Ranking Strength of Schedule for second College Football Playoff Top 25 from weakest to strongest

The second edition of the College Football Playoff rankings debuted on Tuesday night, giving fans an idea how the postseason picture might play out. Of course, there’s still plenty to dissect and strength of schedule is a huge factor.

Much of the conversation around strength of schedule last week centered around the ACC. However, with multiple top contenders in that league falling, we have some shakeups this week.

On3 stops to take a look at each team in the College Football Playoff ranking in terms of strength of schedule according to the ESPN FPI. Here its each team’s strength of schedule, ranked from weakest to strongest, to this point.

Virginia – SOS: 93

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 19

Virginia’s strength of schedule from last week dropped eight spots, highlighting the challenging position ACC teams were in when it came to the playoff. Two losses may very well not cut it in the ACC this year, depending on what your non-conference schedule looked like.

Games Remaining: @ Duke, Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh – SOS: 91

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 22

Pittsburgh had the worst strength of schedule of any team in the CFP rankings last week, and that nearly continued this week. In fact, Pittsburgh’s ranking in the FPI continued to tumble as the rest of the ACC took a hit with top contenders losing. There’s probably not a whole lot at this point in the season that can give bottom-tier schedules a meaningful lift.

Games Remaining: Notre Dame, @ Georgia Tech, Miami

Georgia Tech – SOS: 79

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 16

Unlike some of its ACC peers, Georgia Tech’s strength of schedule actually took a tick up with some of the results in the league. The Yellow Jackets moved back into a more comfortable position in the league pecking order, too, thanks to losses by Louisville and Virginia. Every goal is still on the table for the Yellow Jackets.

Games Remaining: @ Boston College, Pittsburgh, Georgia

Louisville – SOS: 63

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 20

Louisville lost nearly 10 spots by falling this weekend, and the strength of schedule once again ranks in the second half of the ACC. Unlike a few other teams, the Cardinals do still have some decent opponents left on the schedule and therefore should see their metrics at least stabilize, if not rise a bit.

Games Remaining: Clemson, @ SMU, Kentucky

South Florida – SOS: 54

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 24

South Florida has two quality losses so far, falling only to Miami and Memphis. Neither loss is all that prohibitive, as evidenced by South Florida’s place in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. The rest of the schedule isn’t likely to move the needle a whole lot.

Games Remaining: @ Navy, @ UAB, Rice

Cincinnati – SOS: 53

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 25

Cincinnati crept into the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday and it slots in with one of the weaker strength of schedule metrics in the potential field. That said, the back half of the schedule includes some tougher tests and should help pull the ranking up just a bit.

Games Remaining: Arizona, BYU, @ TCU

Utah – SOS: 52

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 13

Barely a wiggle in this week’s metrics. Utah moves up two spots from its positioning a week ago. The remaining games are all decent, but without a key ranked team to beat. So the strength of schedule for Utah is probably pretty close to what it will be at this point.

Games Remaining: @ Baylor, Kansas State, @ Kansas

Texas Tech – SOS: 48

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 6

One of the programs that saw a significant boost in its strength of schedule metrics this week, the win over BYU was huge from multiple angles. First, it validated Texas Tech’s resume quite a bit, taking it up 10 spots in this week’s metrics. Second, it provided a high-quality win that the Red Raiders can hang their hats on moving forward.

Games Remaining: UCF, @ West Virginia

Ohio State – SOS: 41

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 1

Ohio State’s game against Purdue didn’t move the needle much and, in fact, dropped the Buckeyes’ ranking a decent amount. Now the Buckeyes are in the range where they have one of the weaker strengths of schedule among the potential playoff field. It won’t matter if they keep winning.

Games Remaining: UCLA, Rutgers, @ Michigan

Miami – SOS: 39

CFP Top 25 Ranking: 15

Miami’s schedule took a hit with Louisville and Florida State both losing over the weekend. That diminished one of the program’s best wins and tarnished the quality of one of the team’s two losses. Miami still has a game against Pittsburgh on the road still, so that should boost the strength of schedule a touch.

Games Remaining: NC State, @ Virginia Tech, @ Pittsburgh

Remaining CFP teams’ strength of schedule

USC | SOS: 34 | CFP Ranking: 17
Indiana | SOS: 33 | CFP Ranking: 2
Ole Miss | SOS: 32 | CFP Ranking: 7
Michigan | SOS: 31 | CFP Ranking: 18
Notre Dame | SOS: 30 | CFP Ranking: 9
BYU | SOS: 28 | CFP Ranking: 12
Iowa | SOS: 27 | CFP Ranking: 21
Oregon | SOS: 24 | CFP Ranking: 8
Vanderbilt | SOS: 21 | CFP Ranking: 14
Tennessee | SOS: 18 | CFP Ranking: 23
Texas A&M | SOS: 15 | CFP Ranking: 3
Oklahoma | SOS: 16 | CFP Ranking: 11
Texas | SOS: 13 | CFP Ranking: 10
Georgia | SOS: 11 | CFP Ranking: 5
Alabama | SOS: 6 | CFP Ranking: 4