ESPN has officially released their Football Power Index Rankings for the 2024 season including the strength of schedule rankings for all 134 FBS teams this season.
To say the rankings were SEC heavy is putting it mildly. The toughest conference in college football got even tougher this year as Texas and Oklahoma officially join the league. A whopping 15 of the 16 teams in the league have schedules ranked in the Top 25 in terms of difficulty this season including a crazy 9 of the Top 10 overall. The only team in the league to not have a Top 25 S.O.S was Mizzou who came in at 29th overall.
Here’s a look at where every SEC team is ranked for 2024 Strength of Schedule
No. 1 – Florida: Play eight teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 and 11 of 12 games vs P4 teams.
No. 2 – Mississippi State: Road games vs UGA, Texas, Tennessee, and Ole Miss all ranked in the Top 15
No. 3 – Georgia: Play three teams ranked in the top six nationally and all away from home.
No. 4 – Kentucky: Play UGA, Texas, Ole Miss & Tennessee and three of the four are away from Kroger Field.
No. 5 – Auburn: Not a single home game in the month of October with trips to UGA, Mizzou, and Kentucky.
No. 6 – Alabama: Play five teams ranked in the Top 16 nationally and that doesn’t include a trip to Camp Randall vs Wisconsin in Week 3
No. 7 – Oklahoma: Play six teams ranked in the Top 15 including Mizzou, Bama, and LSU in their final three games of the season.
No. 8 – Tennessee: Tricky non-con game vs NC State in Week 2 plus road games at OU and UGA. Get Bama at home in Neyland.
No. 10 – Texas: Granted they play UGA & OU back-to-back, but still have no clue how this is a Top 10 schedule.
No. 14 – Vanderbilt: Doesn’t get to play themselves, and even if they did they’d still find a way to lose.
No. 17 – South Carolina: Road games at Bama & Clemson and still draw LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Mizzou. However, they get every one of those last four at home in Willy B.
No. 20 – Texas A&M: Open and close the regular season with Top 10 games vs Notre Dame and Texas. However, both games are in Kyle Field.
No. 21 – Arkansas:
No. 22 – Ole Miss: They get UGA, OU, and LSU in a four-game stretch, but none are back-to-back and only LSU is on the road.
No. 23 – LSU: Open with Southern Cal and have a tricky Week 3 trip to South Carolina. Get Bama and OU at home in November.
No. 29 – Missouri: Their opponent’s winning percentage from 2023 is ranked 127th in the country for this year. But, they do get Auburn, Bama and Oklahoma in back-to-back-to back games.
