2006 Strength of Schedule

Versions A-D of the BCS used Strength of Schedule as part of the equation, as we all know. The formula was 2/3 your opponent's winning percentage (oW & oL) and 1/3 your opponenet's opponent's winning percentage (ooW & ooL). (There's a good breakdown of the specifics here at Strength of Schedule Explained.)

According to this formula, here's how the SoS component would've looked in 2006...

Rank	Conf.	Team	W	L	oW	oL	ooW	ooL	SoS%	Q-Pts
1	Pac10	USC	10	2	77	51	823	694	0.5819	0.04
2	Big10	Michigan	11	1	78	50	746	724	0.5754	0.08
3	Pac10	Stanford	1	11	75	51	782	711	0.5714	0.12
4	SEC	Florida	11	1	81	55	799	767	0.5671	0.16
5	Pac10	UCLA	7	5	73	54	807	694	0.5624	0.20
6	Big10	Minnesota	5	6	71	48	695	745	0.5586	0.24
7	SEC	South Carolina	6	5	70	49	712	720	0.5579	0.28
8	SEC	Tennessee	9	3	72	53	773	722	0.5564	0.32
9	Pac10	Arizona	5	6	71	54	767	679	0.5555	0.36
10	BigEast	Cincinnati	6	5	71	49	685	741	0.5546	0.40
11	SEC	LSU	10	2	72	55	786	721	0.5518	0.44
12	Pac10	Washington	5	7	72	56	797	707	0.5516	0.48
13	SEC	Kentucky	6	5	69	53	721	722	0.5436	0.52
14	Pac10	California	8	3	66	56	791	669	0.5412	0.56
15	Big12	Texas	8	3	69	52	675	763	0.5366	0.60
16	Pac10	Oregon	6	5	67	57	776	697	0.5358	0.64
17	SEC	Auburn	10	2	70	58	770	731	0.5356	0.68
18	BigEast	Connecticut	3	8	68	53	666	724	0.5344	0.72
19	ACC	Florida State	6	6	71	56	723	770	0.5341	0.76
20	Pac10	Oregon State	8	4	73	61	806	768	0.5339	0.80
21	Indy	Notre Dame	10	2	69	59	781	722	0.5326	0.84
22	BigEast	Louisville	11	1	66	56	737	705	0.5310	0.88
23	Big10	Penn State	7	4	66	54	709	738	0.5300	0.92
24	Pac10	Washington State	6	6	66	60	813	687	0.5299	0.96
25	Big10	Ohio State	12	0	66	59	763	700	0.5258	1.00
26	SEC	Arkansas	9	3	71	63	807	754	0.5256	1.04
27	BigEast	Syracuse	4	8	66	58	745	721	0.5242	1.08
28	Big10	Indiana	5	7	65	55	696	734	0.5233	1.12
29	SEC	Mississippi State	2	9	64	57	719	714	0.5199	1.16
30	Big10	Illinois	1	10	65	56	691	749	0.5181	1.20
31	ACC	North Carolina	2	9	64	55	673	748	0.5164	1.24
32	Big12	Oklahoma State	5	6	68	56	641	778	0.5162	1.28
33	Big10	Iowa	5	6	62	55	698	739	0.5152	1.32
34	ACC	North Carolina State	2	9	64	55	682	778	0.5143	1.36
35	ACC	Boston College	8	3	65	58	685	752	0.5112	1.40
36	BigEast	West Virginia	9	2	63	58	690	715	0.5108	1.44
37	SEC	Vanderbilt	3	8	61	61	751	690	0.5071	1.48
38	SEC	Mississippi	3	8	63	59	710	747	0.5067	1.52
39	Big12	Oklahoma	11	2	68	66	800	791	0.5059	1.56
40	Big12	Nebraska	8	4	69	63	730	820	0.5055	1.60
41	BigEast	Rutgers	9	2	62	58	673	727	0.5047	1.64
42	Big10	Michigan State	4	8	63	64	772	710	0.5043	1.68
43	Pac10	Arizona State	6	5	61	62	753	703	0.5030	1.72
44	ACC	Virginia Tech	9	2	63	60	671	757	0.4981	1.76
45	WAC	Utah State	1	11	66	60	671	832	0.4980	1.80
46	SEC	Alabama	6	6	63	65	762	735	0.4978	1.84
47	Indy	Temple	1	11	66	62	694	809	0.4977	1.88
48	MtnWest	Air Force	4	8	65	61	674	793	0.4971	1.92
49	ACC	Maryland	7	4	63	61	674	752	0.4963	1.96
50	SEC	Georgia	7	4	59	62	730	703	0.4949	2.00
51	Big10	Northwestern	4	8	61	60	690	760	0.4947	2.04
52	ACC	Clemson	8	4	61	64	752	736	0.4938	2.08
53	ACC	Georgia Tech	8	4	67	66	724	813	0.4929	2.12
54	CUSA	Tulane	4	8	63	63	720	785	0.4928	2.16
55	BigEast	Pittsburgh	5	6	59	61	685	719	0.4904	2.20
56	Big12	Baylor	3	8	60	61	667	754	0.4870	2.24
57	Big12	Texas Tech	6	5	61	62	659	760	0.4854	2.28
58	Big12	Texas A&M	8	3	59	61	683	765	0.4850	2.32
59	ACC	Duke	0	12	59	61	672	756	0.4846	2.36
60	ACC	Miami (FL)	5	6	59	62	684	748	0.4843	2.40
61	CUSA	Rice	7	5	61	66	722	771	0.4814	2.44
62	Big12	Missouri	7	4	62	64	643	766	0.4802	2.48
63	MAC	Buffalo	2	10	64	66	693	848	0.4781	2.52
64	CUSA	Tulsa	7	4	62	63	613	828	0.4725	2.56
65	ACC	Virginia	5	7	58	68	730	746	0.4717	2.60
66	MtnWest	San Diego State	3	9	59	60	599	817	0.4715	2.64
67	CUSA	Southern Miss	7	5	64	71	731	854	0.4698	2.68
68	Big12	Colorado	2	10	56	62	652	765	0.4698	2.72
69	WAC	Fresno State	4	8	59	66	696	804	0.4693	2.76
70	Big12	Kansas State	6	5	55	62	655	753	0.4685	2.80
71	Big12	Iowa State	3	8	55	63	660	744	0.4674	2.84
72	MAC	Central Michigan	9	4	65	74	765	877	0.4670	2.88
73	Big10	Purdue	7	5	62	75	759	790	0.4650	2.92
74	ACC	Wake Forest	10	2	58	72	774	770	0.4645	2.96
75	BigEast	South Florida	7	4	53	64	680	726	0.4632	3.00
76	CUSA	UCF	3	8	57	65	657	789	0.4629	3.04
77	MtnWest	Brigham Young	10	2	57	68	698	772	0.4623	3.08
78	Indy	Army	2	9	59	67	622	785	0.4595	3.12
79	MtnWest	Utah	6	5	56	66	648	788	0.4564	3.16
80	WAC	Louisiana Tech	2	10	62	71	680	890	0.4552	3.20
81	MAC	Miami (OH)	2	10	65	77	688	845	0.4548	3.24
82	MtnWest	Wyoming	6	6	57	70	684	784	0.4545	3.28
83	CUSA	East Carolina	7	5	56	68	680	800	0.4542	3.32
84	Big10	Wisconsin	10	1	53	70	706	726	0.4516	3.36
85	MAC	Eastern Michigan	1	11	60	69	640	874	0.4510	3.40
86	MAC	Ball State	5	7	55	66	662	838	0.4501	3.44
87	SunBelt	Middle Tennessee	6	5	57	66	601	820	0.4499	3.48
88	CUSA	UAB	3	9	56	70	683	810	0.4488	3.52
89	WAC	Boise State	11	0	56	67	630	824	0.4480	3.56
90	MtnWest	UNLV	1	10	57	69	610	808	0.4450	3.60
91	CUSA	Houston	9	3	58	75	706	860	0.4410	3.64
92	CUSA	Southern Methodist	5	6	55	68	619	835	0.4400	3.68
93	WAC	Hawaii	9	3	57	73	696	906	0.4371	3.72
94	WAC	Idaho	3	8	54	72	648	810	0.4339	3.76
95	MtnWest	New Mexico	6	6	51	67	625	814	0.4329	3.80
96	Big12	Kansas	5	6	50	69	641	767	0.4319	3.84
97	MAC	Akron	5	7	54	75	691	834	0.4301	3.88
98	CUSA	Memphis	1	10	53	72	634	805	0.4295	3.92
99	CUSA	Marshall	4	7	52	73	645	777	0.4285	3.96
100	MAC	Ohio	8	4	56	75	696	925	0.4281	4.00
101	MAC	Western Michigan	8	4	53	78	709	823	0.4240	4.04
102	CUSA	UTEP	5	7	50	75	674	808	0.4183	4.08
103	MAC	Northern Illinois	6	5	52	78	670	806	0.4180	4.12
104	MtnWest	Colorado State	3	8	51	74	617	797	0.4175	4.16
105	MtnWest	TCU	9	2	48	72	636	770	0.4174	4.20
106	MAC	Bowling Green	4	8	52	79	687	851	0.4135	4.24
107	WAC	Nevada	8	4	49	75	670	822	0.4131	4.28
108	SunBelt	Florida International	0	12	50	74	631	840	0.4118	4.32
109	MAC	Toledo	4	7	50	72	604	865	0.4103	4.36
110	SunBelt	Louisiana-Monroe	3	8	48	72	596	834	0.4056	4.40
111	WAC	San Jose State	7	4	46	76	661	781	0.4042	4.44
112	SunBelt	North Texas	3	9	48	76	642	839	0.4026	4.48
113	SunBelt	Louisiana-Lafayette	5	6	50	77	590	830	0.4010	4.52
114	Indy	Navy	8	3	42	76	703	737	0.4000	4.56
115	SunBelt	Florida Atlantic	4	7	47	75	601	799	0.3999	4.60
116	SunBelt	Troy	6	5	47	76	607	828	0.3957	4.64
117	WAC	New Mexico State	2	8	48	76	565	822	0.3938	4.68
118	SunBelt	Arkansas State	6	6	44	79	646	831	0.3843	4.72
119	MAC	Kent State	6	6	42	86	709	810	0.3743	4.76

So we've got USC, Michigan, Stanford (who played 8-4 San Jose St, 9-3 Navy, and 10-2 Notre Dame), and Florida in 4th. Many people have been saying that Florida's schedule was the toughest in the country this year, mainly because they think the SEC was the toughest conference. I'm not saying that these standings disprove that (mainly because I don't think this "2/3 + 1/3" is very accurate), but the argument against them can be made.

Let's look at what Florida's SoS would have been had they not played 2-9 Western Carolina in the second to last week...

Rank	Conf.	Team	W	L	oW	oL	ooW	ooL	SoS%	Q-Pts
1	SEC	Florida	11	1	81	46	788	710	0.6005	0.04
2	Pac10	USC	10	2	77	51	823	694	0.5819	0.08
3	Big10	Michigan	11	1	78	50	746	724	0.5754	0.12
4	Pac10	Stanford	1	11	75	51	782	711	0.5714	0.16
5	Pac10	UCLA	7	5	73	54	807	694	0.5624	0.20

(For easy visual reference, here's the top 5 from above with Western Carolina included.)

Rank	Conf.	Team	W	L	oW	oL	ooW	ooL	SoS%	Q-Pts
1	Pac10	USC	10	2	77	51	823	694	0.5819	0.04
2	Big10	Michigan	11	1	78	50	746	724	0.5754	0.08
3	Pac10	Stanford	1	11	75	51	782	711	0.5714	0.12
4	SEC	Florida	11	1	81	55	799	767	0.5671	0.16
5	Pac10	UCLA	7	5	73	54	807	694	0.5624	0.20

My, my. If Florida would have just not played Western Carolina and gone 11-1, they would have jumped from 4th to 1st in the SoS. Their Opponent's Wins didn't go up at all (because Western Carolina didn't have any wins against D1-A opponents). Their Opponent's Losses would have dropped from 55 to 46, and while their ooW would have dropped from 799 to 788, their ooL would have plummeted from 767 to 710 (since Western Carolina's oW-oL was 11-57). Quite interesting...