northwestern
26-50
(26) LSU, (27) Louisville, (28) Clemson, (29) Iowa State, (30) Illinois, (31) Boston College, (32) South Carolina, (33) Texas A&M, (34) Maryland, (35) Ohio State, (36) Texas, (37) Minnesota, (38) TCU, (39) Duke, (40) Ole Miss, (41) Oregon, (42) Baylor, (43) Miami FL, (44) Texas Tech, (45) California, (46) Kansas State, (47) Iowa, (48) Wake Forest, (49) Penn State, (50) Nebraska
51-75
(51) Pitt, (52) Tennessee, (53) UCF, (54) Oklahoma State, (55) Cincinnati, (56) Auburn, (57) Notre Dame, (58) Kansas, (59) Utah, (60) Syracuse, (61) Rutgers, (62) Missouri, (63) NC State, (64) ULM, (65) Virginia Tech, (66) Arizona, (67) Old Dominion, (68) Indiana, (69) North Carolina, (70) Tulane, (71) Charlotte, (72) Nevada, (73) New Mexico, (74) Southern Miss, (75) Oregon State
76-100
(76) SMU, (77) USF, (78) Navy, (79) UMass, (80) San Diego State, (81) Akron, (82) Utah State, (83) Appalachian State, (84) Bowling Green, (85) Troy, (86) San Jose State, (87) Georgia State, (88) Ball State, (89) Boise State, (90) Miami OH, (91) Temple, (92) UTSA, (93) Wyoming, (94) Memphis, (95) Tulsa, (96) Marshall, (97) North Texas, (98) Arkansas State, (99) South Alabama, (100) Washington State
101-133
(101) Middle Tennessee, (102) Georgia Southern, (103) Northern Illinois, (104) UNLV, (105) Kennesaw State, (106) WKU, (107) Army, (108) Kent State, (109) Fresno State, (110) UTEP, (111) Colorado State, (112) Rice, (113) Coastal Carolina, (114) Louisiana, (115) Western Michigan, (116) Jacksonville State, (117) Sam Houston, (118) New Mexico State, (119) Central Michigan, (120) UAB, (121) Hawaii, (122) East Carolina, (123) UConn, (124) Ohio, (125) Toledo, (126) Eastern Michigan, (127) FlU, (128) Texas State, (129) Air Force, (130) Buffalo, (131) Florida Atlantic, (132) Louisiana Tech, (133) James Madison, (134) Liberty
Football Schedules
- College Football Schedule (FBS only)
- FCS Schedule (FCS only)
- College Football TV Schedule (FBS and FCS)
No College Football schedule is easy.
Liberty’s is pretty close.
To me there have be two definitions of SOS in college football that really matter.
1. Difficulty winning six games to get to a Bowl Game.
2. Difficulty winning enough games to get to the 12 team playoff.
Florida is undoutably the toughest schedule on both definitions.
Before this year you needed to be undefeated to make the Playoff (or be Alabama with a single loss) but I guess any Power 4 team with 2 losses will pretty much make the playoff. That helps teams like Nebraska that has one sure loss in Ohio State but no other opponent in the Top 11 teams (or the AP top 20).
Conference schedule are not even close to equal anymore, so this will be interesting to see what The Committee rewards. They rewarded in 2023 a Michigan team with #1 seed without a Power 5 opponent out of conference.