By Chris Marler
It just means more.
That’s the saying, right? Few areas does that mantra seem more relevant than college football Strength of Schedule rankings. The SOS rankings are consistently littered with SEC teams in the Top 25.
Bill Connelly of ESPN released his initial 2025 SP+ rankings for the 2025 season last week. It included returning production rankings and numbers, preseason rankings, and now strength of schedule numbers.
The SP+ rankings are a little confusing as they are solely based on Connelly’s analytics and metrics. Granted, he is essentially an analytics guru for college football fans and his SP+ rankings and predictions are often viewed as some of the most accurate across college football.
To the surprise of no one, the SEC once again dominated the rankings. Here’s a look at where every SEC team ranked nationally in the initial SP+ rankings.
(Reminder: The SOS rating is the projected win percentage an average top-5 team could expect against your schedule. Oklahoma and Florida will need to be top-5 caliber to even go 9-3.)
No. 1 Oklahoma
No. 2 Florida
No. 3 Arkansas
No. 5 Vanderbilt
No. 6 Mississippi State
No. 7 South Carolina
No. 8 Kentucky
No. 9 LSU
No. 10 Texas A&M
No. 11 Alabama
No. 12 Texas
No. 13 Georgia
No. 15 Auburn
No. 23 Ole Miss
No. 24 Tennessee
No. 25 Missouri
