Welcome back, oh great and wonderful college football fans to episode #662 in which we continue our preseason strength of schedule (PS-SOS) conference countdown for all of Division I (D1). Now with just 24 days to go before the first games of the season, we are down to our Top 11. Last episode, we completed the FCS portion of the countdown. Here is the summary so far, from least-challenged to most.
| Conference (Members) | Mean PS-SOS (Rank) | Most-Challenged Team | Least-Challenged Team |
| Pioneer League (11) | 3.341 (25) | San Diego (3.69/219) | Dayton (2.89 (263) |
| SWAC (12) | 3.396 (24) | Prairie View (3.93/192) | Jackson St (2.55/265) |
| MEAC (6) | 3.563 (23) | Howard (4.50/147) | SC St (2.63/264) |
| Southland (10) | 3.626 (22) | Houston Chr (4.11/176) | Steph F Austin (3.08/259) |
| Big South/Ohio Valley (8) | 3.672 (21) | Gardner Webb (4.00/182) | W Illinois (3.31/250) |
| CAA (13) | 3.808 (20) | Towson (4.72/142) | NC A&T (3.26/255) |
| FCS Indies (2) | 3.844 (19) | Merrimack (5.32/139) | Chicago St (2.36/266) |
| SoCon (10) | 3.989 (18) | Citadel (4.47/149) | E Tenn St (3.39/241) |
| UAC (8) | 4.013 (17) | Abilene Chr (4.78/141) | West Florida (3.26/253) |
| Missouri Valley (9) | 4.021 (16) | N Iowa (4.64/143) | Illinois St (3.37/245) |
| Big Sky (8) | 4.044 (15) | Portland St (5.21/140) | S Utah (3.36/248) |
| NEC (8) | 4.064 (14) | Mercyhurst (4.42/152) | Robert Morris (3.52/232) |
| Ivy League (8) | 4.146 (13) | Dartmouth (4.38/155) | Princeton (3.74/214) |
| Patriot League (10) | 4.237 (12) | Fordham (4.54/145) | Georgetown (3.66/224) |
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Overall, the 128 teams in the FCS had a mean PS-SOS of 3.382. None of the FCS teams have a higher PS-SOS than any FBS team. That is expected because the metric is based on each team’s 2025 Score (a mixture of performance and SOS metrics) overlaid onto their respective 2026 schedules. Even the most-challenged FCS teams play mostly FCS schools, which have overall lower Scores on average (largely driven by overall strength of schedule and partly due to performance as FBS teams have a higher overall winning percentage than FCS teams) while the least-challenged FBS teams still play at least 10 games against other FBS teams (with higher Scores). That does not mean that all FCS teams had lower Scores than FBS teams. North Dakota St, for example was ranked 108th while UMASS was ranked 217th. It just means, the central limit theorem comes into play – the average FCS team is lower ranked than the average FBS team. Spoiler alert, the same principle applies to the Group of 6 (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 12, Sun Belt, and UCONN) and the Core 4 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, and Notre Dame), so we should expect to see the Group of 6 in the countdown before the Core 4 takes over. Or not, let’s find out as we shift gears from the FCS to the FBS.
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Coming in at number 11 most-challenged conference, or the least-challenged FBS conference, is the 10-team revamped Mountain West (MWC). Over the summer, there was a mass exodus to the Pac 12 which included losing Boise St, Colorado St, Fresno St, San Diego St, and Utah St. Dropping to just 7 teams, the MWC added North Dakota St, promoted from FCS, N Illinois from the MAC, and UTEP from Conference USA. We would love to see them continue to expand either by pulling in Montana St from the Big Sky or South Dakota St from the Missouri Valley – or both! Adding North Dakota St lowered the number of states without an FBS football team to just 7 – Alaska, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont. Only Alaska and Vermont do not have a D1 team. In the table below, (4) indicates a Core 4 challenge, (G) indicates a non-conference Group of 6 opponent, (F) indicates a game against an FCS foe. There are no neutral site games. No FBS team plays a non-D1 opponent. The reason is that the game simply wouldn’t count in the standings or for bowl eligibility. With no further ado, we are proud to present the 2026 Mountain West.
| Team (Conf Rank) | Home Field | 2025 Record (Rank) | 2026 PS SOS (Rank) | Home Games | Away Games | Hardest | Easiest |
| UNLV Rebels (1) | Las Vegas, NV | 10-4 (52) | 7.42 (96) | Memphis (G), California (4), North Dakota St, N Illinois, Wyoming, Nevada | Hawaii, North Texas (G), Akron, Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose St (G) | at North Texas (11.44) | N Illinois (5.18) |
| N Illinois Huskies (2) | DeKalb, IL | 3-9 (133) | 7.23 (110) | Illinois St (F), Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, UTEP | Iowa (4), Arizona (4), Georgia St (G), Wyoming, UNLV, San Jose St, North Dakota St | at Iowa (11.99) | Illinois St (4.43) |
| UTEP Miners (3) | El Paso, TX | 2-10 (138) | 7.15 (114) | TX Southern (F), Oregon St (G), Nevada, San Jose St, Hawaii, Wyoming | Oklahoma (4), Michigan (4), New Mexico, North Dakota St, Air Force, N Illinois | at Oklahoma (12.47) | TX Southern (3.00) |
| San Jose St Spartans (4) | San Jose, CA | 3-9 (132) | 7.04 (117) | Cal Poly (F), Fresno St (G), Wyoming, New Mexico, N Illinois, UNLV, North Dakota St | Southern Cal (4), E Michigan (G), Hawaii, UTEP, Nevada, Air Force | at Southern Cal (12.07) | Cal Poly (2.86) |
| Nevada Wolf Pack (5) | Reno, NV | 3-9 (128) | 6.97 (120) | W Kentucky (G), Montana St (F), Air Force, San Jose St, New Mexico, Hawaii | Mid Tenn (G), UTEP, North Daktoa St, UCLA (4), N Illinois, UNLV | at UNLV (9.79) | San Jose St (5.25) |
| New Mexico Lobos (6) | Albuquerque, NM | 9-4 (58) | 6.92 (124) | C Michigan (G), Mercyhurst (F), UTEP, North Dakota St, UNLV, Air Force | Oklahoma (4), New Mexico St (G), Hawaii, San Jose St, Nevada, Wyoming | at Oklahoma (12.47) | Mercyhurst (3.36) |
| Air Force Falcons (7) | Colorado Springs, CO | 4-8 (110) | 6.85 (126) | Duquesne (F), North Dakota St, Navy (G), UNLV, UCONN (G), San Jose St, UTEP | Nevada, N Illinois, Wyoming, Army (G), New Mexico | North Dakota St (10.35) | Duquesne (3.16) |
| Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (8) | Honolulu, HI | 9-4 (65) | 6.80 (128) | UNLV, New Mexico St (G), San Jose St, New Mexico, North Dakota St, Sacramento St (G) | Stanford (4), Wyoming, Arizona St (4), N Illinois, UTEP, Nevada | at Arizona St (10.84) | Sacramento St (4.33) |
| Wyoming Cowboys (9) | Laramie, WY | 4-8 (125) | 6.74 (130) | N Colorado (F), Hawaii, N Illinois, Air Force, New Mexico, UCONN (G) | Colorado St (G), C Michigan (G), North Dakota St, San Jose St, UNLV, UTEP | at UNLV (9.79) | N Colorado (2.86) |
| North Dakota St Bison (10) | Fargo, ND | 12-1 (108) | 6.40 (138) | Jax St (G), Fordham (F), Wyoming, Nevada, UTEP, N Illinois | Air Force, Sacramento St (G), UNLV, New Mexico, Hawaii, San Jose St | at UNLV (9.79) | Fordham (1.54) |
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That’s it for today. With 10 more conferences in 24 days, expect us to post every other day or so. As a reminder, we are planning to post “today’s” games every day to get last minute information on them. While we will keep our prediction models, we will consistently remind our readers that the GCR is for entertainment purposes only and we do not endorse betting on teenagers and young adults to perform as we expect them to. Thank you for reading (it’s why we do this work), thank you for commenting and making suggestions (it’s how we continuously improve), and thank you for sharing with others (it’s how we grow). Until next time, JoJo and G
