Greg Sankey throws fuel on strength of schedule fire amid CFP controversy

Greg Sankey has never been one to shy away from a national debate, especially when the Southeastern Conference is involved.

Immediately following the latest release of the College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings Tuesday evening, a national discussion emerged around strength of schedule and how much it factors into the CFP committee’s evaluations of a team’s ranking.

Much of the national discourse about strength of schedule has revolved around undefeated Indiana (10-0, 7-0 in the Big Ten) slotting in at No. 5 in the latest Playoff rankings despite the nation’s 106th-ranked SOS, according to ESPN’s FPI ratings, while Georgia (8-2, 6-2 SEC) is currently on the outside looking in on a potential first-round home game at No. 10 despite the nation’s toughest SOS.

In a less than subtle sign of support for a quartet of two-loss SEC teams ranked behind several undefeated or one-loss teams from the Big Ten, ACC or independent ranks, Sankey chimed in on X/Twitter with a graph explicitly showing the strength of schedule discrepency among the CFP’s current Top 15 teams.

Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine “strength of schedule” in college football…it does seem there is a trend to be identified… pic.twitter.com/pXSfxRMxvL

— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) November 21, 2024

As the graph shows, the 10th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs have the nation’s consensus No. 1 strength of schedule based on the ESPN, Massey and Sagarin ratings. In fact, the SEC’s six programs currently ranked in the CFP Top 15 — Georgia, Alabama (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 11), Texas A&M (No. 15, Ole Miss (No. 9) and Texas (No. 3) — lead the field in average strength of schedule ranking.

“Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine ‘strength of schedule’ in college football,” Sankey tweeted. “It does seem there is a trend to be identified.”

The Big 12’s BYU Cougars are seventh with an average SOS ranking of 39.3, immediately followed by the Big Ten trio of Penn State (No. 4), Oregon (No. 1) and Ohio State (No. 2) to round out the Top 10. Not to be overlooked is Indiana’s less-than-inspiring SOS, which ranges between 106th according to ESPN and 66th per Massey.

Ahead of Saturday’s Big Ten showdown between Indiana and Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 B10) — the lone Top 25 team on the Hoosiers’ schedule this season — first-year head coach Curt Cignetti clapped back at the critics of Indiana’s strength of schedule.

“Do your research,” Cignetti said Wednesday on The Triple Option podcast. “Google us … so you know something about us besides our name and what we’ve done in the past, and what somebody else says about our schedule.”