A team’s rating is interpretable as the “expected” difference in score between it and an “average” power-5 I-FBS team if they were to play each other at a neutral site. Similarly, the difference between the ratings of any two teams is interpretable as the “expected” difference in score between the two of them if they were to play each other at a neutral site.
There are various “metrics” that reflect a team’s strength of schedule (SOS). The ranking on SOS reported herein is based on the ordinary average of the ratings of the team’s opponents (those played to date) with suitable adjustments to account for whether each opponent were played at “home” or “away” (or at a “neutral” site).