So I decided to look at all the undefeated teams (who matter) schedules and compare them to each other. Is it true that SEC teams really do play easy schedules the first month of football? Does BYU have an easier ride to an undefeated recorded then everyone else? Yes, I know there are more than just these couple teams that are undefeated but as I continued down this path the same scenario was playing out each time.

Here is what I worked up…..

Team Record Best Games Worse Game Total record of comp Pre-Season Rank Current Rank Away Games

BYU (4-0) TX (25) Virginia Uconn (8-10) Unranked 18 2 (TX, UConn)

SEC
Bama (4-0) W.V., FL FL. Atl, S. MS (8-9) 2 3 .5 (GA Dome games don't count)
MS St. (4-0) LSU (8) S.MS, UAB, S.AL (10-8) Unranked 12 2 (LSU, S.AL)
Auburn(4-0) AR, KSt (20) SJSU, Ltech (9-9) 6 5 1 (K. St)
T A&M(5-0) S.Car (9), AR Lamar, Rice, SMU (8-13) 21 6 2 (S. Carolina, SMU)

Others
Oregon (4-0) MI St. (7) S. Dakota, WY (10-8) 3 2 1 (WA. St)

OK (4-0) TN, W.V. Ltech, Tulsa (7-10) 4 4 2 (Tulsa, W. Virginia)


FL St. (4-0) OK St., Clemson(22) Citidel (10-7) 1 1 1 (NC St.)

Based on the above here is my conclusion…

SEC does NOT play an easier non-conference schedule than anyone else in college football. I will argue on behalf of BYU that their worse team (UConn) is better and would beat any of the SEC or Others teams 10/10 times. I don’t however think SEC is any lighter than what the BIG 12, PAC 12 or ACC is doing. BYU did however travel WAY further than any other team for road games.

Conclusion is the SEC doesn’t play an easier schedule than anyone else but that the SEC is no better than anyone else either. How can you say the SEC is better when they are playing the same level of OOC schedule that the rest of the country is to boast their records going into conference play to make a false claim their teams are better? In my honest opinion I don’t think they are any better or any worse based simply on the teams they play.

Where we start to see teams separate themselves is with the quality of players on the teams. I would say BYU is at a disadvantage (in this scenario) on a week in week out situation because they average a middle to low 3 star recruit team but schedule higher quality teams. Whereas every other team mentioned here is 4 star or better (with exception to MS St. but their OOC SOS is horrendous when you leave out LSU to date). If MS St. was to continue to win out I would argue they are the better team because they are winning with inferior talent. For BYU you can argue with their schedule they are playing at or above (TX is 4 star quality, Virginia is a quality opponent, Houston is decent and UConn while not great is as good if not the best of the none quality opponents everyone else is playing). What I do see through the first 6 weeks however is that most of the “high-end” talent of the SEC, BIG 12 and ACC play inferior talent against teams that consistently average 2 or maybe 3 star quality players. So they are expected to win these games and should win them. However, when you put 4/5 star quality teams against similar teams (example: Oregon vs MI St. or FL St. vs Clemson) the better teams are weeded out.

So what does this all mean?

1- Pre-season and in my honest opinion polls in general are worthless. They are skewed and extremely biased and don’t reflect the correct quality of a team. Especially this early in the season when teams are not playing level quality teams. Nothing I have found from the above makes me believe that BYU should not be Top 10. They have not lost a game to date and are playing quality opponents similar to those teams ranked above them that are undefeated are.
2- The best way to realize the best team in the country is to eliminate polls all together. Take 8 conferences and create an 8 team play-off with the winner of each conference getting a seed. There is no reason the second place team in the SEC should have value placed above a first place team in the MW or Conference USA. As was proven above they are doing nothing different from an undefeated MW team because they are playing quality opponents of the same level each week. If you took Auburn or Bama and placed them in Conference USA or Sunbelt, rest assured that the quality of athlete would diminish as well. Just like if you took USF or Central Florida and put them in the ACC. They quality of athlete would improve.
3- Playoffs would work everything out in the end. If Bama is the best team in the country let them play the best of each team in the country. If their 4/5 star quality team is truly better then it will be proven each time and they will move up each time. But as has been proven in years past, teams like Utah and Boise St. can beat the higher quality teams when given the opportunity. Seating for the games can be done by random selection.
4- Dissolve OOC games. Have 8 conferences of 10 teams each with each team playing the other teams in the conferences. This would reduce costs to the school because travel would be minimal and would provide a conference champ each year based on conference record. Plus most people could care less about OOC games. As we’ve seen with attendance, ect nobody cares that Bama is playing LA Tech or FL St. Citadel. With the exception of a couple teams most fan bases are regional anyways. Those that would travel, could do so for the play-offs or away conference games.