In the later years of the BCS and in the current climate of the College Football Playoff, a team's strength of schedule has become an important topic of discussion. For SEC teams, it has been a banner for why their one and two-loss teams are better than everyone else. For other schools, it represents a black mark on an otherwise perfect resume.
ESPN ranked the schools that could be looking at the black mark in 2016. And at least for Baylor fans, it looks like you will be looking at what has to be a perfect season in 2016 in order to reach the Playoff.
ESPN has the Bears ranked as the team with the No. 1 worst out-of-conference schedule. Baylor plays Northwestern State, SMU, and Rice in 2016, a schedule that is... not inspiring at all. While other potential contenders are playing at least one good team out-of-conference, Baylor has nobody to help boost their schedule.
The full Top 10, with out-of-conference opponents in parentheses.
1. Baylor (Northwestern State, SMU, Rice)
2. Boston College (UMass, Wagner, Buffalo, UConn)
3. Maryland (Howard, FIU, UCF)
4. Washington (Rutgers, Idaho, Portland State)
5. Indiana (FIU, Ball State, Wake Forest)
6. Kansas (Rhode Island, Ohio, Memphis)
7. Wake Forest (Tulane, Delaware, Indiana, Army)
8. Purdue (Eastern Kentucky, Cincinnati, Nevada)
9. Arizona (BYU, Grambling State, Hawaii)
10. Iowa (Miami (OH), Iowa State, North Dakota State)
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