Welcome back, college football fans, for the 648th episode of the GCR on this platform. The preseason for us in now in full swing as we discuss our annual Pre-season Strength of Schedule (PS-SOS) by conference from least-challenged to most-challenged, collectively.
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For those new to the countdown, we use last year’s GCR Score, which is a combination of SOS and Performance and is used to rank the teams, with the HUGE caveat that all opponents will essentially repeat the 2025 season. We know that won’t actually happen, so the final SOS rankings will be different than the PS-SOS. We will start today with the least-challenged or 25th most-challenged conference with its member teams listed from most difficult schedule to easiest schedule, along with their overall ranks (1 to 266). We will also give a few bits of summary data that help “define” each conference.
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The method we use is a somewhat straightforward mean of each team’s opponents’ Scores from last season. The only significant variation is for FCS teams playing non-Division-I (D1) opponents for which we use a baseline with adjustments for the quality of last season. The only significant adjustment to last year’s opponents’ Scores is for location – bonuses are awarded for away and neutral site games. We ranked the conferences based on the mean of their member teams’ PS-SOS.
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Let’s jump in with this season’s #25 most-challenged conference (or least-challenged – either way), the Pioneer League. The PFL has 11 members with a mean PS-SOS of 3.341 and an average PS-SOS Rank of 244.4 (out of 266). Some teams will play 11 games while others play 12. The winner of this conference receives an automatic bye in the FCS playoff. Other teams could be invited as wild card teams, but SOS plays a large part in that decision. In the table below, (D) indicates a non-D1 opponent and (F) indicates a non-conference FCS opponent. No Pioneer team plays a Group of 6 or Core 4 opponent, nor do they have any neutral site games scheduled. The 2025 Rank is out of 265 teams, and the 2026 PS-SOS Rank is out of 266 teams. Here are your 2026 Pioneer League Teams:
| Team (Conf Rank) | Home Field | 2025 Record (Rank) | 2026 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away Games | Hardest | Easiest |
| San Diego Toreros (1) | San Diego, CA | 8-4 (155) | 3.69 (219) | UC Davis (F), Davidson, Valparaiso, Marist, Stetson | Idaho St (F), Cal Poly (F), St Thomas, Butler, Dayton, Drake | at St Thomas (5.10) | Davidson (1.91) |
| Stetson Hatters (2) | DeLand, FL | 3-9 (247) | 3.68 (221) | Webber (D), Marist, Presbyterian, Dayton, Valparaiso | South Dakota St (F), Bethune (F), UC Davis (F), St Thomas, Morehead St, Davidson, San Diego | at St Thomas (5.10) | Webber (0.08) |
| Drake Bulldogs (3) | Des Moines, IA | 8-4 (162) | 3.52 (231) | SD Mines (D), Dayton, Marist, Butler, San Diego | Montana (F), N Iowa (F), Davidson, Valparaiso, Morehead St, St Thomas | at Montana (6.07) | SD Mines (0.07) |
| Marist Red Foxes (4) | Poughkeepsie, NY | 5-7 (184) | 3.43 (240) | Franklin Pierce (D), Presbyterian, Columbia (F), St Thomas, Morehead St, Butler | New Haven (F), Lafayette (F), Stetson, Drake, San Diego, Davidson | at Drake (4.96) | Franklin Pierce (0.09) |
| Valparaiso Beacons (5) | Valparaiso, OH | 2-10 (238) | 3.36 (247) | Lawrence Tech (D), Butler, Drake, Presbyterian, St Thomas | Murray St (F), Indiana St (F), Morehead St, San Diego, Dayton, Stetson | at San Diego, at Dayton (5.05) | Lawrence Tech (0.07) |
| Butler Bulldogs (6) | Indianapolis, IN | 6-6 (194) | 3.33 (249) | Georgetown KY (D), Franklin College (D), Chicago St (F), San Diego, Dayton, St Thomas, Morehead St | Montana St (F), Valparaiso, Drake, Presbyterian, Marist | at Montana St (6.08) | Chicago St (0.00) |
| Presbyterian Blue Hose (7) | Clinton, SC | 10-2 (145) | 3.30 (251) | VA Wise (D), St Thomas, Davidson, Butler, Dayton | Mercer (F), W Carolina (F), Marist, Stetson, Valparaiso, Morehead St | at Mercer (4.88) | VA Wise (0.06) |
| Davidson Wildcats (8) | Charlotte, NC | 2-10 (254) | 3.27 (252) | Concord Mtn (D), Elon (F), Dickinson (D), VMI (F), Drake, Morehead St, Stetson, Marist | San Diego, Presbyterian, St Thomas, Dayton | at Presbyterian (5.39) | Dickinson (0.07) |
| St Thomas Tommies (9) | St Paul, MN | 7-5 (180) | 3.26 (254) | Winona St (D), N Michigan (D), S Utah (F), San Diego, Stetson, Davidson, Drake | North Dakota (F), Presbyterian, Marist, Butler, Valparaiso | at North Dakota (5.63) | Winona St (0.08) |
| Morehead St Eagles (10) | Morehead, KY | 6-6 (204) | 3.04 (261) | Ohio Domincan (D), KY Chr (D), Valparaiso, Stetson, Drake, Presbyterian | Austin Peay (F), W Illinois (F), Dayton, Davidson, Marist, Butler | at Austin Peay (5.15) | KY Chr (0.08) |
| Dayton Flyers (11) | Dayton, OH | 7-4 (157) | 2.89 (263) | Fairmont St (D), Thomas More (D), Morehead St, San Diego, Valparaiso, Davidson | E Kentucky (F), Butler, Stetson, Presbyterian | at Presbyterian (5.39) | Thomas More (0.06) |
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Over the next 50-odd days we will post the successive conferences until we unveil our most-challenged conference on August 24. Our next post will be July 11 for #24.
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and sharing with others! We cannot grow without you. Let us know what you think of this year’s approach. See you in a couple of days, JoJo and G.
