Schedules are out, intrasquads are happening, and we’re nearly ready for the 2025 season to begin. But with less than a month left until things officially kick off, we thought we’d find out which team will have the toughest road to Fort Worth.
But how do we determine the rankings? It’s pretty simple. We took each teams’ 2024 opponents’ rankings and added them all together. If their opponent was the home team, we subtracted two points for “home floor advantage.” In the case of non-neutral site meets with multiple teams, only the home team would have those points subtracted. Finally, we averaged that number and the team with the lowest number ranks first in schedule difficulty.
Confused? We broke down Oklahoma’s 2018 schedule as an example below.
In 2018, Oklahoma was at Georgia (12-2), hosted Iowa State (29) and Texas Woman’s (52), was at Florida (3-2), was at UCLA (4-2), hosted North Carolina (36), had a neutral meet versus Nebraska (7), hosted West Virginia (20), Michigan (10), Arizona State (41), Arkansas (19) and Denver (9), was at Alabama (6-2) and was at TWU (52-2). That means the Sooners competed against 14 total teams, coming out to an average of 20.71.
In 2018 and 2019, Florida had the most difficult schedule, according to our formula, and 2020 saw Alabama overtake the Gators with the toughest lineup by a long shot. We did not calculate schedule difficulty in 2021, 2022, or 2024. In 2023, Arkansas narrowly beat out Alabama for the toughest schedule. Let’s get into the rankings for 2025.
6. UCLA (15.750)
In its first season in the Big Ten, UCLA finds itself with the toughest schedule outside of the SEC. The Bruins kick off the season at the Pacific Coast Challenge against California (2) and Oregon State (21) and face strong teams through to the last weekend of the regular season, finishing up against Stanford (5) at home and Utah (3-2) on the road.
5. Georgia (14.167)
New head coaches Cécile Canqueteau-Landi and Ryan Roberts will usher Georgia through a challenging schedule. They start with a quad meet at Denver (10-2) with Missouri (11) and LIU (60) and a home meet against Boise State (33). Next up are eight straight SEC dual meets.
4. Kentucky (13.000)
Kentucky’s schedule comes in at an even 13.0 difficulty rating. Its first meet is at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, where it’ll see Arkansas (7), Ohio State (13), and UCLA (17). The rest of the season is packed with SEC dual meets, but it’ll also host Temple (52) at home with LSU (1) on Valentine’s Day.
3. Oklahoma (12.875)
Oklahoma starts off with two invitationals, including the stacked second session of the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad featuring 2024’s top three teams: LSU (1), California (2), and Utah (3). The SEC welcomes the Sooners with eight conference dual meets, highlighted by a visit to LSU (1-2).
2. LSU (11.769)
The reigning national champion won’t relax in 2025 with a schedule jam-packed with SEC dual meets. Add in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad against California (2), Utah (3), and Oklahoma (6), and the Tigers have the second toughest schedule in the nation.
1. Auburn (11.643)
Auburn narrowly beats out LSU for the hardest schedule in 2025. Finishing last of SEC teams in the 2024 rankings, Auburn’s dual meets each contribute to a low average difficulty score. Non-conference opponents include Penn State (15), Arizona State (16), and Oregon State (21).
See the table below for a full ranking of the top 25 most difficult schedules for 2025.
| 2025 Schedule Rank | Team | Schedule Score |
| 1 | Auburn | 11.643 |
| 2 | LSU | 11.769 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 12.875 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 13.000 |
| 5 | Georgia | 14.167 |
| 6 | UCLA | 15.750 |
| 7 | Alabama | 16.400 |
| 8 | Florida | 16.846 |
| 9 | Arkansas | 17.500 |
| 10 | Michigan | 20.813 |
| 11 | Missouri | 21.588 |
| 12 | Utah | 21.938 |
| 13 | BYU | 22.105 |
| 14 | Ohio State | 22.800 |
| 15 | Stanford | 24.412 |
| 16 | Washington | 24.421 |
| 17 | Arizona State | 24.588 |
| 18 | Michigan State | 25.118 |
| 19 | Nebraska | 26.316 |
| 20 | Denver | 26.588 |
| 21 | California | 26.680 |
| 22 | North Carolina | 26.867 |
| 23 | Penn State | 27.438 |
| 24 | N.C. State | 27.706 |
| 25 | West Virginia | 27.882 |
READ THIS NEXT: Oklahoma Tops College Gym News 2025 Preseason Poll
Article by Jill Walsh
Florida’s Road Meets:
1/17 at LSU
2/2 at West Virginia with Utah in a XII tri-meet
2/7 at Arkansas
2/21 at Oklahoma
3/7 at Alabama
Florida’s Home Meets:
1/10 Michigan State/Nebraska/Northern Illinois
1/24 Georgia
2/14 Auburn
2/28 Missouri
3/14 Kentucky.
Looking ahead, I can’t help thinking there may not be any schedules the equal of the meets the Gators will have performed in during the 2025 season.
A hard schedule is a benefit in gymnastics. Which programs often get the benefit of the doubt in scoring? The top teams often receive the loosest scoring; thus, if you can compete against those teams, especially on the road, it’ll help your own NQS in the end.