Parity has never been more apparent across college football and the weekly grind in various Power 4 conferences takes a toll, even on the nation’s top programs. Power conference head coaches with notable success against top-25 teams are usually in the national championship hunt, which comes with the territory when your team is equipped to handle the brutality of schedules within the SEC and Big Ten.
And when it comes to the best — and worst — coaches against quality opponents, there’s a wide discrepancy. A couple coaches are being paid handsomely to be relatively average in the matchups that mean the most. As expected, strength of schedule and overall roster strength (in terms of recruiting) have great influence on these winning percentages.
Very few Power conference head coaches boast winning records against top-25 competition. With the minimum threshold being at least 10 games against ranked opponents, one can take an educated guess at most of the list, which shortened following Nick Saban’s retirement, Jim Harbaugh’s NFL move, Jimbo Fisher’s firing and Chip Kelly’s decision to step away at UCLA.
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Here is an updated look at college football’s best (and worst) coaches against top-25 opponents during their respective careers: