#15 to #13 - Air Force, Arizona State, UCLA
#15 to #13 - Air Force, Arizona State, UCLA
Arizona State has the 15th-toughest schedule based on final GRR rankings.
But ... ASU's score was helped by their game against the Mexican national team - a team no one else faced. Air Force could have been ranked higher, but they opted not to play a fixture against Central Washington, so we've decided to put Air Force at #15, and Arizona State at #14. UCLA, which played Cal several times and also had Utah, ASU, and Arizona on their schedule, comes in at #13.
Why didn't they rank higher? It's a combination of going deep into the playoffs, finding the right out-of-conference opponents, getting on an airplane once in a while, and being in a conference where several ranked teams play.
These three ticked off some of those boxes, but not necessarily all.
(Air Force in action last fall. Travis Prior photo.)