“Has 11 of the 12 toughest schedules this year”: Josh Pate provides breakdown on why SEC teams might struggle in new format

College football insider Josh Pate has made it clear that he is not a fan of conference expansion. The uneven scheduling is one consequence that drives his point home.

The insider talked at length about conference scheduling and how unbalanced it is. And in his case, how it will affect SEC teams just by looking at the strength of schedule for the 2025 season.

“The SEC has 11 of the 12 toughest schedules this upcoming year… This is another reason scheduling is so broken in this sport right now. The SEC teams -we got 16 of them- SEC teams face 54 combined tier-one opponents this year. A lot of that’s in conference play.

"The Big Ten faces 40, a little behind, but still way up there, 40 tier-one opponents. The ACC has a combined 18 tier-one opponents. The Big 12 has one,” Josh Pate said (5:31).

While the strength of schedule is still in a preliminary stage and will probably be adjusted as the season draws closer, 12 of the 16 schools in the SEC are also considered tier-one teams, which means, at least on paper, they would each face a tougher road to the CFP.

While Josh Pate said he doesn't like the rise of the superconferences, he acknowledged that the SEC and Big Ten are head and shoulders above the rest, leaving every other conference in the nation trying to catch up to the two elite leagues in college football.

“I don’t say Power Four very often on the show. The reason is because it insinuates there are four equal conferences out there. There aren’t. There aren’t at all. There’s a Grand Canyon between the top two and whoever number three is,” Pate said.

Josh Pate compares Oklahoma and BYU schedules to illustrate his point

Josh Pate didn’t stop at comparing conferences, and went straight to team comparisons. He compared schedules of Oklahoma and BYU to further illustrate his point.

“Oklahoma this year will play six games against tier-one teams. They’ll play three games against tier-two teams. Brigham Young will play zero games against tier-one or tier-two teams. And I’m supposed to believe you are what your record says you are,” Josh Pate said.

Oklahoma’s schedule is tough, even by SEC standards. Brent Venables' team will face Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina on the road, while getting Michigan, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri at home. They will also play Texas in Dallas.

Ironically, the Sooners -along with Texas- left the Big 12 for the SEC ahead of the 2024 season, pushing the most recent realignment efforts.