The SEC takes a lot of heat from various sports sites' comments sections about our weak out-of-conference schedules. One guy on ESPN.com even said "The reality is most SEC teams play 1-2 FCS games."
Of course the real reality is that no Power 5 teams play two FCS opponents and that everyone plays cupcakes.
To prove my point, I combed every Power 5 team's out-of-conference schedule for FCS opponents and cupcakes.
Rankings by Sagarin as of the end of the 2013 season.
In the ACC (where Duke and North Carolina are considered football powers)...
- Boston College plays #111 Maine (and #190 UMass)
- Clemson plays #150 South Carolina State (and #186 Georgia State)
- Duke plays #209 Elon (also #123 Troy and #126 Kansas)
- Florida State plays #167 The Citadel
- Georgia Tech plays #177 Wofford (and #144 Georgia Southern)
- Louisville plays #145 Murrary State (and #224 Florida International)
- Miami plays #225 Florida A&M (and #112 Arkansas State)
- NC State plays #230 Presbyterian (also #132 Old Dominion, #143 USF, and #144 Georgia Southern)
- North Carolina plays #118 Liberty
- Notre Dame plays no FCS teams (but they play #155 Purdue, which finished 2013 ranked below 43 FCS teams)
- Pittsburgh plays #147 Delaware (#129 Akron, and #224 Florida International)
- Syracuse plays Villanova (and #128 Central Michigan)
- Virginia plays #127 Richmond (and #113 Kent State)
- Virginia Tech plays #95 Williams & Mary (and #187 Western Michigan)
- Wake Forest plays #180 Gardner-Webb (and #136 LA-Monroe and #149 Army)
In the Big 10...
- Illinois plays #106 Youngstown State (and #153 Texas State)
- Indiana plays #199 Indiana State
- Iowa plays Northern Iowa
- Maryland plays #135 James Madison
- Michigan doesn't play any FCS teams, but only because #173 Appalachian State moved up to the Sun Belt this season. They also play #220 Miami (Ohio)
- Michigan State plays Jacksonville State (and #201 Eastern Michigan)
- Minnesota plays a really good Eastern Illinois team and (#99 Middle Tennessee)
- Nebraska plays #122 McNeese State
- Northwestern plays #158 Western Illinois
- Ohio State plays no FCS teams, but they play #113 Kent State and they're the only preseason Top 25 team with only one preseason Top 25 team on their schedule (#8 Michigan State)
- Penn State plays no FCS teams, but they play three really bad FBS teams (#129 Akron, #190 UMass, and #119 Temple)
- Purdue plays #98 Southern Illinois (and #128 Central Michigan)
- Rutgers plays #203 Howard
- Wisconsin plays #158 Western Illinois (and #143 USF)
In the Big 12 (where everybody except Kansas plays Kansas)...
- Baylor plays #172 Northwestern State
- Iowa State plays a really good North Dakota State team
- Kansas plays #198 SE Missouri State (and #128 Central Michigan)
- Kansas State plays #197 Stephen F. Austin (and #185 UTEP)
- Oklahoma plays no FCS teams, but they play #137 Tulsa, #166 LA Tech, and one of only two SEC teams to not receive any Top 25 votes in either poll (Tennessee)
- Oklahoma State plays #109 Missouri State
- TCU plays #152 Samford
- Texas plays no FCS teams, and their three OOCs aren't bad: UCLA, BYU, and North Texas, which finished 2013 ranked #66
- Texas Tech plays #130 Central Arkansas (and #185 UTEP)
- West Virginia plays Towson
In the Pac-12...
- Arizona plays no FCS teams. UNLV finished 2013 ranked #91, and Nevada finished at #100 but picked up a preseason Top 25 vote.
- Arizona State plays #228 Weber State (and #148 New Mexico)
- California plays #179 Sacramento State
- Colorado plays no FCS teams, but they play #190 UMass and #134 Hawaii, which each won just one game last year
- Oregon plays #160 South Dakota
- Oregon State plays #161 Portland State
- Stanford plays #178 UC-Davis
- UCLA plays no FCS teams, but they play #101 Virginia and #108 Memphis
- USC plays no FCS teams. Their worst OOC opponent (Boston College) finished 2013 ranked #58.
- Utah plays #229 Idaho State
- Washington plays Eastern Washington (and #134 Hawaii and #186 Georgia State)
- Washington State plays #161 Portland State
In the SEC (which leads the country in ranked teams and where all but two teams got preseason Top 25 votes)...
- Alabama is the only Power 5 team to play two teams ranked #200 or worse: #215 Western Carolina and #200 Southern Miss
- Arkansas plays #194 Nicholls State (and #168 UAB)
- Auburn plays #152 Samford
- Florida plays #142 Eastern Kentucky (and #193 Idaho and #201 Eastern Michigan, but they also play the preseason #1 and #2 teams on the road)
- Georgia plays #169 Charleston Southern (and #123 Troy)
- Kentucky plays #133 UT-Martin (and #115 Ohio and #136 LA-Monroe)
- LSU plays #102 Sam Houston State (and #136 LA-Monroe and #192 New Mexico State)
- Mississippi State plays #133 UT-Martin (and #168 UAB and #200 Southern Miss)
- Missouri plays #94 South Dakota State
- Ole Miss plays #230 Presbyterian (and #108 Memphis)
- South Carolina plays #146 Furman
- Tennessee plays #138 Chattanooga (and #112 Arkansas State)
- Texas A&M plays #183 Lamar (and #104 SMU and #136 LA-Monroe)
- Vanderbilt plays #239 Austin Peay--the worst team to play an FBS opponent. Vandy also plays #168 UAB and #190 UMass