In upcoming blogs, I will be breaking down which teams drew the toughest and easiest schedules for 2026 for each of the conferences. I thought it would be a good idea to look back at 2025 and see if schedules do indeed influence the conference races. Yesterday I did the ACC and that conference fell into the MAJOR factor. I will put the Conferences in MAJOR, SOLID, MINOR and ZERO factors for how much the schedule impacted the 2025 season.

                  Here is what I posted for the Toughest and Easiest Big Ten schedule for 2025 in my July 8 blog from 2025.

                  Well, the schedule did impact the Big Ten in 2025! Now I do not go strictly by the records from the previous year. After all my power ratings are done I put the Big Ten into 4 classes heading into the year. If you draw a team from the top class, they are in RED and a team you do not want to play. The Purple are the other top contenders, and you do not want to face them either. The Blue are the middle teams of the Big Ten, and the Green are teams at the bottom that you want to draw.

                  Let’s look at the teams with the five hardest schedules. According to my calculations prior to the year Wisconsin which drew the toughest schedule in the entire country faced the Big Ten’s toughest schedule and went just 2-7. Northwestern had a solid year getting to 4-5 and a bowl with the 2^nd toughest schedule. Coach Schiano told me before the year that his team was stronger than 2024 but the record might not show it as they faced a killer schedule (3^rd toughest) and that was the case as they dropped to 2-7 in Big Ten play. Michigan St and Purdue drew the 4^th and 5^th toughest schedules and went a combined 1-17 with Mich St firing their head coach! The Toughest schedule part was a MAJOR factor.

                  Now let us look at the teams that I felt drew the most favorable schedules in 2025. Ohio St drew the 3^rd easiest schedule and got to the Big Ten title game. Michigan and USC were in the top 5 of the easiest schedules and both were on the fringe of making the playoff and the Big Ten title game had they won their game at the end and both finished 7-2. Illinois drew the #2 schedule but was a disappointing 5-4 and Maryland a surprising 1-8 vs the #15 schedule.

                  Final Analysis. In the Big Ten in 2025 the Schedule was a MAJOR FACTOR!

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