Tag: strength of schedule

Crimson Tide MBB ranks No. 7 in USA TODAY Sports coaches poll

Crimson Tide jump up two spots to No. 7 in this week’s coaches poll

The Alabama Crimson Tide have been one of the best basketball teams in the country to start the year standing at 13-2 as they head into the thick of SEC play. What’s even more impressive about the Tide’s 13-2 start is the fact that they currently have the fourth-strongest strength of schedule to date.

The Tide already have marquee wins over Houston, UNC, Mississippi State and Michigan State with their only two losses coming against No. 2 Houston and No. 10 Gonzaga. The Tide will be in contention for a 1 seed come March Madness and their tough out-of-conference play will certainly fare well.

People across the country are starting to notice how dangerous this Alabama team is as this week’s Coaches Poll sees the Tide climbing two spots to No. 7.

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The Vikings have an easy schedule the last 5 weeks

The Vikings are finally past their toughest stretch

The Minnesota Vikings just finished the toughest stretch of their schedule. Over the last five weeks, the Vikings faced five teams that have a record of .500 or above, including the top four teams in terms of defensive DVOA.

In those games, the Vikings finished with a record of 4-1 and beat one of the best teams in football the Buffalo Bills on the road. Even so, the Vikings aren’t getting the respect that they deserve.

The next five games provide the Vikings the easiest stretch on their schedule and sweeping it will help solidify the Vikings as a top-tier team in the National Football League.

The last five opponents for the Vikings have a combined record of 24-37-2 and only one of them has a winning record with the Giants at 7-4-1 on Christmas Eve.

It’s not a schedule that the Vikings should take likely, as they could easily slip up with three road games all being against division rivals.

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Two stats show that the Vikings are legit contenders

The Vikings might not have the strongest resume of a 10-2 team, but you certainly can’t say they haven’t earned their record

The Minnesota Vikings are at the top of the NFC North with a 10-2 record, but there is still a lot of discourse about them being a fraudulent team.

The discussion surrounding the Vikings is quite frankly exhausting. Analysts are looking for reasons to discredit a team that has a win differential of +8 to confirm their priors on what they had on the team before the season started.

You can look at a lot of different stats and metrics, but the two that stand out are strength of schedule and strength of victory. In those stats, the Vikings are currently sixth and fifth, respectively.

You can criticize the Vikings for not putting teams away and only having one of their wins by more than one score. You can look at the defense and say that they aren’t good enough against the best offenses (which isn’t true). Heck, you can say that Kirk Cousins isn’t a good enough quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl. All of these would have a little bit of merit but don’t tell the whole story.

However, what you can’t do is say that the Vikings can’t beat a good or great team, as they are currently 5-2 against teams with records of .500 or better. Kevin O’Connell has done a great job with this team and it shows more every week.

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The Vikings have played a difficult schedule through Week 12

Despite the “fraudulent” narrative, the Vikings have played a difficult schedule so far

After 12 weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have been one of the more debated teams among the national media. The power rankings have them scattered throughout the top 10 and have been incredibly varied throughout their rise to 9-2.

One of the themes that has come up throughout the course of the first three months has been the Vikings’ schedule. There has been a narrative that the Vikings haven’t played a lot of really good teams and when they beat them, it was either luck (Bills) or they started their third-string quarterback (Dolphins).

Despite the narratives that have been passed around, the Vikings have played a top-10 strength of schedule per PFF and have a significantly harder schedule than some of the teams that are viewed as better than them.

The term fraudulent team is definitely one that is thrown around too much and the Vikings, while they have played in too many one-score games (8-0 in such games), can’t be viewed as fraudulent after beating multiple teams with winning records (4-2 in such games).

The Vikings have not played the easiest schedule, but they only play two teams with a winning record to finish the season in the New York Jets and the New York Giants.

You can sleep on the Vikings if you want, but this feels more and more like head coach Kevin O’Connell is leading a team of destiny.

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Big 12 programs ranked by strength of schedule according to Pro Football Focus

Who has the toughest strength of schedule in the Big 12 according to Pro Football Focus’ college football preview?

The 2022 college football season is so close we can almost taste it. The Oklahoma Sooners held their first practice of fall camp on Friday, meaning the home opener against UTEP will be here before we know it.

Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners are looking to open the season strong in a year where expectations remain high after missing out on the Big 12 championship game in 2021.

The Big 12 looks tough this season. While Oklahoma will be among the favorites in the league, defending champion Baylor will be good on defense yet again, and if they can keep their running game going will be tough to beat in 2022. Oklahoma State has the most experienced quarterback in Spencer Sanders and, despite the losses on defense, should be one of the teams in contention.

Quinn Ewers, one of the least experienced quarterbacks in the Big 12, leaves the Longhorns as a wild card. They should be good again offensively, but that wasn’t necessarily the problem last year. It was the defense.

Throw in teams like Kansas State and West Virginia, who could be dark horse contenders, and there’s a solid six teams that could be in contention into November.

A lot of how the 2022 season transpires could simply come down to scheduling. The Oklahoma Sooners will play Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State at home. They have the neutral site game against Texas and have road games against Nebraska, West Virginia, and Iowa State that could prove difficult.

As we get set for the 2022 season, Pro Football Focus released their season preview (premium), and this is how they ranked the Big 12 according to strength of schedule.

The toughest schedules in college football ahead of the 2022 season

Here’s a look at the toughest schedules in college football ahead of the 2022 season per ESPN’s FPI.

While much is being said of ESPN’s updated Football Power Index (FPI) this week, Longhorns Wire decided to revisit their strength of schedule rankings ahead of the 2022 college football season. Continue reading “The toughest schedules in college football ahead of the 2022 season”

Lions get a favorable strength of schedule for 2022

The Lions have one of the easiest schedules in terms of opposing win percentage from a year ago

One of the reasons the Detroit Lions could rise in the standings in 2022 is a simple matter of the strength of schedule. The Lions have one of the easier schedules in terms of opponent win percentages from a year ago.

The Lions have the fifth-easiest schedule in 2022 when accounting for the aggregate win percentage of the 17 teams on the upcoming schedule. Only the four teams in the NFC East have lighter percentages than Detroit’s .467. And the Lions play all four of those teams — Dallas, New York Giants, Philadelphia and Washington. Detroit gets the advantage of opening at home against the Eagles and Commanders, too.

It helps that the Lions are playing a fourth-place schedule, of course. Finishing in last in the NFC North in 2021 at 3-13-1 set up Detroit to play fellow bottom-dwellers from a season ago in the AFC South and NFC South. Those two teams, Jacksonville and Carolina, combined to finish 8-26.

In 2021 the Lions sputtered to their last-place finish with one of the NFL’s tougher schedules. Detroit faced an aggregate .529 win percentage from 2020 in 2021.

Seahawks have 1 of the most ‘forgiving’ schedules for 2022 NFL season

Based on a number of factors, the Seattle Seahawks have one of the most “forgiving” schedules for the 2022 NFL regular season.

The complete 2022 NFL regular-season schedule was released on Thursday night and fans and media were quick to react to the matchups. There is truly no “easy” slate of games, but the metric of strength of schedule is often used to determine whose calendar is more favorable than others.

Jeremy Bergman, digital content editor for NFL.com, added some of his own criteria and ranked the clubs around the league and the Seahawks landed with the fourth-most “accommodating itinerary” for the 2022 season.

“If Russell Wilson returns to Seattle in Week 1, is it really a return?” Bergman starts. “The Seahawks open the season against their former franchise QB, who’s now with the Broncos after a decade in Seattle. The Monday night matchup will be highly anticipated; the 12s could set a decibel record 12 times over during Denver’s possessions that evening.

“Those dynamics set up to make things more difficult for Wilson and first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett than they will for Seattle, softening what could be one of the hardest matchups on the team’s schedule.”

“The Seahawks catch other breaks, too, from playing the Buccaneers in Germany instead of Tampa Bay, being one of just three teams to receive a bye after playing an international game this year and having four of their final five games at home.”

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here . . . the Seahawks still need to name a starting quarterback before all this winning can take place.

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Strength of schedule rankings for each Big 12 team in 2022

Once again, the Sooners are near the bottom of the conference in regards to strength of schedule.

Much has been said about the nonconference games on the schedule for each Big 12 program this season. Continue reading “Strength of schedule rankings for each Big 12 team in 2022”

Broncos have easiest projected strength of schedule in AFC West

The Broncos have the easiest projected strength of schedule in the AFC West this year. Meanwhile, the Chiefs have the hardest projected SOS in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos are ranked 18th on Warren Sharp’s projected strength of schedule rankings for the 2022 NFL season.

Sharp Football uses projected win totals for the 2022 season to calculate their strength of schedule figures opposed to the traditional SOS formula of using win totals from the previous season.

Using that formula, Denver’s SOS is right near the middle of the pack, 18th-easiest or 15th-hardest in the NFL, depending on how you look at it.

The good news for the Broncos is No. 18 ranks as the easiest SOS in the AFC West, four spots above the Los Angeles Chargers (No. 22). The Las Vegas Raiders are No. 28 (fifth-hardest) and the Kansas City Chiefs are No. 32 (hardest in the NFL).

That’s great news for Denver’s chances of competing for a division title this season. The Broncos would be thrilled to reach the playoffs as a Wild Card team, but winning the AFC West for the first time since 2015 would obviously be even better.

It should be noted, though, that all of these rankings are just projections. Regardless of how easy (or hard) the schedule looks on paper, Denver needs on-field results this fall.

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