In some 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 and I 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 SEC schedule for 2025 in my July 3 blog from 2025.
Well, the schedule did impact the SEC 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 SEC 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. Last year Kentucky and Miss St were the two teams I listed in GREEN and they went a combined 3-13.
Let’s look at the teams with the six hardest schedules. According to my calculations prior to the year Oklahoma, Florida, Vanderbilt, Miss St, Kentucky and Arkansas faced the toughest schedules. Oklahoma and Vanderbilt did tremendous jobs of overcoming the brutal slates and each finished 6-2 with Oklahoma hosting a playoff game and Vanderbilt just missing out with a 10-win season. Hats off to coaches Venables and Lea for remarkable jobs. The other four teams on the list were a combined 5-27 in SEC play, and three of the four teams fired their head coaches. I would say that was a MAJOR factor.
Now let us look at the teams that I felt drew the most favorable schedules in 2025. The SEC was the first conference where a team that drew one of the six easiest schedule did not appear in the conference title game with 5 of the 6 teams from the previous three leagues making it. Texas A&M and Ole Miss did BOTH tie for the league title however with Texas A&M going 7-1 and none of the 7 wins came vs a team that had a winning conference record!! Missouri and Tennessee both went 4-4 despite the more manageable slates, Texas went 6-2 with an upset at Florida costing them a spot at the top. As mentioned in each of the previous leagues there was an underachiever in this list and it was Auburn which was 1-7 and fired its coach. Since tie-breakers were the only thing keeping Texas A&M and Ole Miss from the title game I will count this as a MAJOR factor also.
Final Analysis. In the SEC in 2025 the Schedule was a MAJOR FACTOR!
This years magazine is 376 pages and the biggest and best ever. Here are the different ways you can order the magazine.
Option #1 – Pick one up at your local Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million store. When you go into a Barnes and Noble you get two different cover choices in each store! The official on sale date is July 4th but it is hitting some stores sooner. It is also available at Books-a-Million which all have the national cover. These two distributors are our exclusive vendors of the magazine, and they are not available at Walmart’s, Walgreens, Grocery Stores, other bookstores or drug stores so save your gas. The only two brick and mortar store they are available are Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million.
Option #2 – Buy the Hard copy of the magazine at philsteele.com or call 1-866-918-7711. The total cost depends on where you live and which of the four types of shipping you choose. It will cost you in the ballpark of $10 for shipping and tax. The biggest advantage of buying online is that When you buy the Hard copy you GET the DIGITAL version of the magazine ($19.99) for FREE and it is updated thru September. Your digital access begins immediately when you purchase. You also get your choice of covers (National, SEC, Midwest, Southwest, West or East Coast) as these are generally mailed out the same or next business day as the order. Order Here!
Option #3 – Buy the digital magazine. The best thing about the digital magazine is that it is updated all the way thru the month of September. If a coach gets fired (that has happened the last couple of years) we update it. If a player is injured and out for the year we CIRCLE him in the magazine. If a player is added late (very rare) we put him in. Any changes to the team from the start of June thru the month of September is updated in the digital version. When you go to the philsteele.com store you will not see a picture there, you need to click on Digital Editions and order it there. It will be activated immediately giving you instant access. Order the Digital Here!
Option #4 – Order the VIP Bundle – The price of the VIP bundle is $44.95. With the VIP bundle you get the National Cover of the magazine. All VIP’s received EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version of the magazine for one week, but that bonus is gone as the digital is now available for everyone. You receive two magazines PLUS the Digital Magazine. You also receive FOUR Free issues of my Inside the Pressbox Newsletter ($20 per issue – $80 value) which gives you my Forecast and my computers forecast on EVERY FBS game each week. You also receive access to Phil Steele Plus ($25 per month) for the months of June, July, August and September! The VIP Bundle also includes SHIPPING so it is basically just $10 more than ordering the magazine by itself! Order the Reg VIP Bundle Here!!
Option #5 – THE BEST BUY – Order the Super VIP Bundle – The price of the SUPER VIP bundle is $74.95. With the Super VIP Bundle you receive
TWO magazines INCLUDING SHIPPING ($69 value!), EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version for one week (that happened already), order shipped next business day. Use the 2nd magazine when your first one gets dogeared or sell/give it to a friend.
Digital magazine ($19.95 value) FREE – The digital magazine is updated thru September (see option 3) and you get immediate access to the digital version upon purchase.
Four Issues of my Inside the Pressbox newsletter ($80 value) which gives you my forecast and my COMPUTERs forecast on EVERY FBS games each week (including FBS vs FCS) the same bonuses that the VIP’s get. You also receive…
FCS Digital Magazine ($25) FREE – Two full pages on Every FCS team laid out the same way the pages are for the FBS magazine. There are 128 FCS teams so over 250 pages!
NFL Digital Magazine ($15) FREE – Four full pages on Every NFL team and a Fantasy Football section!
Phil Steele Plus ($99 value) ENTIRE SEASON FREE – This is a tremendous addition. If you purchase the full year access to Phil Steele Plus it is $99 but you get it included in the Super VIP Bundle Purchase the Super VIP Bundle now and get the entire year of Phil Steele Plus FREE!! Here is a link to all the great info available on Phil Steele Plus including the schedule predictor! Order the Super VIP Bundle Here!!
Check out all of our Great Products on PhilSteele.com Store Here!
