CincySooner
7/14/2011, 11:12 AM
I ran across this blog-post that lists the average SOS of each team from 2003-2010. I've listed the current and former BigXII teams for perusal.
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2011/7/14/2274767/strength-of-schedule-college-football
Big XII Team (National Ranking)
Oklahoma (17)
Texas A&M (34)
Colorado (39)
Texas Tech (42)
Baylor (48)
Texas (50)
Nebraska (52)
Oklahoma St. (54)
Kansas (61)
Missouri (62)
K-State (63)
Iowa St. (67)
The guy pulled his data from this website (http://www.bcftoys.com/sos/) where the year-by-year rankings are also listed.
2003 – 2nd behind Colorado (30th nationally)
2004 – 1st (16th)
2005 – 2nd behind Colorado (9th)
2006 – 2nd behind Nebraska (37th)
2007 – 2nd behind Nebraska (32nd)
2008 – 1st (6th)
2009 – 1st (21st)
2010 – 2nd behind A&M (39th)
I don't pretend to know how the SOS is calculated, but the final ranking metric is something like the likelihood that an elite team from that year (2 standard deviations above that year's average) would go undefeated. The lower the number, the harder the schedule.
There is one catch, the SOS calculator DOES include conference championship games and bowl games. So by going to so many BCS games, OU recieved a slight bump in SOS due to the caliber of bowl teams they played.
Still it's nice to be able to look at OUs success and know that it wasn't due to a poofy schedule.
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2011/7/14/2274767/strength-of-schedule-college-football
Big XII Team (National Ranking)
Oklahoma (17)
Texas A&M (34)
Colorado (39)
Texas Tech (42)
Baylor (48)
Texas (50)
Nebraska (52)
Oklahoma St. (54)
Kansas (61)
Missouri (62)
K-State (63)
Iowa St. (67)
The guy pulled his data from this website (http://www.bcftoys.com/sos/) where the year-by-year rankings are also listed.
2003 – 2nd behind Colorado (30th nationally)
2004 – 1st (16th)
2005 – 2nd behind Colorado (9th)
2006 – 2nd behind Nebraska (37th)
2007 – 2nd behind Nebraska (32nd)
2008 – 1st (6th)
2009 – 1st (21st)
2010 – 2nd behind A&M (39th)
I don't pretend to know how the SOS is calculated, but the final ranking metric is something like the likelihood that an elite team from that year (2 standard deviations above that year's average) would go undefeated. The lower the number, the harder the schedule.
There is one catch, the SOS calculator DOES include conference championship games and bowl games. So by going to so many BCS games, OU recieved a slight bump in SOS due to the caliber of bowl teams they played.
Still it's nice to be able to look at OUs success and know that it wasn't due to a poofy schedule.