2022 college football: FBS preseason strength of schedule top-100 rankings

2022 college football: FBS preseason strength of schedule top-100 rankings

The 2022 college football season will kick off Aug. 27 with Week 0.

Week 1 is set to kick off Sept. 1.

The Vols will host Ball State at Neyland Stadium in Week 1. Tennessee announced its season opener will be played Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. EDT. SEC Network will televise the season-opening matchup at Neyland Stadium.

Josh Heupel enters his second season as the Vols’ head coach in 2022. Heupel guided Tennessee to a 7-6 record and an appearance in the Music City Bowl during the 2021 season.

Ahead of the 2022 season, ESPN’s College Football Power Index ranks every FBS team’s strength of schedule. Auburn has the No. 1 ranked strength of schedule, while Tennessee is fifth.

The top-100 2022 FBS strength of schedule rankings are listed below. Rankings 101-131 can be viewed here.

How difficult is LSU’s schedule in 2022 compared to the rest of the SEC?

CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee ranked LSU’s schedule as the sixth-most difficult in the SEC.

Being in the SEC West — arguably the toughest division in all of college football — it’s a safe bet that no fall gauntlet is going to be a cakewalk for LSU.

Given the fact that it draws Florida annually as its cross-divisional opponent and will face Tennessee in its additional SEC East matchup in 2022, this year’s schedule is no different. Even non-conference matchups against Florida State in New Orleans and UAB, while not overly difficult, should provide at least some challenge.

Still, compared to the rest of the league, the schedule looks at least semi-manageable, though it features some tricky matchups. According to CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee, it ranks as the sixth-most difficult in the league.

Brian Kelly’s first year as the coach of the Tigers won’t exactly be a breeze. They open with Florida State in New Orleans in the opener, have road games vs. Auburn, Florida, Texas A&M and Arkansas, and get Tennessee at home as their rotating opponent in the SEC East. As if that wasn’t enough, a tricky UAB game is sandwiched between the road games vs. the Razorbacks and Aggies. Anything more than seven wins would be a minor miracle in Year One.

Despite ranking the strength of schedule near the middle of the pack, Sallee is clearly not incredibly optimistic about this team’s outlook. Exceeding seven wins may not feel like a minor miracle for Tigers fans, but this team has some talent and could take advantage, especially if matchups like those against the Gators and Volunteers aren’t as tricky as they look like they might be.

But this is the SEC, and nothing comes easy in this league. Coach Brian Kelly should learn that early in his first season.

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