Happy Saturday college football fans. Today, we are going to explore the Division I conferences with the 19th and 18th most difficult schedules. We are reaching the middle tier for the FCS with 6 already talked about and 6 more coming in future posts. As a reminder, FCS schools have an average Preseason Strength of Schedule (PS SOS) of 2.7290. Let’s see how today’s conferences stack up starting with…
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Number 19 aka the Patriot League whose 7 members average 2.6421 PS SOS with more teams (4) above the FCS mean than below. Last year’s champion, Holy Cross, whose only loss came in the second round of the playoffs is in the middle while Lafayette leads the conference in challenging themselves in sport with a respectable 3.312 PS SOS. They are also the only Patriot team whose opponents were above .500, collectively, last season (note: Georgetown’s opponent’s were exactly .500). There are no scheduled neutral games for 2023 and this conference does not play any non-DI teams. Reminder the second: (G) indicates a Group of 5 opponent and (P) indicates a Power 5 opponent. Here’s all seven from most challenged to seriously?, that’s your schedule?
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | 2022 Record/ SOS Rank | 2023 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away |
| Lafayette (1) | 3.312/157 | 4-7/211 | 64-60 (.516) | (15-19) Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham | (16-19) Holy Cross, Georgetown, Lehigh | (11-10) Columbia, Monmouth | (22-12) Sacred Heart, (P) Duke, Princeton |
| Colgate (2) | 3.010/175 | 3-8/217 | 61-62 (.496) | (14-20) Bucknell, Lehigh, Fordham | (18-17) Holy Cross, Georgetown, Lafayette | (11-9) Penn, Dartmouth | (18-16) (P) Syracuse, Villanova, Cornell |
| Bucknell (3) | 2.802/190 | 3-8/250 | 58-64 (.475) | (16-19) Holy Cross, Lehigh, Georgetown | (16-18) Lafayette, Colgate, Fordham | (9-12) VMI, Penn | (17-15) (G) James Madison, Cornell, Marist |
| Holy Cross (4) | 2.785/192 | 12-1/ 167 | 54-68 (.443) | (9-24) Colgate, Lafayette, Georgetown | (14-20) Bucknell, Fordham, Lehigh | (14-7) Merrimack, Harvard | (17-17) (P) Boston College, Yale, (G) Army |
| Georgetown (5T) | 2.265/224 | 2-9/246 | 60-60 (.500) | (16-18) Fordham, Colgate, Fordham | (17-18) Lehigh, Bucknell, Holy Cross | (13-18) Marist, Sacred Heart, Stonehill | (14-6) Columbia, Penn |
| Lehigh (5T) | 2.265/224 | 2-9/241 | 60-62 (.492) | (18-17) Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lafayette | (15-19) Fordham, Bucknell, Colgate | (11-10) Villanova, Cornell | (16-16) Merrimack, Dartmouth, Monmouth |
| Fordham (7) | 2.056/245 | 9-3/175 | 42-80 (.350) | (17-18) Lehigh, Holy Cross, Bucknell | (9-24) Georgetown, Lafayette, Colgate | (8-23) Albany, Wagner, Stonehill | (9-15) (G) Buffalo, Stony Brook |
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Part of the very busy conference swapping season we had this summer resulted in the Big South and the Ohio Valley Football Conferences falling below the required 6 members to maintain an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. The two conferences shared a single auto-bid the last few years so the marriage of the two is somewhat natural. The new 10-team conference, creatively named the Big South/Ohio Valley Football Conference, averages 2.7934 in PS SOS, which is above the FCS average. It would be even higher except for Lindenwood who has the 3rd easiest schedule this year at 1.628. Of note, I’ve changed Charleston Southern to Charleston which makes my life easier so there you go. There is just one neutral (N) games scheduled and only 4 games against non-D1 foes (D). With 5 teams earning a PS SOS over 3.000, here are the 10 from hardest to easiest of the new BS/OVFC (whew).
| Team/ Conf Rank | PS SOS/ Rank | 2022 Record/ SOS Rank | 2023 Opp’s W-L | Conf Home | Conf Away | Non-Conf Home | Non-Conf Away/ Neutral |
| Tennessee Martin (1) | 3.830/138 | 7-4/135 | 62-67 (.481) | (15-18) Tennessee St, Charleston, SEMO | (13-22) E Illinois, Gardner Webb, Tennessee Tech | (7-15) Missouri St, Houston Christian | (27-12) (P) Georgia, Samford, N Alabama |
| Charleston (2) | 3.355/156 | 2-8/194 | 64-61 (.512) | (15-17) Lindenwood, Bryant, Tennessee St | (14-21) Tennessee Martin, Robert Morris, Gardner Webb | (20-15) (D) N Greenville, William & Mary, Kennesaw St | (17-8) (P) Clemson, W Carolina |
| Gardner Webb (3) | 3.198/164 | 7-6/134 | 57-68 (.456) | (9-23) Robert Morris, Tennessee Martin, Charleston | (12-21) Tennessee St, Bryant, Tennessee Tech | (15-9) Elon, E Kentucky | (21-15) (G) App St, (G) E Carolina, Austin Peay |
| SEMO (4) | 3.134/171 | 9-3/219 | 54-70 (.435) | (9-23) Lindenwood, E Illinois, Robert Morris | (15-18) Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Martin, Bryant | (5-6) S Illinois | (25-23) (P) Kansas St, E Kentucky, C Arkansas, Nichols |
| Robert Morris (5) | 3.059/174 | 0-11/186 | 59-66 (.472) | (8-24) Gardner Webb, Charleston, E Illinois | (20-16) Gardner Webb, Bryant, SEMO | (14-19) St Francis, (D) Lynchburg, Howard | (17-7) (G) Air Force, Youngstown St |
| Tennessee St (6) | 2.674/200 | 4-7/218 | 50-71 (.413) | (18-16) Gardner Webb, Lindenwood, Tennessee Tech | (11-21) Tennessee Martin, Charleston, E Illinois | (4-16) Norfolk St, (D) Lincoln | (17-18) (P) Notre Dame, (N) Ark Pine Bluff, Kennesaw St |
| Bryant (7) | 2.440/211 | 4-7/226 | 54-67 (.446) | (16-20) Robert Morris, Gardner Webb, SEMO | (11-20) E Illinois, Charleston, Lindenwood | (7-14) Long Island, Brown | (20-13) (G) UNLV, Princeton, Rhode Island |
| E Illinois (8) | 2.435/212 | 2-9/256 | 53-70 (.431) | (15-18) Tennessee Martin, Bryant, Tennessee St | (16-17) SEMO, Lindenwood, Robert Morris | (10-12) Illinois St, McNeese | (12-23) Indiana St, (G) Bowling Green, Northwestern St |
| Tennessee Tech (9) | 2.182/233 | 4-7/166 | 55-71 (.437) | (23-13) SEMO, Tennessee Martin, Gardner Webb | (11-21) Lindenwood, Robert Morris, Tennessee St | (6-16) N Alabama, Kennesaw St | (15-21) Furman, (G) New Mexico, South Carolina St |
| Lindenwood (10) | 1.628/259 | 7-3/255 | 39-69 (.361) | (10-23) Tennessee Tech, E Illinois, Bryant | (15-18) SEMO, Charleston, Tennessee St | (8-13) (D) Wisconsin-Stevenson, Austin Peay | (6-15) W Illinois, Illinois St |
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That’s it for today. Hope you enjoy reading through these as we are getting ready for the 2023 season. Please share with others if you like what you see and post a comment for complaints, suggestions, improvement opportunities. G
