Big Ten’s top teams could face tougher slates, but SEC slate remains true gauntlet in 2026

College football’s elites could face their toughest conference schedules ever in 2026. The SEC has long been a gauntlet, but with the debut of a nine-game conference slate this season, there will be fewer opportunities to catch a breather. Meanwhile, in the Big Ten, a deeper and more competitive top tier means its projected contenders face a more challenging path through conference play than in previous years.

There’s been a common narrative that Big Ten teams don’t get worn down the way SEC teams do late in the season — and there is some truth to it. The numbers back it up: in 2023, before any major conference realignment took effect, Big Ten teams that finished inside the top 30 of Bill Connelly’s SP+ ratings played, on average, three league opponents that were also in the top 30 at the end of the season. SEC teams meeting the same criteria faced between four and five.

Looking ahead to 2026, the SEC’s nine-game conference schedule could see projected top teams — based on Brandon Marcello’s way-too-early rankings — facing anywhere from five to eight games against other potential top-30-caliber opponents just in conference play. The Big Ten, while not at the same intensity, will still have its projected best teams regularly facing three to five top-30-caliber conference opponents.

Top-30 vs. Top-30: Average conference matchups per team (final SP+)

* Based on Brandon Marcello’s way-too-early rankings with teams considered included

These numbers reflect not just a steady increase in marquee games, but a more demanding path to the College Football Playoff. Instead of two or three Saturdays that truly define a season, top teams are playing tougher opponents more often. There are fewer recovery games, fewer built-in breathers and fewer chances to reset after a tough matchup.

That shift is especially clear in the Big Ten. Each of the five highest-ranked teams in Marcello’s way-too-early 2026 projections faces at least three of the other four.

Ohio State alone is slated to face all four, including a punishing four-week stretch: a trip to No. 8 Indiana, a bye, a cross-country trip to No. 11 USC, then back home to face No. 4 Oregon. The regular-season finale against No. 9 Michigan still looms. Add in a non-conference trip to No. 2 Texas, and the Buckeyes expect to face one of the most grueling slates in the country next season.

Indiana and Oregon each have back-to-back games against Ohio State and Michigan on their respective 2026 schedules. Those top-heavy stretches give teams little room for error.

The SEC schedule tells a different story, but the effect is similar. The nine-game conference slate drives difficulty through sheer volume. Of the six highest-ranked SEC teams in Marcello’s projections, five play at least three other conference opponents in that group.

Texas A&M, for instance, will face four of the other projected top teams: No. 2 Texas, No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 14 LSU and No. 15 Alabama. Oklahoma, which already faced one of the toughest conference schedules in its first two years in the league, will face eight of the 10 other SEC teams ranked or considered in Marcello’s projections, including each of the three above it: No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Georgia and No. 6 Texas A&M. That doesn’t even factor in the nonconference road trip to No. 9 Michigan in Week 2.

Georgia’s schedule is slightly lighter, with only two of the other top teams — No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 15 Alabama — but it still includes several additional high-end matchups.

This isn’t the result of conferences suddenly trying to make schedules harsher. Both leagues simply house more legitimate contenders than they used to. When more top-tier programs occupy the same competitive space, difficulty rises naturally — even when schedules are built with balance in mind.

It’s worth reiterating that these numbers are projections for the 2026 season, based on way-too-early rankings and schedules; the actual outcomes could differ significantly once the season actually plays out.

Still, the trend toward tougher schedules could mean fewer unbeaten conference campaigns. In the two seasons since realignment, the Big Ten saw three teams finish unbeaten in league play, while the SEC hasn’t had any.

In the Big Ten, that effect is amplified by timing. Future opponents for the 2024-28 seasons were set in October 2023, before Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington officially joined the conference and before Indiana became a national power.

In the SEC, the mechanism is simpler. A nine-game conference slate increases difficulty through volume alone. More league games in a conference already dense with strong programs naturally produces more high-end matchups.

It’s also another sign that the top of college football has thickened, and that simply means elite teams face tougher schedules.