Stacking up the Schedules: Utah and Alabama

There has a been a lot of talk about how good Alabam's schedule in comparisons to Utah's schedule, but lets take a look below how the schedules stack up. The first column is the teams record and ranking at time of game and the second is opponents final ranking and record.

Alabama
Clemson W 34-10 #9 0-0 7-5
Tulane W 20-6 0-0 2-10
Western Ky. W 41-7 1-1 2-10
Arkansas W 49-14 2-0 5-7
Georgia W 41-30 #3 4-0 #15 9-3
Kentucky W 17-14 4-0 6-6
Mississippi W 24-20 3-3 8-4
Tennessee W 29-9 3-4 5-7
Arkansas St. W 35-0 4-3 6-6
LSU W 27-21 #16 6-2 8-5
Mississippi St. W 32-7 3-6 4-8
Auburn W 36-0 5-7 5-7
Florida L 20-31 #4 11-1 #2 12-1

Totals 46-27 63% 67-78 46.2%

Utah
Michigan W 25-23 #24 0-0 3-9
UNLV W 42-21 1-0 5-7
Utah St. W 58-10 0-2 3-9
Air Force W 30-23 3-0 8-5
Weber St. W 37-21 3-1 10-4
Oregon St. W 31-28 2-2 9-4
Wyoming W 40-7 2-4 4-8
Colorado St. W 49-16 3-3 7-6
New Mexico W 13-10 4-5 4-8
TCU W 13-10 #12 9-1 #11 11-2
San Diego St. W 63-14 1-9 2-10
BYU W 48-24 #14 10-1 #16 10-3

Totals 38-28 57.6% 76-77 49.7%

There are some differences first off Alabama played 13 games and Utah only 12, plus Utah played Weber State who is from I-AA division. On the other side Alabama played Western Kentucky who while technically is in I-A they are in the transistional stage.

The numbers do not lie and Utah played a slightly more difficult schedule, and I all ready know that Alabama backers will say their league is tougher and there is more parity. That may be true but comparing schedules is difficult and using wins and losses or percentarge it is hard to compare the two.

The only other numbers which make the schedules essentially tied is that Utah played three ranked teams at the time of the game and two finished ranked in the top 25. Alabama played four ranked teams at the time of the game and two finished the season ranked.

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