Did Hogs finish with SEC's toughest regular season schedule?

Razorbacks among hardest paths, but did anyone edge them out once games played?

Arkansas Razorbacks running back Mike Washington breaking free against the Ole Miss Rebels in a game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. | Ted McClenning-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It has been a time honored tradition, especially during the Sam Pittman era, for Arkansas to look out across college football and declare the Hogs have once again been handed one of college football's toughest schedules, if not the toughest.

However, it's one thing to stare out into the abyss in August and think a schedule is going to be difficult versus looking back in December with the data to know whether the schedule was actually tough. If it turns out the Razorbacks did have one of the two or three hardest schedules in the SEC, then there's actual weight to the monikker of being the greatest two-win team in college football history.

Because there's only so much time and also because conference schedules, even in the mighty Big Ten, don't come close to stacking up to the Southeastern Conference, science is best served by exploring which SEC school had the most difficult track to run this year.

The Scoring

So, if this is to be determined, there has to be a way to genuinely and fairly assign statistical data to each team played. That starts with a simple metric — award a point for each win an opponent racks up.

That is unless a school is in the FCS. Their wins only count for a half point because of perceived level of competition.

However, schedules go deeper than that. So, because of this, an extra point is awarded for a team finishing in the CFP Top 25 while two additional points are given to teams that made the playoffs.

The ultimate amount tacked on is three more points, which is given for playing a team that qualified for a bye in the playoffs. Sure, there are other ways to calculate this, but this seemed to be the most fair and the easiest way to arrive at a clear measure of how hard each schedule truly is.

For instance, Texas is worth 10 points, one for each of its wins, plus an extra for finishing No. 13 in the CFP. Meanwhile, rival Oklahoma is worth 12 because of 10 wins plus another two for making the playoffs and big brother, Texas A&M, checks in with a schedule value of 13 because of the 11 wins and two-point playoff bonus.

Because of how this is calculated, it will also allow us to determine the least valuable and most valuable opponents scheduled by SEC teams this season.

You Are the Weakest Link

Missouri Tigers quarterback Corbin Berkstresser hands off to running back Kendial Lawrence in the first half of the game against Alabama. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Leave it to Missouri, which came in knowing it already had a relatively weak rendition of the SEC schedule, to take on a visit from a UMass team that didn't find a way to win a single game. The Minutemen are only known in sports for basketball and even that was a long, long time ago.

They're not good at anything, and it was wrong of Eli Drinkwitz to schedule them when he had his best shot at making the playoffs. He needed teams with four or five wins to help make his case stronger.

The Ultimate Big Boss

Georgia Bulldogs tight end Oscar Delp (4) and Georgia Bulldogs running back Cash Jones (32) lift the SEC Championship trophy after the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the 2025 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

After watching Georgia dominate as everyone who faced them's toughest opponent, it almost slipped by that Texas played Ohio State to open the season. Both turned out to be the most valuable teams anyone could play, although it wasn't terribly wise to do so as most were forced.

Final SEC Toughest Schedule

The weakest schedule goes to Vanderbilt with a feeble 74 as its final score. When this version of Alabama is the strongest game on the docket and there are a lot of weak opponents, it's closer to impossible than imagined to argue the Commodores actually earned one of the last spots in the playoffs, no matter how beloved by the league they are.

*Indicates FCS school that received only half point per win.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Schedule score: 74
Most valuable opponent: Alabama (12)
Least valuable opponent: Georgia State (1)

MISSOURI TIGERS
Schedule score: 76.5
Most valuable opponent: Texas A&M (13)
Least valuable opponent: UMass Minutemen (0)

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS
Schedule score: 80.5
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15)
Least valuable opponent: Arkansas (2)

GEORGIA BULLDOGS
Schedule score: 80.5
Most valuable opponent: Ole Miss (13)
Least valuable opponent: Charlotte (1)

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
Schedule score: 83.5
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15)
Least valuable opponent: Eastern Illinois (1.5)*

TEXAS LONGHORNS
Schedule score: 89
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15), Ohio State (15)
Least valuable opponent: UTEP (2), Sam Houston State (2), Arkansas (2)

OKLAHOMA SOONERS
Schedule score: 92.5
Most valuable opponent: Ole Miss (13)
Least valuable opponent: South Carolina (4)

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS
Schedule score: 93.5
Most valuable opponent: Georgia Bulldogs (15)
Least valuable opponent: Arkansas Razorbacks (2)

KENTUCKY WILDCATS
Schedule score: 95.5
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15)
Least valuable opponent: Eastern Michigan (4), Florida (4), South Carolina (4)

AUBURN TIGERS
Schedule score: 95.5
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15)
Least valuable opponent: Arkansas (2)

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS
Schedule score: 96
Most valuable opponent: Ole Miss (13)
Least valuable opponent: Alabama A&M (2)*

LSU TIGERS
Schedule score: 97.5
Most valuable opponent: Ole Miss (13), Texas A&M (13)
Least valuable opponent: Arkansas (2)

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS
Schedule score: 102
Most valuable opponent: Texas A&M (13), Ole Miss (13)
Least valuable opponent: Virginia Tech (3)

FLORIDA GATORS
Schedule score: 105
Most valuable opponent: Georgia (15)
Least valuable opponent: Long Island (3)

Closing Observations

Obviously, the most stunning discovery was how weak the schedules were for playoff bound Georgia, Alabama and almost playoff bound Vanderbilt. While charting out the Commodores, it was stunning how few quality teams there actually were, and when the numbers went up just a little, the losses immediately came, leaving little room for argument.

It was also a bit shocking to see how much weaker Oklahoma's schedule was than it seemed while watching it unfold.

On the other side of the coin, it was stunning how quickly the double-digit value teams kept stacking up on the Florida schedule. It was as if the university teamed up with the SEC to guarantee Billy Napier never set foot in Gainesville ever again.

Perhaps one of the most shocking things noticed was how bad the Texas schedule actually was. It was top loaded with Ohio State and Georgia to make it look somewhat respectable, but four of the Longhorn's opponents, a full third of the schedule, combined for nine wins.

That's an average of 2.25 wins for a massive chunk of the schedule Steve Sarkisian is running out there and he's complaining that he should drop Ohio State to, instead add to his collection of two-win non-conference teams. He can't see that losing to a four-win Florida, plus racking up a giant portion of your wins by running over two-win teams doesn't make for a good resume.