Vandy Football Strength of Schedule Ranked No.3 Toughest in SEC by CBS

A recent CBS Sports article examined the strength of schedule for all 14 SEC teams for the 2020 season. Vanderbilt's schedule was ranked No. 3 toughest.

Author:
Greg Arias
Publish date:
Jun 7, 2020 11:29 AM EDT

Ranking strength of schedules for college football teams regardless of the methodology is an inexact science, so it should be taken with pause by those desiring to use it in discussions of their teams.

Some schedules might appear easy to rank, like Auburn's, where the Tigers play in the West and faces LSU, Texas A&M, and Alabama on a yearly bases and gets Georgia as their cross-division rivals.

It can't get much tougher than that, right?

Not so according to a recent article by CBS Sports where they ranked the strength of the 14 SEC schedules in 2020 and came up with an interesting choice for the toughest slate.

Who's No.1?

Arkansas. Yes, the Razorbacks grabbed the top spot for 2020 according to these rankings.

The article explained their choice like this.

"What helps put Arkansas at the top aside from being the lowest-rated team in the SEC West, and the only team that doesn't get to play Arkansas, is that it plays at Notre Dame. That's certainly one of the most difficult nonconference games any SEC team will play this season. Its draw from the East isn't horrific, as it gets Tennessee to go with its annual rivalry date against Mizzou. In the West, the Hogs get Alabama and LSU at home, but in consecutive weeks. They also get A&M at a neutral site. The most difficult road game in conference is at Auburn. Overall: 25.47% | SEC: 14.12%"

Arkansas might not be the only surprise in the top five as No. 2, and No. 3 is equally fascinating.

Tennessee comes in at No.2 in these metrics with the article saying this of the Volunteers schedule.

"Tennessee's game against Oklahoma on the road is more difficult than Arkansas' against Notre Dame by my metric, but the Vols other nonconference games don't quite match up with Arkansas. Also, while the Vols get Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, they also get Arkansas and Vanderbilt. Neither appears on Arkansas' schedule (only one can!), and that proved to be the difference in the end. Tennessee must play three teams who have been to the College Football Playoff this year, and two of those (Oklahoma and Georgia) are on the road. It's not going to be easy in Knoxville. Overall: 21.42% | SEC: 9.45%"

No.3, the Vanderbilt Commodores.

"While Vandy's noncon doesn't feature a heavyweight, it's solid. The Commodores will play at Kansas State as well as home games with Colorado State, Louisiana Tech and Mercer. In conference, they draw Texas A&M and Ole Miss from the West while playing Georgia, Kentucky and Mizzou on the road within the division. Also, like Arkansas, Vandy is helped out by not having itself on the schedule. Overall: 19.98% | SEC: +7.79%"

These rankings are interesting but beg the question of how accurate they might be with the Commodores at No. 3 ahead of other teams in the West.

It's easy to see Arkansas with Notre Dame and Tennessee having the Sooners on their schedule raking ahead of Vanderbilt, whose non-conference slate includes Kansas State, Colorado State. Louisiana Tech is solid but not dynamic. The Commodores season opener versus Mercer- with all due respect to the Bears- is not a needle mover for strength.

That's the good thing about sports and rankings such as these; we can read, enjoy, and then agree or disagree.

How did the rest of the conference rank?