Welcome back, college football fans, as we move forward in our preseason strength of schedule (PS-SOS) countdown. We started with the least-challenged or 25th most-challenged conference, the Pioneer League whose members have an average PS-SOS of 3.341. Following the PFL, we had the SWAC (24th at 3.396), the MEAC (23rd at 3.563), the Southland Conference (22nd at 3.626), the Big South/Ohio Valley Conference (21st at 3.672), the CAA (20th at 3.808), the FCS Independents (19th at 3.844), and SoCon (18th at 3.989).
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As a reminder, the PS-SOS is calculated using the GCR’s 2025 Score (a mixture of performance and strength of schedule metrics) overlaid on each Division I (D1) team’s 2026 schedule. Special formulae are used for games against non-D1 teams (DII, DIII, NAIA, Independent). Division I is made up of the FBS (teams eligible for post-season bowls) and the FCS (teams eligible for the 24-team playoff). The FBS is broken into the Core 4 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Notre Dame) and the Group of 6 (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 12, Sun Belt, UCONN). Bonus adjustments are applied for away and neutral site games. Then we take each team’s mean PS-SOS to rank them from 1-266. We also separate them into their respective 2026 conferences, take the mean of the members, and that gives us our 2026 PS-SOS countdown. The scale is calibrated such that we can look at a team’s PS-SOS and convert that number to an average opponent’s win total (for that team) assuming all games are on a neutral field. The most-challenged teams will float around 10.000 while the teams playing the weakest schedules float around 3.000.
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Today we turn our attention to the 17th most-challenged conference, or the 6th most-challenged FCS conference, the 8-team United Athletic Conference (UAC). Included this year is the D1 newcomer West Florida Argonauts who played in DII last season, where they finished a strong 10-2. In the table below, (4) indicates a challenge against a Core 4 team, (G) indicates a bout against a Group of 6 foe, (F) indicates a non-conference FCS opponent, (D) indicates a match against a non-D1 enemy, and (N) indicates a neutral site game. With no further ado, we are proud to present the 2026 UAC.
| Team Conf Rank | Home Field | 2025 Record (Rank) | 2026 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away Games | Hardest | Easiest |
| Abilene Chr Wildcats (1) | Abilene, TX | 9-5 (175) | 4.78 (141) | Steph F Austin (F), Mercer (F), West Florida, C Arkansas, West Georgia, E Kentucky | Lamar (F), Texas Tech (4), Idaho (F), North Alabama, Tarleton, Austin Peay | at Texas Tech (13.98) | West Florida (2.29) |
| E Kentucky Colonels (2) | Richmond, KY | 5-7 (225) | 4.45 (151) | Chattanooga (F), Dayton (F), North Alabama, West Georgia, West Florida, C Arkansas | W Carolina (F), Jax St (G), TN Tech (F), Tarleton, Austin Peay, Abilene Chr | at Jax St (8.74) | West Florida (2.29) |
| West Georgia Wolves (3) | Carrolton, GA | 8-3 (153) | 4.20 (167) | Chattanooga (F), Fort Valley St (D), Austin Peay, Tarleton, North Alabama, West Florida | Kennesaw St (G), Arkansas St (G), E Tenn St (F), E Kentucky, Abilene Chr, C Arkansas | at Kennesaw St (9.74) | Fort Valley St (0.08) |
| Austin Peay Governors (4) | Clarksville, TN | 7-5 (149) | 4.17 (170) | Gardner Webb (F), Morehead St (F), UT Martin (F), New Haven (F), Tarleton, E Kentucky, Abilene Chr | Vanderbilt (4), West Florida, West Georgia, North Alabama, C Arkansas | at Vanderbilt (12.30) | UT Martin (2.66) |
| C Arkansas Bears (5) | Conway, AR | 3-9 (234) | 4.00 (183) | West Florida, C Oklahoma (D), Rio Grande (F), North Alabama, West Georgia, Austin Peay | UT Martin (F), SEMO (F), Florida St (4), Abilene Chr, Tarleton, E Kentucky | at Florida St (9.50) | C Oklahoma (0.08) |
| North Alabama Lions (6) | Florence, AL | 2-10 (237) | 3.80 (207) | Alcorn St (F), W Illinois (F), Abilene Chr, Austin Peay, West Florida, Tarleton | Samford (NF), Arkansas (4), SELA (F), E Kentucky, C Arkansas, West Georgia | at Arkansas (7.58) | vs Samford (0.67) |
| Tarleton Texans (7) | Stephenville, TX | 12-2 (122) | 3.45 (239) | Prairie View (F), Merrimack (F), Chicago St (F), C Arkansas, E Kentucky, Abilene Chr | Bowling Green (G), McNeese (F), Austin Peay, West Georgia, West Florida, North Alabama | at Bowling Green (6.62) | Chicago St (0.00) |
| West Florida Argonauts (8) | Pensacola, FL | 10-2 (N/A) | 3.26 (253) | S Illinois (F), Austin Peay, NE St (D), West Alabama (D), Tarleton | C Arkansas (F), SEMO (F), Abilene Chr, E Kentucky, North Alabama, West Georgia | Tarleton (5.72) | West Alabama (0.08) |
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That’s it for today. Tune in on Saturday for episode #657 in which we will talk about Sweet 16 in our countdown. Until then, thank you for reading (it’s why we publish), thank you for your comments and suggestions over the years (it’s how we continue to improve), and thank you for sharing our content with others (it’s how we’ve seen the significant growth over the last 12 months), JoJo and G
