Arkansas Has Toughest Schedule In The Country, Again

According to a proprietary strength-of-schedule formula developed by the odds-makers at www.SportsBettingDime.com, Arkansas, Kansas and Auburn have college football’s three toughest schedules, while the UTEP, Hawaii and Charlotte have the three easiest among the 130 Division 1 schools.

The @SBD Strength of Schedule formula is based upon opponents’ efficiency ratings from last season minus the production lost from the 2020 team; recruiting rankings; major transfers added and lost. The formula is then adjusted for each game based upon home and road games. As a point of reference, the toughest possible schedule would score 397.09, making Arkansas’ S.O.S (126.35) 31.82% of the hardest possible schedule. The easiest hypothetical schedule would score -471.94 making UTEP’s S.O.S (171.68) 36.38% of the easiest schedule.

Five of the 10 hardest schedules belong to teams in the Big 12, and of the five pre-season favorites for the national championship, Georgia (#29) has the hardest schedule followed by Ohio State (#33), Oklahoma (#38), Clemson (#45) and Alabama (#50).

Here’s a look at the strength-of-schedule for all 130 teams as well as a breakdown for each of the five power conferences – ACC, Big 12, BIG Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. For additional odds and analysis, visit https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/guides/resources/ncaaf-strength-schedule-rankings/

2021 NCAAF Strength-of-Schedule Rankings

TEAM RANK
Arkansas 1 126.35

Kansas 2 118.21

Auburn 3 104.06

Texas 4 102.48

Oklahoma St 5 101.39

Baylor 6 101.11

Mississippi St 7 97.18

Kansas State 8 90.82

Notre Dame 9 87.29

Ole Miss 10 82.70

REST OF SEC

Florida 16 65.10

Texas A&M 17 64.60

LSU 18 64.04

Tennessee 27 50.06

Georgia 29 49.24

S. Carolina 37 40.47

Missouri 46 21.50

Alabama 50 16.24

Vanderbilt 59 -1.62

Kentucky 70 -25.65