The new nine-game SEC schedule, a top-heavy Big Ten and other factors have combined to create some of the toughest schedules college football has seen in recent memory. Many of the sport’s biggest programs — and a few unfortunate smaller schools with bad draws — will face more than five preseason ranked teams this fall, with some staring down as many as eight.
College Football Playoff contenders like Texas and Ohio State face a murderer’s row, knowing they can’t afford more than two or at maybe three losses in the regular season if they want to make the 12-team field and compete for a national championship. Meanwhile, teams like Purdue will enter as underdogs in 11 of their 12 games this fall.
The latest CBS Sports post-spring Top 25 was used to help identify the toughest schedules in college football this season with added insight from CBS Sports insiders.
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Here are the toughest college football schedules for the 2026 season.
