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Pac-12: Arizona has the 5th hardest strength of schedule, 19th in the NCAAF

By Shereen Rayan

Oct 31, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez disputes a call in the third quarter against the against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez disputes a call in the third quarter against the against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports /
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There aren’t a lot of media outlets outside of Tucson who pay attention to the Arizona Wildcats, but sports broadcaster Mark Rogers does, and he has some interesting information for fans

MarkRogersTV ranks the top 25 NCAAF teams with the hardest strength of schedule each season for 67 teams. The Wildcats show up at No. 5 in the Pac-12, No. 19 college football’s all power five conference in Rogers poll.

Mark and his team arrive at the rankings through a nine-step process and end up with a list of 25 out of 67 as a result.

Rank the Conference

Rank within the Conference

Take the No. 1 seeds as they see it in the five major conferences (No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama , No. 3 Ohio State , No. 4 Oklahoma , and No. 5 Stanford )

Rank the next seeds on down the line 2nd seeds, 3rd seeds, 4th seeds, etc.

More from Wildcats Football

See if the conference teams play each other (or the team plays all the teams in their conference. The Pac-12 plays the truest conference matchups. Example: Arizona plays nine of the other eleven teams. Some play less in other conferences.

Look at a team rankings against the top rated teams.

Take into consideration if a teams play one difficult game in their schedule outside of their conference, and is it played on a neutral site?

See into the spacing of games against ranked teams, are your toughest games spread out or back-to-back?

Look at the other out of conference games a team plays; USC (plays Alabama, Utah State, and Notre Dame), the most difficult schedule in the country. On the opposite end, Baylor who plays “no one.”

Rogers focuses on college football and all the conferences, but especially the Power Five. Most of the media concentrate on the SEC, and it’s hard not to. But Rogers is not like most media, he takes a chunk of time and focuses on the Pac-12. It’s frankly a breath of fresh air.

Sep 19, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal kicker Conrad Ukropina (34) celebrates with Dallas Lloyd (29) after kicking a 46-yard field goal in the fourth quarter against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stanford defeated USC 41-31. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 19, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal kicker Conrad Ukropina (34) celebrates with Dallas Lloyd (29) after kicking a 46-yard field goal in the fourth quarter against the Southern California Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stanford defeated USC 41-31. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Rogers explains that the SEC holds the top spots and are listed throughout his top 25 most of the time. Arizona broke through this season, and that’s probably not the best thing for the Cats. Having just lost their seasoned center, bless his soul, and losing a couple of players to either injury, transfers or problems, this is going to be an interesting season, to say the least.

What is Arizona’s schedule like?

The Wildcats start out with three eh games; BYU being the hardest of the three (Grambling State and Hawaii are the other two). After pre-season, the Wildcats will face four ranked teams, one of which killed Iowa in the Rosebowl. Of course, we are talking about Stanford and All-American Heisman Trophy nominee Christian McCaffrey who stomped on our defense last season.

Here are the first five in-conference matchups that launched Arizona into the No. 5 in the Pac-12 and No. 19 spot overall:

  1. No. 14 Washington – XM’s full-ride commentators have Washington winning the Pac-12
  2. at No. 16 UCLA – Arizona has lost the four games against the Bruins (Hence it’s time for a W)
  3. UTAH – Last season’s game went to double overtime, so
  4. No. 20 USC – Trojans have the hardest strength of schedule
  5. at No. 8  Stanford – Rogers ranked Stanford  No. 1 in the Pac-12

Since the Cats don’t have to face Oregon or Cal this season, I guess we can all breathe a sigh of relief?

According to Rogers, “Arizona is coming off an injury-plagued 7-6 campaign in 2015. Rich Rodriguez is hoping for better results against a formidable schedule in 2016. MarkRogersTV reviews the road and rates the slate vs. the Pac 12 and all of college football.”

Here’s Mark Rogers full analysis of Arizona, seems like he is probably right:

must read: Arizona Football: 2016 Preseason Bowl Media Projections for the Cats

In conclusion:

Zona Zealots hadn’t yet delved into the Wildcats strength of schedule, therefore we are fortunate to hear Mark Rogers did it for us. As a result, we got a good look into what the Wildcats have in front of them. Let’s set expectations now: if Arizona beats even two out of the five, we’ll be happy. Any more that two wins in the upcoming five-game series and we should be ecstatic! BearDown Arizona! Don’t listen to any of us and just play your game!

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