We’ve reached Week 12 of the 2019 college football season. Only three weeks remain and the second set of College Football Playoff Rankings are due to be released Tuesday evening.
With the playoff quickly approaching, college football strength of schedule rankings are a big topic of discussion. There are several sources for strength of schedule, including various computer components. Note that these rankings are for strength of schedule to date and will differ from preseason rankings.
Below are the current strength of schedule rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10 (as of Nov. 5) based on five computer indexes that were formerly included in the BCS Rankings.
College Football Strength of Rankings
Anderson & Hester’s strength of schedule rankings are currently led by the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Michigan State (2), Maryland (3), Mississippi State (4), and Northwestern (5) round out the top five. Minnesota, which will likely move into the CFP top ten tonight, has the 54th toughest schedule.
Below are Anderson & Hester’s SOS rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10:
- Ohio State (34)
- LSU (16)
- Alabama (67)
- Penn State (17)
- Clemson (73)
- Georgia (51)
- Oregon (46)
- Utah (81)
- Oklahoma (59)
- Florida (48)
Colley’s strength of schedule rankings are alos led by the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Michigan State (2), Mississippi State (3), BYU (4), and North Carolina (5) round out the top five. Minnesota’s schedule is ranked 95th.
Below are Colley’s SOS rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10:
- Ohio State (16)
- LSU (20)
- Alabama (80)
- Penn State (25)
- Clemson (99)
- Georgia (63)
- Oregon (49)
- Utah (90)
- Oklahoma (98)
- Florida (45)
Sagarin’s strength of schedule rankings are currently led by the Northwestern Wildcats. Auburn (2), Mississippi State (3), USC (4), and Tulsa (5) round out the top five. Minnesota’s schedule is ranked 70th.
Below are Sagarin’s SOS rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10:
- Ohio State (34)
- LSU (13)
- Alabama (54)
- Penn State (23)
- Clemson (71)
- Georgia (52)
- Oregon (30)
- Utah (47)
- Oklahoma (41)
- Florida (17)
Massey’s strength of schedule rankings are currently led by the Auburn Tigers. LSU (2), USC (3), Mississippi State (4), and Iowa State (5) complete the top five. Minnesota’s schedule is ranked 60th.
Below are Massey’s SOS rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10:
- Ohio State (27)
- LSU (2)
- Alabama (23)
- Penn State (19)
- Clemson (67)
- Georgia (39)
- Oregon (9)
- Utah (33)
- Oklahoma (29)
- Florida (8)
Billingsley’s strength of schedule rankings are currently led by the USC Trojans. LSU (2), Tennessee (3), Northwestern (4), and Washington (5) round out the top five. Minnesota’s schedule is ranked 74th.
Below are Billingsley’s SOS rankings for the College Football Playoff Top 10:
- Ohio State (54)
- LSU (2)
- Alabama (73)
- Penn State (19)
- Clemson (65)
- Georgia (68)
- Oregon (14)
- Utah (47)
- Oklahoma (55)
- Florida (15)
Based on the five computer ratings above, LSU and Ohio State have played the toughest schedule among the unbeaten teams. Clemson had played the next toughest, with Minnesota bringing up the rear.
This has got to be a joke, right? Who, that actually watches college football and understands what they are watching, can say that Clemson (an ACC team), Penn State (who just lost to the Golden Gophers), Oregon (who plays no one except for the team that beat them) should honestly be ranked, and even projected to rank as high as they are??? This is almost funny to read. Even the fact that Ohio State is above LSU is funny to me, as LSU and Alabama are the best two teams in the country. Too bad they are in the same conference, and same division. So while LSU and Alabama should both be considered as #1 and #2, respectively, as LSU beat Alabama, according to the people that seem to pick by throwing arrows with a blindfold over their eyes, in the dark at a moving target, we won’t get to watch the best teams in the playoffs…mostly because they play each other and beat each other up all year, giving a false reality of how the rankings should be laid out. Georgia hasn’t looked great, but again, they are in the SEC East. So they will likely play LSU for the SEC Championship. If Georgia wins that, then it will really mess things up. Not for Georgia, but for LSU and Alabama. One of these 3 teams should win the national championship. Let’s not forget of years passed, like the 2007 cursed #2 ranked team, and its 2008 Sugar Bowl. The 13 unbeaten streak of the Hawaii Warriors and their predicted future “next great QB” were all the talk until they had to play an SEC team…UGA actually. Poor Colt Brenan will never forget! And even the #1 favored Ohio State Buckeye’s losing to LSU…another SEC team! I digress! If LSU wins the SEC Championship, they should be #1. If UGA wins, we won’t be able to see the best 4 teams play each other. I’ll play into the joke and give Ohio State a seat in the playoffs. But if Clemson, Penn State and Oregon are the other teams at the table, I may not even watch as this would be so tragic.
#1 LSU vs. #4 Ohio St and
#2 Alabama vs. #3 UGA
#1 LSU vs. #2 Alabama (or UGA)
Looks so much better than
Ohio State vs. Oregon and
Clemson vs. Penn St
Ohio St vs. Clemson…NO!!!!
Alabama’s two best wins are vs. Texas A&M and Duke. Shouldn’t a team’s resume matter? If not, why even play the games
Wow… so much crying in this post. Must be an Alabama fan. Must be easy to win them all win they don’t play many good teams. Sort of how it was for Boise State to win their one big game a year for a while.
I think Jonathan was describing his own post when he said “This is almost funny to read”.
Jonathan,
If the SEC is so good, why have they lost 13 games in the non-conference? Why are they 2-3 against the Mountain West? Why are they .500 against the other P5? I think you might be bias.
News flash: everyone is biased towards their favorite team and conference.
Jeff What other conference has more than one team that plays for national title games in the past 15 years or the new playoff system? The SEC has a long grocery list of teams that get to the final games. I will name them so you can’t ignore the list.
Alabama
Auburn
LSU
Georgia
Florida
Big 10.
Ohio State
Big 12
Oklahoma
ACC
Florida State
Clemson
Pac 10
Oregon
USC? They might be in barely but still
Don’t fool yourself, the SEC is full of powerhouse teams that other conferences have 2 or maybe 3.
I would like the strength of schedule as two numbers. First is the average ranking of the teams you beat, the 2nd number is the ranking of the teams you lost to.
NCAA Football is a joke. How in the hell is Clemson even ranked when they have played nobody all year. Meanwhile the SEC gets punished for having a good conference.
Clemson beat the crap out of alabama last year. Wasnt the score like 40-14 or something like that?
And IF the sec is soooo hard, then petition your team to leave.
Come join the big ten. Id LOVE to see lsu or alabama play in negative degree snowy weather, like real men do.
Hey Buckeye, how about practicing/playing in 100 degree weather with 90% humidity. Ask Joe Burrow about his cleats melting. Yes, real men play in the heat, too.