Replied to the original post about the ESPNCF Tweet about UCLA's SOS being the highest among undefeated teams with BYU being 3rd hardest, but thought it should be discussed in it's own thread.

Of the 25 FBS teams still undefeated, UCLA has played the hardest schedule, ranking as the 5th-toughest overall. pic.twitter.com/eI1COrVEmf

— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) September 24, 2014

It got me thinking that our schedule has been harder than UCLA … and, not only that, we've won more impressively.

UCLA has played THREE games compared to BYU's FOUR. Both teams have beaten UVA and Texas. Beyond that UCLA won a home squeaker over Memphis while BYU has beaten Houston and UConn.

How in the world is beating Memphis considered harder than beating Houston AND UConn? Sure UCLA had a road game and a "neutral" game among those 2 P5 opponents while we had a road and home, but I can't see any rational person saying that their schedule is harder than ours … and definitely not 10 spots harder. And we beat both opponents more soundly with a total combined score of 82-40 for BYU vs. 48-37 for UCLA. Total points for/against this year vs. all opponents is 150-75 for BYU compared to 90-72 for UCLA. How in the world is UCLA ranked higher than BYU!?!?!?

The flaw in SOS formulas is that it is based on the average toughness of your opponents and not on how many opponents you've beaten. This is most obviously biased and noticeable early in the season (where some teams have played 2 or 3 teams, while others have played 4) but usually evens out later in the season when most teams reach their 12 games.

For example:
Team A has played Alabama and Oregon, but had a BYE week and another game cancelled due to weather
Team B has played Alabama, Oregon, UCLA, and Texas.

It's painfully obvious that Team B has played the tougher schedule, but the SOS formulas would not see it that way since Team A played teams with an average top 5 ranking while Team B played teams with an average of top 10-15 ranking.

Where this needs to be adjusted really is for those teams that play in Conf Championship Games. Those teams usually do get an mild boost in their SOS from those games because they are playing a highly ranked team that will up the average strength of their schedule. I believe they should receive more credit than that. Playing an extra game means an extra chance at a loss (especially against a quality opponent on a neutral field like all the CCGs) and it's harder to go 13-0 than 12-0. If I were the 4 non-B12 P5 conferences I would push for new SOS evaluations/ratings that would give a MAJOR boost to SOS from playing the extra game against a quality opponent.

Just my 2 cents.