College Football's 13 Hardest Schedules for 2023 Contenders
Making it into the College Football Playoff isn't the easiest task. Programs most likely have to win the conference or at least play in the championship game, have no more than two losses and play a challenging schedule.
As we look ahead to the 2023 college football season, let's take a peek at which playoff contenders have the hardest schedules. We'll group these schedules by ones with the toughest out-of-conference matchups, ones featuring tricky away games, and a couple of other categories.
When looking at 2023 matchups, we'll take a look at a team's recent performance to measure where expectations are. If it has finished with nine, 10 or 11 wins, especially in consecutive seasons, that's a pretty good indication that expectations will be high. But it doesn't guarantee a team will be just as successful in a given season.
We'll also look at how other programs have done against recent opponents on the road vs. at home to gauge a team's schedule for 2023, as well.
Without further ado, let's run through which playoff contenders will have a difficult schedule to navigate in 2023.
Teams That Have Some Tough Stretches of Games
Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee had a huge year in 2022, highlighted by a victory over Alabama for the first time in 16 years. The Vols capped off the season by beating Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Although Tennessee will be losing the likes of quarterback Hendon Hooker and wide receiver Jalin Hyatt to the NFL, it's expected to compete for the top spot in the SEC East again in 2023.
But starting with Tennessee's Sept. 16 game at Florida, the Vols have a tough six-game stretch. Following the road trip to Gainesville, which is important for Tennessee's SEC East title hopes, the Vols play UTSA at home. The Roadrunners are coming off of back-to-back double-digit-win seasons and won the C-USA title both years.
Following the home game against UTSA, South Carolina comes to town on Sept. 30. The Gamecocks upset the Vols 63-38 last season, and the loss knocked the latter out of the playoff race.
Tennessee then has a bye before a home game against Texas A&M and back-to-back road trips to Alabama and Kentucky. Tennessee has played TAMU just twice since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012, and Texas A&M has won both previous meetings in 2016 and 2020.
The Vols haven't beaten Alabama in Tuscaloosa since 2003, and having to go on the road again to face Kentucky a week later won't be easy.
TCU Horned Frogs
TCU shocked the college football world and made it to the national title game last year. As the Horned Frogs try to match their undefeated regular season it had last year, they will have to navigate a touch stretch starting on Oct. 7.
That week, TCU will go on the road to play Iowa State. The Cyclones have beaten TCU the last two times in Ames, in 2019 and 2021. TCU will then play Big 12 newcomer BYU at home on Oct. 14, followed by a road game at Kansas State on Oct. 21. The Wildcats upset TCU in the Big 12 title game last season, winning 31-28 in overtime.
TCU has its bye week on Oct. 28 before a road trip to Texas Tech on Nov. 2. The Horned Frogs then close out their regular season with home games against Texas and Baylor and a road tilt against Oklahoma on Nov. 24. Texas is expected to be one of the favorites for the Big 12 title next season, with Oklahoma in the mix, too.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas might not be considered by most to be a playoff contender in 2023, but with quarterback KJ Jefferson returning, it just might surprise some teams next season. Unfortunately, the Razorbacks have what looks like one of the toughest stretches of games in all of college football starting in late September.
On Sept. 23, Arkansas goes on the road to play LSU. It's quite unusual to see the Razorbacks play the Tigers this early in the season; the last time these two teams played outside of November during the regular season was all the way back in 1933, per Winsipedia.
After LSU, the Razorbacks get Texas A&M in Arlington on Sept. 30, followed by road games against Ole Miss and Alabama.
Arkansas then gets Mississippi State at home on Oct. 21 before a much-needed bye week. Arkansas' final road game of the season is its Nov. 4 matchup against Florida.
The Razorbacks' toughest opponents are the road games against LSU and Alabama, but traveling to play Texas A&M and Ole Miss between those games is certainly a challenge.
Schedules That Have Some of the Toughest Road-Game Slates
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns finished 8-5 last season, which was an improvement from Steve Sarkisian's 5-7 mark in 2021. The next step the Longhorns can take in 2023 is competing for a Big 12 title.
To do that, Texas will have to get through a pretty tough road schedule. The most challenging game looks like it'll come in Week 2, when the Longhorns have to go on the road to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 9.
The Tide beat the Longhorns 20-19 in Austin last season, and Bama hasn't lost a non-conference game at home since Louisiana-Monroe upset the Tide in Nick Saban's first season at Alabama in 2007.
But the road tests don't stop with just Alabama. Texas also has to go on the road to play Baylor on Sept. 23 and plays at new Big 12 opponent Houston on Oct. 21. Baylor has won the last two straight against Texas at home in 2019 and 2021.
In November, the Longhorns have back-to-back road trips to TCU and Iowa State. TCU beat Texas 17-10 in Austin last season, and Iowa State has won the last two games in Ames against Texas.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State made it into the playoff last year despite losing to Michigan. As it enters 2023, it'll have to replace quarterback C.J. Stroud while navigating a tough road schedule.
The Buckeyes open the season with a Big Ten opponent on the road, playing the Indiana Hoosiers on Sept. 2. Although Indiana has had back-to-back losing seasons, opening on the road against a conference opponent is challenging for any team.
Following two home games against Youngstown State and Western Kentucky, the Buckeyes go on the road to play at Notre Dame on Sept. 23. It'll be a matchup with playoff implications for both teams, with the Irish having the advantage of playing this one at home.
In October, Ohio State will go on the road to play Purdue. These two don't play each other often, but the Buckeyes beat Purdue 59-31 in 2021. The last time this one was played in West Lafayette in 2018, the Boilermakers upset then-No. 2 Ohio State 49-20. The Buckeyes close out October with an Oct. 28 road trip to Wisconsin, then open November with a trip to Rutgers on Nov. 4.
Last but certainly not least, Ohio State travels to Michigan on Nov. 25. This is the Buckeyes' most important game on the schedule each and every season, and it usually decides who wins the Big Ten East. The Wolverines have won the last two straight in this monumental rivalry. If Ohio State drops a third straight, it'll be the first time since the mid-1990s.
LSU Tigers
LSU will look to repeat as SEC West champions in 2023, but it will have a tricky schedule for Brian Kelly's Year 2 in Baton Rouge. It starts Week 1 against Florida State at a neutral site in Orlando, but there's no question the Noles will have an in-state crowd advantage.
To round out September, the Tigers have to go on the road to play Mississippi State on Sept. 16 and play at Ole Miss on Sept. 30. Between the two games is a home game against Arkansas on Sept. 23. All three games are must-wins for the Tigers' chances at repeating as division champions.
On Oct. 7, LSU travels to Missouri. This looks like a possible trap game for LSU, even though it won't directly impact its SEC West standings too much. Missouri kept things close against Georgia last season, and I wouldn't be surprised if Mizzou does the same against LSU.
Following two home games against Auburn and Army, LSU gets a much-needed bye on Oct. 28. Then on Nov. 4, the Tigers go on the road to play Alabama. Aside from LSU's 2019 victory in Tuscaloosa, the last time the Tigers won at Bama came in 2011.
Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies had an unexpected 5-7 season in 2022, the first losing season for Texas A&M since 2009. Jimbo Fisher will be eager to prove last year was just a blip, but the Aggies' schedule might make that a bit harder to do.
In Week 2, the Aggies go on the road to play Miami. Texas A&M then has three home games against Louisiana-Monroe, Auburn and Alabama, with its annual game vs. Arkansas at AT&T Stadium on Sep. 30 wedged between its tilts against the Tigers and Crimson Tide.
The Alabama game will be tough for the Aggies, even with that game being at home. The last two games in the series have been decided by a combined seven points. After that, TAMU goes on the road to play Tennessee on Oct. 14. The Vols finished 11-2 last season, and didn't lose a game at home in 2022.
In November, Texas A&M goes on the road to Ole Miss on Nov. 4—Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin is 2-0 against Fisher. For their last game of the season, the Aggies go on the road to play LSU.
We'll see how Fisher's team holds up with a difficult schedule. If TAMU has another losing season, we could see Fisher's seat get even hotter.
Team with the Toughest Non-Conference and Neutral-Site Matchups
Florida State Seminoles
The Noles look like a true dark horse candidate to win the ACC in 2023. Although Florida State hasn't done so since 2014, the Noles finished 10-3 last season, punctuated with a Cheez-It Bowl win over Oklahoma. FSU also gets back star quarterback Jordan Travis and has several weapons around him.
But the Noles will have to navigate a tough schedule in 2022, including a Week 1 matchup against LSU in Orlando. This game was played in New Orleans last year, with FSU winning 24-23 on a blocked LSU extra-point attempt that would have sent the game into overtime.
The Tigers finished 2022 10-4 and surprised everyone when they upset Alabama 32-31 on Nov. 5 and won the SEC West last season. A win over LSU in Week 1 might vault Florida State into the playoff conversation early on.
The Noles will also have to travel to Gainesville to play rival Florida this season. The Gators beat FSU the last time this rivalry game was played in The Swamp in 2021.
Out-of-conference games aside, FSU has some tough ACC road games on its schedule, too. The Noles will travel to face Clemson, Wake Forest and Pitt during the 2023 season.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
As one of just four independent teams in the FBS, Notre Dame has a unique schedule every year. It's thanks to the Irish's agreement to play six ACC teams each season, which allows Notre Dame to not have to join the conference full-time while maintaining some of its traditional rivalry games against USC and Stanford.
Notre Dame is a playoff contender virtually every season, and that holds true entering 2023 in Marcus Freeman's second year. But the Irish have a tricky schedule to navigate if they want to compete for a playoff spot.
For starters, Notre Dame opens the season against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, in Week Zero. The Midshipmen finished 4-8 last season, so the Irish should be heavily favored. But it's still a unique challenge to travel and play in Ireland a week earlier than when most other teams start their seasons.
The rest of Notre Dame's schedule includes a Sept. 9 road trip to NC State and playing Ohio State at home on Sept. 23 before back-to-back road games at Duke and Louisville. Notre Dame then plays USC at home on Oct. 14. All of these games are before the Irish's first bye on Oct. 21.
Starting your season a week early in another country and then playing eight straight games against some very good opponents is a tough task for any team, let alone Notre Dame.
Notre Dame's backend of the season includes home games against Pitt and Wake Forest on Oct. 28 and Nov. 18, and road trips to Clemson on Nov. 4 and Stanford on Nov. 25. The toughest game on that schedule is obviously Clemson, but Wake and Pitt played in the ACC title game just two seasons ago.
If Notre Dame makes it through this schedule with just one or even two losses, a playoff bid will undoubtedly be a possibility.
The Pac-12, with Multiple Contenders, Looks Like an Absolute Gauntlet
The Pac-12 will be absolutely loaded in 2023. The conference had six teams ranked in the final AP Poll of 2022, with USC, Utah, Oregon, Oregon State and Washington finishing with 10-plus wins. The conference also brings back some talented quarterbacks who could all potentially be Heisman contenders in 2023.
We included Oregon State in our easiest schedules piece since it looks like the Beavers have the most favorable slate in the Pac-12. But for the other four contenders, all of them have difficult schedules, given how deep the conference will be in 2023.
USC Trojans Notable games:
- at Notre Dame, Oct. 14
- vs. Utah, Oct. 21
- vs. Washington, Nov. 4
- at Oregon, Nov. 11
If the Trojans didn't lose to Utah in the Pac-12 title game, USC would have been in the playoff. Lincoln Riley and Heisman winner quarterback Caleb Williams are back for 2023, and so are high expectations. Having to play at Notre Dame and Oregon will be tough, and Washington and Utah will both bring talented teams to play in Los Angeles.
Utah Utes Notable games:
- vs. Florida, Sept. 2
- at Baylor, Sept. 9
- at Oregon State, Sept. 29
- at USC, Oct. 21
- vs. Oregon, Oct. 28
- at Washington, Nov. 11
Utah's won the Pac-12 the last two years, so head coach Kyle Whittingham knows what it takes to win the conference. Returning to the Utes in 2023 includes star quarterback Cameron Rising, but Utah has a difficult schedule ahead. It opens the season with Florida at home, then goes on the road to play Baylor before it even starts conference play. In the Pac-12, it gets games on the road against Oregon State, USC and Washington.
Oregon Ducks Notable games:
- at Texas Tech, Sept. 9
- at Washington, Oct. 14
- at Utah, Oct. 28
- vs. USC, Nov. 11
- vs. Oregon State, Nov. 24
The Oregon Ducks will return star quarterback Bo Nix in 2023 in head coach Dan Lanning's second season in Eugene. Oregon has a big test in front of them in Week 2, going on the road to play Texas Tech, which finished 8-5 last season. The road games against Washington and Utah will both be challenging, and the Ducks can't afford to lose to Washington State at home in the week between those two matchups if they want to win the conference. Oregon State beat Oregon last season in Corvallis.
Washington Huskies Notable games:
- vs. Boise State, Sept. 2
- at Michigan State, Sept. 16
- vs. Oregon, Oct. 14
- at USC, Nov. 4
- vs. Utah, Nov. 11
- at Oregon State, Nov. 18
Washington returns quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in 2023, who finished second in the nation in passing yards last season, with 4,641 yards and 31 touchdowns with eight interceptions. But Washington has a tough non-conference slate to start the season. Boise State finished with 10 wins last season, and going on the road to play Michigan State will be a crucial test. Getting both Oregon and Utah at home might give the Huskies an edge in conference play, but they still have to play USC in L.A.