I do believe the SEC this year is the best conference and they have the best returning talent. It has not been that way in recent memory with the Big Ten and the ACC the last two years being the better conferences. We factor in strength of schedule all the time and the SEC always falls short early in the season.
It is hard to predict strength of schedule when you don't know how each team will play in 2018, but this could help us uncover betting value by finding out which teams are not as good as they seem based on strength of schedule and then fading them when they get into tougher games or scenarios. It's just a piece of the handicapping puzzle that you must factor in to find betting value.
Based on opponent's winning % form 2017 and scheduling of 2018 these are the teams with the toughest schedules in 2018
- Florida State
- Nebraska
- Michigan
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
- Oregon State
- Pittsburgh
- UCLA
- Georgia Tech
- Utah
Obviously this will change, because teams also lose players, lose coaches and players get hurt so you really need to dig deep into a match up when comparing strength of schedules and I do this extensively during Bowl season. Some teams also may have as many as 8 home games compared to 8 road games. Factoring in all of this along with Phil Steele's power ratings he came up with the following list of the Toughest Schedules:
