NC State tops 2026 Power Four easiest schedules ranking
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- NC State tops the ranking with zero opponents in the post-spring top 25, sidestepping all three ACC teams expected to be preseason-ranked and pairing that with the return of quarterback CJ Bailey
- Texas Tech checks in at No. 2 with one ranked opponent, coming off a Big 12 title and a program-record nine NFL Draft picks despite losing QB Brendan Sorsby before he took a snap
- Miami lands at No. 5 with two ranked opponents, notably avoiding SMU and Louisville — the two ACC teams that handed the Hurricanes losses last fall — with a bye week between Clemson and Florida State
- BYU at No. 7 (two ranked opponents) skips Texas Tech, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Houston inside the Big 12 race, getting Notre Dame and Utah as brand-name games without the weekly meat grinder
- Penn State rounds out the list at No. 10, where new coach Matt Campbell inherits a slate avoiding Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana, with USC and Wisconsin coming to Beaver Stadium
- Virginia at No. 4 dodges Miami, Louisville and Clemson and projects a 4-0 start under Tony Elliott, with transfer Beau Pribula the projected starting quarterback
- The source frames the ACC landing three teams in the top 10 (SMU, Pitt, Virginia) as evidence of the league's weakness beyond its elite tier rather than as three new CFP contenders
Why it matters: In the expanded College Football Playoff era where 10 wins keeps a team in the conversation and one extra loss can derail a November, schedule strength is a quiet separator: NC State, Texas Tech and Miami each inherited slates where their talent profiles can carry them to double-digit wins without absorbing the ranked-week grind facing SEC and Big Ten contenders, giving first-year coaches like Matt Campbell and Tony Elliott a runway to install new systems without a brutal learning curve.
