ESPN's preseason schedule evaluation: The teams with the toughest and easiest stretches
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- Ohio State earned the toughest overall Power 4 schedule, with September road trip to Texas, October games at Indiana (Oct. 17) and USC (Oct. 31), and a Nov. 7 home date against Oregon creating a brutal three-game run.
- Texas Tech drew the easiest overall Power 4 schedule, with its toughest nonconference game at Oregon State (2-10 last year) and avoiding Big 12 top-20 teams Utah and BYU, though the loss of QB Brendan Sorsby to a gambling scandal clouds the roster.
- Northwestern was tagged with the toughest three-game stretch, drawing road games at Oregon (Oct. 31) and Ohio State (Nov. 14) sandwiched around a home date with Iowa, which went 9-4 last year.
- Oklahoma owns the toughest November, traveling to Florida on Nov. 7 before hosting Ole Miss and Texas A&M and finishing at Missouri on Nov. 28, with the Rebels and Aggies both returning playoff-experienced quarterbacks.
- Lane Kiffin returns to Ole Miss with LSU on Sept. 19 in an ABC primetime kickoff, setting up the first 'Kiffin Bowl' after he left the Rebels for the Tigers before last season's playoff.
- Oct. 10 and Oct. 17 are stacked Saturdays, with the latter headlined by Ohio State at Indiana, Alabama at Tennessee, Notre Dame at BYU, Florida State vs. Miami, and Penn State at Michigan.
- Arizona State racks up nearly 20,000 miles of travel, including games in London, College Station, Lubbock, Provo, and Orlando, before finishing with a short two-hour drive to Tucson for the season finale.
Why it matters: Schedule difficulty directly shapes College Football Playoff résumés and at-large bid cases — Texas Tech's soft path may help it return to the playoff despite losing its starting quarterback, while Ohio State's gauntlet offers a chance to answer last year's postseason losses to Indiana and Miami. Meanwhile, Arizona State's travel burden and Northwestern's late-season three-game stretch could be decisive factors in conference title races.
