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Which teams have the toughest strength of schedule heading into college football season?

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It’s hard to believe, but we’re just a few months away from the ramp up to the 2026 college football regular season.

We’ve already seen some early, analytics-driven rankings be released, which showcased one obvious point: there are two conferences dominating the sport. The Big Ten Conference, at least based on last year’s performances, recruiting rankings, and returning talent, is expected to have three of the five best teams.

Meanwhile, the SEC will once again show off its quality depth. Seven of the top 15 teams are expected to come from the SEC, though with just one in the top five.

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As in most years, the 2025-2026 season was dominated by debate and discussion around strength of schedule. Particularly with two Group of Five teams reaching the College Football Playoff, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish getting left out of the playoff in favor of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Those debates are only going to increase this upcoming season, as the playoff field remains locked at 12. And perhaps more importantly, scheduling philosophies changing rapidly as programs optimize for reaching the postseason.

Well, we already have a new ranking of the ten hardest schedules in the upcoming season, and, spoiler alert, it’s those same two conferences yet again.

Bill Connelly, the creator of the SP+ analytics-based ranking system housed at ESPN, posted on X this week about the current toughest schedules in the country, based on the projected top teams in SP+. And the SEC dominates the list, with a few Big Ten teams slotting into the middle.

Per Connelly, the Texas Longhorns are projected to have the toughest schedule in the country, and looking at it, you can see why. They host Ohio State, who’s expected to be the best team in college football. They play at Tennessee, have their traditional rivalry game against Oklahoma, host Florida and Ole Miss, go on the road at Missouri and LSU, host Arkansas, then finish out with another rivalry game at Texas A&M. There’s only one likely top 5 team, but few off weeks facing lower quality opponents.

Speaking of Ohio State, they’re the top ranked Big Ten team, coming in at #4, with a bunch of tough games on tap for 2026. On the road at Texas, home for Illinois, at Iowa, at defending national champion Indiana, at USC, home for Oregon, at Nebraska, and home for Michigan. Two top five teams, and plenty more likely top 20 or 25 caliber teams.

Here’s the full list:

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So seven of the top 10 are from the SEC, with the remaining three coming from the Big Ten. No surprise there. But the fact that there is so little surprise, and the strength of both conferences, makes it obvious why there will continue to be schedule-related arguments between the Power Four moving forward.

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The SEC, and the Big Ten too, will have reasonable arguments to make that they deserve more spots in the playoff because of the difficulty in getting through each conference. And they’ll surely have plenty to say about Notre Dame’s arrangement with the playoff too.

The Irish are now guaranteed a spot in the field if they finish in the top 12. Their schedule in 2026 indicates they are well aware of it.

Compare that to Texas or Ohio State, and you see where there’s going to be some disagreement. Expanding the playoff to 16 teams, for example, would allow for more playoff spots and take some of the disadvantages of tough schedules away from those conferences. For now though, it’s going to be a tough road ahead for many SEC teams, and plenty of Big Ten teams too.

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Drake seems to troll Bears star QB Caleb Williams with ‘Iceman’ album promo in Toronto

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As rapper Drake rolls out the latest promotion for his upcoming “Iceman” album, it appears he’s also taking a jab at Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in the process.

The Canadian artist posted a photo on Monday of himself rocking a Green Bay Packers jacket in front of blocks of ice that were set up in downtown Toronto with the release date of his highly anticipated album hidden inside. The promotion led to fans trying to speed up the melting process of the heavy blocks.

A streamer who goes by “Kishka” ended up finding the envelope, took it to Drake’s home in the area, and the May 15 release date was eventually revealed for all to see.

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The Packers even reposted the pictures of Drake, with a simple “Hi” in their caption while tagging the famous rapper.

So, where does Caleb Williams come into play here?

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Well, as Williams helped lead the Bears to the playoffs, he claimed himself the “Iceman” after coming from behind for dramatic wins during a remarkable 2025 campaign.

Then, Williams took it to another level, trying to trademark the nickname in March, though he received scrutiny not from Drake, but Basketball Hall of Famer George Gervin. The four-time scoring champ and 12-time All-Star was called “Iceman” throughout his career.

But now, Drake is claiming himself the “Iceman.” And while it could just be a coincidence Drake was wearing the Packers bomber jacket, he is quite known for jabs at his “foes,” whether straight-forward or through subtle things like his attire.

Drake has been hinting at this new album for some time now, slowly releasing promos since last summer. Considering his love for sports, he made sure to play that up to build anticipation for the album.

At Scotiabank Arena, the home of the Toronto Raptors, Drake had fake icicles placed on the two courtside seats that he usually sits in when he attends NBA games. They were spotted on April 12 — a 136-101 blowout win for the home team.  

Meanwhile, Bears fans have learned to enjoy “Iceman” Williams, even if the games are rollercoasters at times. The 24-year-old threw for 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions, while leading the team to the playoffs with an 11-6 record.

The Bears eventually fell to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round in an overtime thriller. It wasn’t Williams’ best game, throwing for two touchdowns, but three interceptions in the loss.

But feelings around the Bears are that the No. 1 overall pick is the right guy to continue leading the franchise, especially when it comes to defeating divisional opponents like the Packers.  

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Acting AG Todd Blanche says SPLC fraud indictment is not politically motivated, calls conduct ‘egregious’

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a federal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was not politically motivated during an appearance Tuesday on “The Ingraham Angle.”

The Alabama-based civil rights group was federally indicted Tuesday on fraud charges and is accused of funneling millions of dollars to pay informants to infiltrate extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

“That indictment is free for everybody to read, and if the takeaway is that that’s political, I mean, I think the opposite is true,” Blanche told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

Blanche described the SPLC’s alleged conduct as “extraordinarily egregious,” saying the group paid $3 million to people associated with the United Klans of America and other extremist organizations from 2014 to 2023.

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The group faces charges including wire fraud, false statements to a bank and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The SPLC, which uses litigation to fight White supremacy and dismantle extremist groups, performed counter to its mission, Blanche said.

“The very entities that this group was raising money to go against are the very entities that they were taking the money in and paying to these entities and these individuals associated with those groups,” the attorney general told Ingraham.

Blanche claimed SPLC-funded informants helped initiate the deadly Ku Klux Klan rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

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“What we allege in the indictment and what the grand jury found is that one of the individuals that they paid was one of the folks who helped organize that terrible event,” the acting attorney general said.

“They were part of it.”

Blanche also said the SPLC did not alert law enforcement about its funding of informants in the extremist organizations.

The SPLC pushed back on the indictment, defending what its interim CEO Bryan Fair described as “prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”

“There’s no information that we have that suggests that the money that they were paying to these informants and these members of these organizations, they then turned around and shared what they learned with law enforcement,” Blanche said.

In a video responding to the indictment, Fair said his civil rights group was “targeted” by the Trump administration and expressed outrage over the “false allegations” from the Justice Department.

“The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice and ensure the promise of the Civil Rights movement becomes a reality for all,” Fair said.

Fair also said the organization “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff and our work,” according to The Associated Press.

Blanche said the investigation remains ongoing and said if allegations are proven to be true, the case is “very troubling.”

“It shakes the heart of our democracy to understand what happened,” he said.

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Josh Allen annihilates a beer to fire up the Sabres crowd

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We all knew things would get wild in Buffalo with the Sabres making their first postseason appearance since Barack Obama’s first term, and they brought in the big guns for Game 2 against the Boston Bruins.

Did anyone order up Josh Allen downing a brewski for the boys?

Because that’s what you’re getting.

The Sabres and their fans are riding high after coming into the playoffs as the top seed in the Atlantic Division. Then, in Game 1, they pulled off a come-from-behind over the Bruins.

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So, to get the second game started on the right foot, the team recruited the Buffalo Bills’ signal caller to come out and fire everyone up by banging on a big, team-branded drum.

But he had one more move up his sleeve: a frosty cold one.

Now that’s how you do it.

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Also, how about that “goathead” sweater? I’m honestly stunned they didn’t wear those. Especially since we’ve seen two other teams — Dallas and Pittsburgh — bust out alternates for their first home games this postseason.

Those sweaters have so much mojo, as shown by Allen just demolishing what looked to be a Corona.

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He showed some stellar form, and I think it’s safe to say that if he wasn’t busy on most Sundays in the fall, he’d be one of the lunatics diving through folding tables or squirting that one guy with ketchup and mustard.

Allen fits in nicely in Buffalo, which is just going wild right now. Part of me wants to say it’s a shame that they’ve gone playoff-less as long as they have, but I feel like it takes 15 years of regular seasons ending in mid-April to make people behave like this:

You love to see it.

This series they’re in with Boston is going to be a tight one, but I’m not going to lie: I wouldn’t mind seeing what happens if the Sabres make it to the next round.

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