Less than 12 weeks before the 2025 college football season begins. In a situation that has become a tradition of the year, this construction period is spending arguing about which conference should have champions as the best form of the sport. Or, if the SEC is still ranked first, is Big Big closing the gap now?
These discussions are not only between fans and analysts. Current Illinois and former Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema even joined the mix, believing that the zero-2-3-year zero-sum transfer portal balance lineup will bring the Big Ten to the highest level of the SEC. Despite no clear answer to that argument, the Big Ten did dominate the 2024 college football playoffs, including national championships and head-on victory against SEC opponents.
The SEC's shared rebuttal to the argument is an overview of its 2025 meeting schedule, with 14 of its 16 member team ranking this year in the top 50 of ESPN SP+.
Although this evidence is important, it faces discounts on the top 10 major plans (mainly Wisconsin) it faces in 2025. Not only is the huge top 10 plans so far, but their schedule is tougher than almost every SEC slate.
As a reminder, we use Connelly’s initial SP+ ranking to evaluate the difficulty of each schedule. This is our methodology:
The equations used to compare each slate are simple. First, we find the value of each game based on the SP+ rating of each team. The higher that number, the harder the game will be. We then add each opponent's SP+ levels together to find the total opponent score. This large number divided by the number 12 (total matches) to find the average opponent score - it can then be compared to the SP+ rankings to average what the team faces each week.
((notes: The model is not considered. Additionally, the Football Championship Segment Opponent is not listed in SP+. Each FCS opponent is evaluated as a "negative 15" rating, similar to the 120 teams in the Football Bowl segment)
For specific details, this is where Wisconsin’s slate ranks highest in the top 10 or SEC program in 2025, from the simplest to the toughest.
Total opponent score:106.9
Average opponent score: 8.90 (similar to the 33rd best team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 111.8
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Get more (Texas A&M) news, analysis and comments Aggies Wires
Total opponent score:109.1
Average opponent score: 9.09 (similar to the 33rd best team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 107
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Total opponent score:110.8
Average opponent score: 9.23 (similar to the 33rd best team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 126
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Get more (Alabama) news, analysis and comments Rolling wires
Total opponent score:114
Average opponent score: 9.50 (similar to the 33rd best team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 145.5
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Total opponent score:114.1
Average opponent score: 9.51 (similar to the 33rd best team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 123.5
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Get more (LSU) news, analysis and comments LSU wire
Total opponent score:119.9
Average opponent score: 9.99 (similar to the 32nd largest team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 138.4
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Get more (Kentucky) news, analysis and comments British Wildcat Wire
Total opponent score:120.2
Average opponent score: 10.01 (similar to the 32nd largest team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 155
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
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Total opponent score:127.7
Average opponent score: 10.64 (similar to the 32nd largest team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 122.4
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Total opponent score:130.2
Average opponent score: 10.85 (similar to the 32nd largest team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 124.9 (first, the toughest meeting schedule)
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
Total opponent score:141.6
Average opponent score: 11.8 (similar to the 25th largest team in the country)
Meeting schedule score: 134.1
Meeting schedule (with SP+ rating):
Non-meeting schedule:
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