The Buckeyes are staring at the toughest road left in college football.
According to the latest College Football Power Index simulations, Ohio State has the No. 1 most difficult remaining strength of schedule in the country entering Week 7. That’s a brutal label, but it fits what’s ahead for a team already sitting at 5-1 after a grind that included a one-point loss at Texas, a game in which the Buckeyes once led by 20.
Now comes the part that will tell the whole story. Ohio State goes to undefeated Indiana this week, then still has road trips to USC and Nebraska, plus home games against Oregon and Michigan. That kind of finish can burnish a College Football Playoff résumé in a hurry - or wreck it just as fast.
The SEC dominates the rest of the list, owning eight of the 10 most difficult remaining schedules. Missouri checks in at No. 2, followed by LSU at No. 3, with Texas A&M, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Arkansas also stacked into the top 10.
Missouri, also 5-1, gets Ole Miss this week before a punishing stretch that runs through Texas at home, Georgia on the road, Kentucky at home, and then Oklahoma. It’s the sort of closing run that could push the Tigers into the playoff picture or expose where they stand against elite competition.
LSU, meanwhile, is 4-2 after a narrow overtime loss at Kentucky and still has a gauntlet to survive. The Tigers have Mississippi State, Auburn, Alabama and Texas left at home, plus a trip to Tennessee. It’s a schedule that leaves almost no margin for error.
USC lands at No. 5 on the remaining-schedule list thanks to a difficult Big Ten finish that includes a home date with Ohio State.
Florida and Auburn also face additional ranked tests that will help define where they stand in the postseason race, while Tennessee’s remaining home slate against Alabama, Kentucky and LSU keeps the Vols in the conversation - or knocks them out of it.
The bigger picture is hard to miss: the teams with the roughest roads ahead are mostly the ones in the power conferences, and the next few weeks should do plenty to separate the real contenders from the pretenders. In a playoff race where every late-season result gets magnified, these schedules are going to matter.
In Other News...
Texas A&M Gets A Reset With Big Position Battles To Watch
Texas A&M gets another chance to sort through some key questions when it faces The Citadel, with kickoff set for Saturday and the game carrying more weight than a typical nonconference tune-up. The Aggies depth chart still has a few spots worth monitoring, and this matchup offers a cleaner stage to see how certain players handle expanded opportunities, especially with the game available on TV for a wider audience to track.
Among the names to keep an eye on are backup quarterback Brady Hart, defensive player Brandon Davis-Swain and wide receiver Aaron Gregory, each of whom could help shape what this team looks like moving forward. For a staff still sorting out roles, the bigger takeaway may not be the opponent so much as what Texas A&M learns about itself before the schedule gets more demanding. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Just Watched Texas A&Ms Frustration Spill Into Something Bigger
The loss in Columbia was bad enough on its own, a 27-6 defeat that left Texas A&M sitting at 3-3 and searching for answers after another uneven performance. But the story did not end when the final horn sounded, because the postgame mood quickly shifted from football to frustration, with the Aggies sideline and fan conversation spilling into a broader debate about criticism, loyalty and the temperature around the program.
In the aftermath, Jimbo Fisher Elko took aim at a segment of the online community, calling it a cesspool while drawing a line between the fan base and the social media voices he was targeting. The remarks have only added to the tension around a season already under pressure, and some supporters, including TexAgs co-owner Billy Liucci, have pushed back as the discourse around Texas A&M becomes nearly as charged as the results on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M May Need Offensive Changes Before This Season Slips Away
Texas A&M left another game searching for answers on offense after the loss to Missouri dropped the Aggies to 3-3 and kept the pressure squarely on a unit that has not consistently carried its weight. Head coach Mike Elko has stuck with Conner Weigman at quarterback, even as the passing game has struggled to find rhythm, and that faith has become one of the defining questions around the team as the season moves deeper into fall.
Brady Hart sits behind Weigman as a backup option, but the bigger issue may be whether the Aggies need broader changes than a simple swap under center. The offensive line and running back room are both under review as possible areas for adjustment, and with the record already teetering, Texas A&M may not have much time left to sort out what needs fixing before the season slips further away. [Read more 🡒]