Josh Pate On College Football's HARDEST Schedules In 2024 (Late Kick Cut)

who has the toughest schedule in college football this year now a lot of you have paid attention to Florida I'll get to them in a second but let me just say I don't think Cal plays the toughest lineup of teams I don't think UCLA plays the toughest lineup of teams but man 26 of 32 NFL teams this year will travel fewer miles than Cal will and they play several more Road games than Cal does Cal will nearly circumnavigate the globe this year the Earth circumference wise is 24,900 or so miles around for those of you that believe in that sort of thing uh Cal will nearly travel that many miles this year UCLA still even worse than that so circumnavigating the globe for conference play you plus a little token trip to Hawaii for UCLA that's where we are that's where we are Once Upon a Time conferences were about regionality and territoriality and now it's about flying halfway to the Moon just to play ruter no we have no problem with ruter Florida has the toughest schedule in the country okay let's not beat around the bush any longer Florida listen to this paper sorry that was not that was not a viable paper pop there we go so the JP poll came out last week obviously the most reputable poll known to mankind Florida plays 10 of my top 30 teams this year every game from October on is against a top 30 Team every game uh they play the top two teams in the ACC just as an added out-of-conference bonus they play Miami and Florida State those are those are my top two teams in the ACC this is the worst one so I've got them power rated 21 Florida quality of Team forget the forget the schedule the quality of Florida team I've got him power rated 21 in the JP pole in the preseason number 21 team plays eight teams rated ahead of them 2third of Florida schedule consists of teams rated higher than number 21 and yet I will have casual Carl walk in this building every day of the week and tell me not not Carl Reid by the way casual Carl is a fictitious person but casual Carl will stroll up to you and say to your face you are what you Rec says you are you know Florida could win the Big 12 right if I just took them and plopped them in the Big 12 they could win the whole thing and they would be a power for conference champ instead they have to essentially play the Kansas City chief schedule uh there's a hidden story here though for all the warranted attention that Florida's schedule is getting you know who schedule it that far behind and is Georgia and that had been a headline lately Georgia's had a pretty easy schedule because they've been in a terrible Division and the division doesn't exist anymore Georgia faces seven teams in the top 25 to win the national title at FanDuel right now they got the odds listed to win the national title Georgia faces seven of those teams Georgia faces six teams I have rated 21 or higher and five of those six games were away from Athens so they go to Texas they go to Bama they go to Old Miss they got Clemson in Atlanta they got Florida in Jacksonville the only game they play in Athens which one is it Tennessee Tennessee they get in Athens after they go to Oxford by the way so that is that is a tough a tough roo as mimal would say Georgia Tech is a case study team this year Georgia Tech is a sneaky good team that probably doesn't have much of a shot in the ACC because of their schedule they face six teams in the top 25 odds to win the whole thing they got Notre Dame and Georgia in their out of conference schedule they play six of the top teams they play six of the eight top teams in the ACC now I want you to compare that so so here here's how crazy the difference in scheduling is the difference in strength of schedule in college football it makes or breaks your season so I just read you Georgia Tech Georgia Tech's playing Notre Dame in Georgia they got six of the top eight teams in their conference now I want you to compare that to Syracuse Syracuse plays Ohio h Holy Cross UNLV and Yukon in out ofc conference play they do not face Clemson they do not face Florida State and they get Virginia Tech and Miami at home what if I just gave Georgia Tech that schedule how different would the expectation level be with Haynes King coming back a lot of close losses last week he even played Georgia tough last year said last week last year but that ain't the way it is because schedule is is that disproportionate in the sport Mississippi State just pray now just start saying your prayers now brutal Road schedule here so they go to Arizona State in week two as an out of conference game they're just going from Starkville to Tempe probably not many direct flights for the fan base they've got a road game at Texas they've got a road game at Georgia they've got a road game at Tennessee they've got a road game at Old Miss I'm not done then they come home and get to play Missouri and Texas A&M and Florida um that's seven teams in the top 21 of the JP poll Texas is number four Georgia number one Tennessee 14 Old Miss 8 they play all those teams on the road and they get number 13 15 and 21 at home who in their right mind made that schedule I don't know so those are the toughest schedules to me in the country [Music]