Which teams have the toughest 2022 college football schedules?
As we head into August, we are only a month away from NCAA football. We take a look at which school has the toughest schedule to contend with.


With all of the upheaval in college football this year, it is tempting to buck the traditional wisdom which says “look South” if you want to see the toughest schedule. The chaos is likely to last another five to ten years, with Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC in 2025, and BYU, Cincinnati, and UCF moving to the Big 12, the Pac-12 losing UCLA and USC to the Big Ten, and the Pac-12 and Big 12 possibly merging.
Geographic regions have little to do with the conferences any more, and will have even less of a role in the future. So where do you look if you want to see the best competition around? Turns out, still pretty much the same as ever. Look South.
Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman: "It's a challenging schedule again... I've only been here three years, so I know it's the third year in a row we've been awarded the toughest schedule in college football."
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) July 20, 2022
All 12 of Arkansas' opponents earned postseason berths in 2021.
With each of the SEC teams capable of either winning a national championship or toppling a national champion, seemingly at will, it is difficult to imagine a more competitive conference in any sport, amateur or professional. After Oklahoma and Texas join in three years’ time, that is a reputation that will undoubtedly have even more punch behind it.
They don’t hold exclusive rights to the claim, though, with Big Ten teams who can match them blow for blow, and of course the two Pac-12 powerhouses UCLA and USC who are as good as any team in the world. Similar to Spanish soccer’s relationship with Real Madrid and Barcelona, these are two world class programs playing in a second-tier league, and as good as each of these teams are, competition against which they must test themselves is laughably weak, at times almost non-existent.
College football schedule superlatives: Arkansas has toughest (cant say Im surprised, they have a brutal road game in Provo), #BYU listed as having most interesting schedule https://t.co/DuLEDfdKzF
— . . . (@Y4LYFE) July 26, 2022
Which is why for the most competitive division in the country, you still have to look at the South.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index tool, which measures team strength and predicts performance, nine of the top ten toughest football schedules are all in the southeastern United States. Overall, they placed 15 of the top 25 toughest schedules on southern schools.
Using different criteria, including the number of Power 5 opponents in the schedule, Fan Nation came up with a slightly different mix, but still chose seven of their top ten toughest schedules from the SEC.
All pundits tend to rate their top three as the same schools, though: Arkansas, Auburn, and Mississippi State each have brutal schedules, with October being perhaps a giant-killer for Mississippi State. They face Texas A&M and Arkansas at home, before going on the road to Kentucky and Alabama. Add to the mix Georgia, Arizona, and LSU, before tackling SEC conference play, and the Bulldogs have a very steep hill to climb.
The College Football season kicks off next month 🙌
— Caesars Sportsbook (@CaesarsSports) July 25, 2022
Mississippi State opened as 8-point favorites vs. Memphis and the line has since ballooned up to -16.5 😯@TheMaxMeyer with more on which sides have gotten the most action on the spread in Week 0 and Week 1
Arkansas will face five nationally ranked teams in their season, and for the second year in a row, they will have to punch far above their weight to come through it. They open with a road game to Cincinnati, who haven’t lost at home in over two years, and then travel mid-season out west to BYU. In the lead-up to that trip, the Hogs will face Texas A&M away, Alabama at home and Mississippi State in Starkville. With a trip to Auburn in the mix, Arkansas will play four out of five games on the road.
The toughest schedule in the land, though, has to go to the Auburn Tigers. They have a killer calendar ahead of them, playing both Georgia and Alabama on the road, plus six nationally ranked SEC opponents before the end of October.
34 Days until college football returns!
— The Transfer Portal CFB (@TPortalCFB) July 24, 2022
Bo Jackson's (@BoJackson) Auburn career will forever be one of the most impressive. He compiled over 4,500 all-purpose yards and 45 TD and won the 1985 Heisman Trophy. He also batted .338 with 28 HR and 70 RBI on the baseball team. pic.twitter.com/qT2pvjGrGe
Here are the top 10 toughest schedules according to ESPN’s FPI tool
- Auburn
- Mississippi State
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- Tennessee
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- South Carolina
- Indiana
- LSU
Deion Sanders said Jackson State isn't ready to play a team like Alabama. pic.twitter.com/ySqQutKDIM
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) July 22, 2022