It’s hard to believe, but we’re just a few months away from the ramp up to the 2026 college football regular season.
We’ve already seen some early, analytics-driven rankings be released, which showcased one obvious point: there are two conferences dominating the sport. The Big Ten Conference, at least based on last year’s performances, recruiting rankings, and returning talent, is expected to have three of the five best teams.
Meanwhile, the SEC will once again show off its quality depth. Seven of the top 15 teams are expected to come from the SEC, though with just one in the top five.
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As in most years, the 2025-2026 season was dominated by debate and discussion around strength of schedule. Particularly with two Group of Five teams reaching the College Football Playoff, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish getting left out of the playoff in favor of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Those debates are only going to increase this upcoming season, as the playoff field remains locked at 12. And perhaps more importantly, scheduling philosophies changing rapidly as programs optimize for reaching the postseason.
Well, we already have a new ranking of the ten hardest schedules in the upcoming season, and, spoiler alert, it’s those same two conferences yet again.
Bill Connelly, the creator of the SP+ analytics-based ranking system housed at ESPN, posted on X this week about the current toughest schedules in the country, based on the projected top teams in SP+. And the SEC dominates the list, with a few Big Ten teams slotting into the middle.
Per Connelly, the Texas Longhorns are projected to have the toughest schedule in the country, and looking at it, you can see why. They host Ohio State, who’s expected to be the best team in college football. They play at Tennessee, have their traditional rivalry game against Oklahoma, host Florida and Ole Miss, go on the road at Missouri and LSU, host Arkansas, then finish out with another rivalry game at Texas A&M. There’s only one likely top 5 team, but few off weeks facing lower quality opponents.
Speaking of Ohio State, they’re the top ranked Big Ten team, coming in at #4, with a bunch of tough games on tap for 2026. On the road at Texas, home for Illinois, at Iowa, at defending national champion Indiana, at USC, home for Oregon, at Nebraska, and home for Michigan. Two top five teams, and plenty more likely top 20 or 25 caliber teams.
Here’s the full list:
So seven of the top 10 are from the SEC, with the remaining three coming from the Big Ten. No surprise there. But the fact that there is so little surprise, and the strength of both conferences, makes it obvious why there will continue to be schedule-related arguments between the Power Four moving forward.
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The SEC, and the Big Ten too, will have reasonable arguments to make that they deserve more spots in the playoff because of the difficulty in getting through each conference. And they’ll surely have plenty to say about Notre Dame’s arrangement with the playoff too.
The Irish are now guaranteed a spot in the field if they finish in the top 12. Their schedule in 2026 indicates they are well aware of it.
Compare that to Texas or Ohio State, and you see where there’s going to be some disagreement. Expanding the playoff to 16 teams, for example, would allow for more playoff spots and take some of the disadvantages of tough schedules away from those conferences. For now though, it’s going to be a tough road ahead for many SEC teams, and plenty of Big Ten teams too.
