There are just 116 days until the magazine goes to the press. On page 26 of the magazine, I list the Toughest Schedules for the previous year. For the article I compare the toughest REGULAR season schedules from the previous year compared to the current year’s schedules. I then list the teams that have much easier schedules than last year and list them in the Going Up box. I expect most of these teams to have a better record purely based on schedule strength. In 2024, I listed 24 Teams in the Going Up box and of the 24, 14 had a stronger record, 4 had the same record and only 6 had a weaker record. Last year once again I listed 24 team in the Going Up Box on page 27. Once again 14 of these teams had a stronger record, 5 had the same and only 5 had a weaker record. That means if you make the Going UP box on page 26 you have a 77% chance of having a stronger or the same record.
Here is last years box from the magazine.
In 2024 the teams at the very top had great success. East Carolina was my #1 Most Improved team in the preseason and went from 2 to 8 wins. Indiana was the #2 team in easier schedule as they moved from the Big Ten East and went from 3-0 to 11-2! Last year some of the teams in the Going Up Box were #2 Virginia which went from 5-7 to the ACC title game and 11 wins for the first time in school history! Houston went from 4-8 to 10-3. North Texas went from 6-7 to 12-2 playing in the American title game. Texas Tech went from 8-5 tp 12-2 winning the Big 12 and making the playoffs. Kent St went from 0-12 to 5-7.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Going Down box or the teams that face much tougher schedules. I expect these teams to have a weaker record the next year as the opponents are much tougher. In 2024 I listed 16 teams in the Going Down Box and of the 16 only ONE managed to improve their record and that was New Mexico which went from 4-8 to 5-7! Last year I listed 19 teams in the Going Down box and 15 of those teams had a weaker record with only 4 teams improving their record like BYU which went from 11-2 to 12-2 playing one extra game. That means the last two years out of the 35 teams in the Going Down Box, only 5 managed to improved their record (2 of those by just 1 game) for 85% success rate.
In 2024 Florida State was the poster child for this box as they went from 13-1 all the way down to 2-10. Michigan went from 15-0 to just 8-5. UCLA faced the easiest schedule in the Pac 12 in 2023 to one of the toughest in the Big Ten last year and went from 8-5 to 5-7. Washington went from 14-1 and playing in the national title game to just 6-7. Last year Sam Houston St went from 10-3 to 2-10, Syracuse from 10-3 to 3-9 and Marshall from 10-3 to 5-7 with Colorado going from 9-4 to 3-9 and South Carolina from 9-4 to 4-8.
I am in the process of finalizing the chart for the magazine but I thought I would give you a chart that will not be in the magazine. This chart is the final records for 2025’s regular season opponents. Here is the chart.
Now let me go over some notes from the chart. Naturally a team like Miami Florida which faced Texas A&M, Ohio St, Ole Miss and Indiana in the playoff faced a tougher overall schedule than most teams in 2024. I do not include post season game as it would skew the chart pushing all those teams towards the top. I only compare last year’s regular season record with the current years to give you an accurate comparison of the two years schedules.
Wisconsin’s regular season foes were 110-53 and that 67.5% rated as the toughest schedule in the country based on opponent’s records. The rest of the top 5 toughest regular season schedules based on win percentage were UCLA, Purdue, Florida and Virginia Tech.
Which team took on the most teams that finished with a winning record this past year? UCLA is at the top of the chart with 10 and there were 13 teams that took on teams that faced 9 teams that had a winning record. I also include how many opponents made it to the postseason this past year and 3 teams are at the top in Wisconsin, Colorado and Arkansas. This number differs as some bowl teams finish at 6-7.
Which teams took on the most ranked teams during the regular season? Wisconsin again is at the top facing EIGHT ranked teams during the regular season! Purdue was close behind with seven. Northwestern, Texas, West Virginia, Rutgers, USC, UCLA, Wash St, Stanford, Auburn, LSU, Florida and South Carolina all faced 5 ranked teams during the season. When I say ranked teams, I am referring to teams that were ranked at the end of the year. As an example, Florida St, Penn St and Clemson was ranked early but did not finish ranked so they would not have counted.
Why is this not my final ratings for 2025’s toughest schedule That is easy. Take a team like Charlotte which is #23 on the chart with their foes having a 92-64 record this past year. Just below them is Syracuse. Purely using opponent records, Charlotte had the tougher schedule. Charlotte faced App St, North Carolina, Monmouth, Rice, USF, Army, Temple, North Texas, East Carolina, UTSA, Georgia and Tulane. They faced two P4 teams. During the year Syracuse faced ten P4 teams with 8 ACC games and Tennessee and Notre Dame in the non conference. Clearly they faced the much tougher schedule and my 2025’s Toughest Schedule chart factors in the power ratings and will be different than this chart. I will release that in the 2026 College Magazine.
BEAT THE PRICE INCREASE – In 2020 I was prepared to stop selling the magazine in stores and limit it to just my website. I was honestly thinking of perhaps giving up on printing the magazine all together as it was not profitable to do so. Krifka Steffy who oversaw magazines at Barnes and Noble saved the magazine in numerous ways and in 2020 took a big chance that there would be football and bought the magazines up front. If there was no season, Barnes and Noble would take the loss, not me. I can’t thank her enough for that. We also entered a deal with the good folks at Learfield that help us put out the magazine. I got away from a poor deal with my magazine distributors in the next couple of years and now deal Exclusively with Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million. I am pleased to say that the magazine is a labor of love, and I will continue to put out the magazine for years and years to come. I spend over 6 months working 80+ hours a week to produce a magazine of this detail. My staff spends the entire 6+ months working on the magazine as well. The cost of printing the magazine over the last 10-15 years has doubled plus getting it on trucks to the stores is a large expense. The cost to mail the magazine also rises yearly. Labor costs have probably risen the fastest. I have held the line at $19.99 per magazine for the last 6 years not wanting to break that threshold but the magazine is 360 plus pages, and we will be bumping up the price this year. The new cost is $24.95 but the good news is you can still get it at all Barnes and Nobles for that price. Naturally if you buy online we must charge you for shipping.
You can beat the price increase as during the month of February you can still get the magazine at last year’s price.
Option #1 – Buy the digital magazine for $19.99. The price of the digital magazine will not increase this year as there have been no additional costs to producing the digital version. 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 store you will not see a picture there, you need to click on Digital Editions and order it there. It will not be activated until the middle of June and once again the price for the digital will not be going up and it will remain $19.99 the entire year. ORDER HERE
Option #2 – Buy the Hard copy of the magazine for $19.99 PLUS SHIPPING. This price will be going up to $24.95 on March 1. You get to choose the method of shipping so the total cost depends on where you live and which of the Five types of shipping you choose. It will cost you in the ballpark of $10 for shipping and tax. 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 access begins in the middle of June. You also get your choice of covers (National, SEC, Midwest, Southwest, West or East Coast) as these mail out about 10 days after the magazine goes to print. ORDER HERE
Option #3 – Order the VIP Bundle – The price of the VIP bundle is $39.95 and will be going to $44.95 on March 1. February orders save that $5. With the VIP bundle you get the National Cover of the magazine but unlike the regular magazine orders we mail these as they roll off the press which last year was just 6 days after we sent the magazine to the press. You will be the first person in the country to have a copy in your hands and the magazine will not be in Barnes and Noble until July 4th and the regular magazine orders do not get mailed out til the next week. You also get EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version of the magazine which is usually two days after we send it to the press and before the magazine is even printed! You get one week of EXLUSIVE ACCESS. 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 HERE
Option #4 – Order the Super VIP Bundle – The price of the SUPER VIP bundle is $69.95 and it will be going to $74.95 on March 1. With the Super VIP Bundle you receive TWO magazines INCLUDING SHIPPING, mailed out as they roll off the press, EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version one week before anyone else, Four Issues of Inside the PressBox ($80 value) 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 ($25 month) ENTIRE SEASON FREE – This is a tremendous addition and is currently on the Super VIP Bundle but we may eventually take it off in the upcoming months. If you purchase the full year access it is $99 but you get it included in the Super VIP Bundle right now for just $69.95 but only until the end of February. Purchase the Super VIP Bundle now and get the entire year of Phil Steele Plus FREE!! Beat the price increase and order your magazines in FEBRUARY! ORDER SUPER VIP HERE
Beat the price increase and order your magazines in FEBRUARY!
