MAC College Football Strength of Schedule Rankings: 2025 Spring Version

Originally posted on College Football News | Last updated Mar 30, 2025 3:48 AM ET

The MAC is gaining UMass this year, losing Northern Illinois next year, and for now, it looks like a wide open conference outside of a few programs in transition - to be nice about it - on the bottom.

How hard is every team's schedule? Who has to deal with a dangerous Toledo team, and who gets UMass and Kent State? Here's our spring ranking of the hardest MAC schedules to the easiest based on our Offseason First Look 1-136 Rankings.

We have NIU ranked 120th this offseason. Play the Huskies at home, that's 120 points. In DeKalb, that's 60 points. Overall, the lower the number and score, the harder your schedule.

Any game against an FCS team counts as 137 points, and neutral site dates are treated like home games.

MAC Strength of Schedule Rankings: Spring

The No. 1 team has the hardest schedule, 13 should have the easiest slate, and we rank the 12 games on each team's schedule.

Again, the lower the score, the tougher the schedule and ranking.

1 Kent State Golden Flashes

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 839.5
1 Sept 20 at Florida State
2 Oct 4 at Oklahoma
3 Sept 6 at Texas Tech
4 Oct 18 at Toledo
5 Nov 29 at Northern Illinois
6 Nov 15 at Akron
7 Nov 8 at Ball State
8 Sept 13 Buffalo
9 Nov 22 Central Michigan
10 Oct 25 Bowling Green
11 Oct 11 UMass
12 Aug 30 Merrimack
Missing: Kent State, Miami, Ohio, Western Michigan

2 Central Michigan Chippewas

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 860
1 Sept 13 at Michigan
2 Sept 6 at Pitt
3 Aug 28 at San Jose State
4 Nov 1 at Western Michigan
5 Oct 18 at Bowling Green
6 Oct 4 at Akron
7 Nov 22 at Kent State
8 Nov 29 Toledo
9 Nov 15 Buffalo
10 Sept 27 Eastern Michigan
11 Oct 25 UMass
12 Sept 20 Wagner
Missing: Ball State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio

3 Western Michigan Broncos

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 881.5
1 Sept 13 at Illinois
2 Aug 30 at Michigan State
3 Oct 25 at Miami University
4 Nov 25 at Eastern Michigan
5 Nov 18 at Northern Illinois
6 Oct 4 at UMass
7 Sept 20 Toledo
8 Sept 6 North Texas
9 Nov 11 Ohio
10 Nov 1 Central Michigan
11 Oct 11 Ball State
12 Sept 27 Rhode Island
Missing: Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State

4 Miami University RedHawks

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 889
1 Aug 28 at Wisconsin
2 Sept 6 at Rutgers
3 Nov 19 at Buffalo
4 Nov 4 at Ohio
5 Oct 4 at Northern Illinois
6 Oct 11 at Akron
7 Sept 20 UNLV
8 Nov 12 Toledo
9 Oct 25 Western Michigan
10 Oct 18 Eastern Michigan
11 Nov 29 Ball State
12 Sept 27 Lindenwood
Missing: Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, UMass

5 Ball State Cardinals

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 889.5
1 Sept 6 at Auburn
2 Aug 30 at Purdue
3 Nov 22 at Toledo
4 Sept 20 at UConn
5 Nov 29 at Miami University
6 Oct 11 at Western Michigan
7 Oct 25 at Northern Illinois
8 Oct 4 Ohio
9 Nov 15 Eastern Michigan
10 Oct 18 Akron
11 Nov 1 Kent State
12 Sept 13 New Hampshire
Missing: Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, UMass

6 Bowling Green Falcons

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 893.5
1 Sept 20 at Louisville
2 Sept 6 at Cincinnati
3 Sept 27 at Ohio
4 Nov 8 at Eastern Michigan
5 Oct 25 at Kent State
6 Nov 25 at UMass
7 Oct 11 Toledo
8 Sept 13 Liberty
9 Nov 1 Buffalo
10 Oct 18 Central Michigan
11 Nov 18 Akron
12 Aug 28 Lafayette
Missing: Ball State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Western Michigan

7 Eastern Michigan Eagles

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 916
1 Oct 18 at Miami
2 Sept 13 at Kentucky
3 Oct 4 at Buffalo
4 Sept 27 at Central Michigan
5 Aug 30 at Texas State
6 Nov 15 at Ball State
7 Oct 25 Ohio
8 Sept 20 Louisiana
9 Nov 29 Western Michigan
10 Nov 8 Bowling Green
11 Oct 11 Northern Illinois
12 Sept 6 LIU
Missing: Akron, Kent State, Toledo, UMass

8 Ohio Bobcats

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 916.5
1 Sept 13 at Ohio State
2 Aug 28 at Rutgers
3 Nov 28 at Buffalo
4 Nov 11 at Western Michigan
5 Oct 25 at Eastern Michigan
6 Sept 6 West Virginia
7 Oct 4 at Ball State
8 Nov 4 Miami University
9 Sept 27 Bowling Green
10 Oct 18 Northern Illinois
11 Nov 18 UMass
12 Sept 20 Gardner-Webb
Missing: Akron, Central Michigan, Kent State, Toledo

9 Akron Zips

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 981
1 Sept 6 at Nebraska
2 Sept 27 at Toledo
3 Oct 25 at Buffalo
4 Nov 18 at Bowling Green
5 Sept 13 at UAB
6 Oct 18 at Ball State
7 Aug 28 Wyoming
8 Oct 4 Central Michigan
9 Oct 11 Miami University
10 Nov 11 Kent State
11 Nov 4 UMass
12 Sept 20 Duquesne
Missing: Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Western Michigan

10 UMass Minutemen

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 941
1 Sept 27 at Missouri
2 Sept 13 at Iowa
3 Nov 22 at Ohio
4 Oct 25 at Central Michigan
5 Nov 8 at Akron
6 Oct 11 at Kent State
7 Oct 18 Buffalo
8 Oct 4 Western Michigan
9 Aug 30 Temple
10 Nov 29 Bowling Green
11 Nov 15 Northern Illinois
12 Sept 6 Bryant
Missing: Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Miami, Toledo

11 Northern Illinois Huskies

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 977
1 Sept 6 at Maryland
2 Sept 20 at Mississippi State
3 Nov 5 at Toledo
4 Oct 18 at Ohio
5 Oct 11 at Eastern Michigan
6 Nov 12 at UMass
7 Sept 27 San Diego State
8 Oct 4 Miami University
9 Nov 18 Western Michigan
10 Oct 25 Ball State
11 Nov 28 Kent State
12 Aug 30 Holy Cross
Missing: Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan

12 Buffalo Bulls

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 998.5
1 Aug 30 at Minnesota
2 Nov 15 at Central Michigan
3 Nov 1 at Bowling Green
4 Sept 13 at Kent State
5 Oct 18 at UMass
6 Sept 27 UConn
7 Sept 20 Troy
8 Nov 29 Ohio
9 Nov 22 Miami University
10 Oct 4 Eastern Michigan
11 Oct 25 Akron
12 Sept 6 St. Francis
Missing: Akron, Ball State, Northern Illinois, Toledo

13 Toledo Rockets

Spring Strength of Schedule Score: 1021
1 Aug 30 at Kentucky
2 Oct 25 at Washington State
3 Nov 29 at Central Michigan
4 Nov 12 at Miami University
5 Sept 20 at Western Michigan
6 Oct 11 at Bowling Green
7 Sept 6 WKU
8 Nov 5 Northern Illinois
9 Sept 27 Akron
10 Nov 22 Ball State
11 Oct 18 Kent State
12 Sept 13 Morgan State
Missing: Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Ohio, UMass

- MAC Spring Rankings