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. I have looked at the Big Ten, SEC and ACC and all 3, I have counted the schedule as a 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 12 schedule for 2025 in my June 25 blog from 2025.
Well, the schedule did impact the Big 12 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 Twelve into 4 classes heading into the year. If you drew 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 per my rankings prior to 2025. According to my calculations prior to the year Colorado and West Virginia drew the toughest schedules in the Big 12. The two teams were a combined 12-6 in Big 12 play in 2024, and both were in bowl games. The two teams combined for just a 3-15 record taking on the toughest schedules in 2025. Arizona St was the defending Big 12 champ and a playoff team but fell to 6-3 vs the #3 schedule. Kansas St was expected to be a Big 12 contender but versus the 4th toughest schedule was just 5-4. Cincinnati got off to a great start but faced three of the RED teams in their last 4 conference games and after a 5-0 start in Big 12 play lost their last 4. The Toughest schedules were a major factor.
Now let us look at the teams that I felt drew the most favorable schedules in 2025. As has been the case with the first three conferences one team that drew a favorable schedule was a disappointment as Baylor suffered thru a 3-6 season despite facing what looked like the 3rd easiest schedule and they did not face either Texas Tech or BYU. Kansas was a minor disappointment at 3-6 despite facing the easiest schedule but did not have big expectations heading in. Houston was coming off a 3-6 season but facing the 2nd easiest schedule was in the mix for the Big 12 title game before losing to TCU late in the year but got to 6-3 and had a 10-win season. I must consider the schedule a MAJOR factor any time the two teams that battled for the conference title were both in the five easiest schedules in the league (Texas Tech vs BYU) as both went 8-1!
Final Analysis. In the Big 12 in 2025 the Schedule was a MAJOR FACTOR!
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