This Weekend in College Football: Week 1

Once again, it's time for the following statement!
As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Thursday
7:30:

• Southern Mississippi @ South Carolina (ESPN): It's not technically the first college football game (Division II started last week) or even the first DI-A game (Buffalo starts at 7:00), but it's the first one on national TV. Despite Spurrier's inability to pick a quarterback, South Carolina should be able to handle this one.
• Minnesota @ Middle Tennessee State (ESPNU): With Dwight Dasher, I actually kind of liked MTSU here, but some ill-advised and somewhat illegal financial escapades have landed Dasher in some trouble, the least of which is that he won't be playing in this game. So I'll have to fall back to the safety of Minnesota.
• Marshall @ Ohio State (BTN): Well, if you can find the Big Ten Network on your dial, this game will be here. Then you'll likely turn it back. Tyrelle Pryor should have a pretty solid effort here.

8:00: Northern Illinois @ Iowa State (FSN): I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa State lost this game. But they shouldn't. They might though.

8:30: Pittsburgh @ Utah (Versus): Honestly, this is probably the best game of the night! Of course, once again I probably won't see any of them, but hey, them's the breaks. Also, I have to like the Utes at home here. I think they'll be out to prove that their Pac-10 invite isn't based on some sort of fluke.

11:00: Southern California @ Hawaii (ESPN): It's USC's bowl game! Have fun, guys.

Friday

8:00: Arizona @ Toledo (ESPN): Well, presumably, there won't be any Toledo fans in t-shirts stating their opinions on swine flu in this game. But still, I don't think Arizona will be able to repeat Colorado's spectacular self-destruction from last year. Also, you're going to watch this, because it's Friday and it's college football dammit.

Saturday
Noon:

• Miami University @ Florida (ESPN): Pro-tip for the rest of the year on this site: U of Miami is the one you care about, and Miami U is the one in Ohio. And that's the one Florida is bringing in for some hot MACtion. And it will be hot, because it's noon in Gainesville.
• Western Michigan @ Michigan State (ESPN2): Spartans. It's 3:42 AM. Let's speed this up.
• Samford @ Florida State (ESPNU): I'm not even sure why I listed this.
• Youngstown State @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): JoePa starts a freshman! Penn State rolls anyway.
• Louisiana-Lafayette @ Georgia (SEC/Gameplan): Oh hey, it's UGA reppin' the UL-U-Pick 'Em. Word to your mother. Unless she went to UGA.

12:30: Illinois vs. Missouri (@St. Louis, MO; FSN): Well, this game loses a bit of its luster this year, but it's probably your best bet early this day.

1:00: South Carolina State @ Georgia Tech (espn3.com): It's kickoff for GT! And I can't wait. It's going to be an exciting fall here at asimsports, provided the Braves make the playoffs.

3:30:

• Purdue @ Notre Dame (NBC): I feel like I have to take Notre Dame here. But hear me out! If they lose, Brian Kelly will not have my trust again.
• Kentucky @ Louisville (ABC/Gameplan): I keep forgetting how astronomically bad Louisville was last year. In a way, it's almost like they weren't even there, which was kind of true in a literal sense as well. I'll take Kentucky for now though.
• California-Los Angeles @ Kansas State (ABC/ESPN2/Gameplan): Woooo - does UCLA's Socal trust busting begin on the plains of Kansas? Perhaps. Both these teams are rebuilding big time, but I think UCLA is a little further ahead than the Wildcats.
• Connecticut @ Michigan (ABC/ESPN2/espn3.com): I'm still not entirely sure Michigan even has a quarterback, but I'm going to roll with them anyway.
• Texas vs. Rice (@Houston, TX; ESPN/espn3.com): Well, I already spent my smart-guy JFK reference in the Big 12 OOC Schedule Preview, so I don't really have anything here other than wish they could play it actually at Rice and not in some fancy NFL stadium. And Iron Bowl should still be played at Legion Field, and the Cotton Bowl should still be played at.... you get the idea.
• North Texas @ Clemson (ESPNU): Clemson.
• Jacksonville State @ Mississippi (SEC/Gameplan): Ole Miss.

7:00:

• Washington State @ Oklahoma State (FSN): Oklahoma State may be rebuilding here, but I'm pretty sure their metaphorical gun has a few more bullets than Wazzou's.
• Memphis @ Mississippi State (ESPNU): I'm not really sure that Miss State will win here, but they should. Wait, did I use that gimmick already? Well, guess what, I just did it again! What are you going to do about it, huh? Yeah. That's what I thought.
• Washington @ Brigham Young (CBSCS): Does Jake Locker exact vengeance on the bogus personal foul call from a few years ago? (By the way, those could get a lot more bogus next year. More on that later.) Anyway, I don't think so. I still like BYU here.
• Arkansas State @ Auburn (SEC on FSN/Gameplan): WHOOPS (when I originally wrote this I didn't see the "State" in "Arkansas State"). Auburn rolls.

7:30: Northwestern @ Vanderbilt (SEC/Gameplan): Godspeed, Robbie Caldwell. Now hopefully your games are as entertaining as your press conferences, as you'll probably only begin to realize the magnitude of your task here (a.k.a., realize why Bobby Johnson just woke up one morning in the middle of this summer and said "I quit!"). Oh, and I'll take NU here.

7:45: Texas Christian vs. Oregon State (@Arlington, TX; ESPN): It's the first edition of football schedules in the Intergalactic Space Palace, and it should be a doozy. I like TCU here, but Oregon State should put up a great fight.

8:00: Louisiana State vs. North Carolina (@Atlanta, GA; ABC): Well, I can't say I liked Carolina much before this "academic fraud" business started because I still have no idea how they will score any points. Now, I'm not sure how LSU is going to score points either, but they seem to have gotten pretty far in spite of themselves. I think the EDSBS Live! folks summed it up best - this will either be a "cynical game" with a final score of 8-6 or a 3-2 "thriller" a la that Auburn-Miss State game from a couple of years ago.

10:00: Cincinnati @ Fresno State (ESPN2): Cincy has a great chance to prove they can still win without their greatest coach ever, but it won't be easy. I think they hold court in THE VALLEY, though.

11:00: Wisconsin @ Nevada-Las Vegas (Versus): Wisconsin.

Sunday
2:00: Tulsa @ East Carolina (ESPN2): Here's some good early season C-USA goodness for ya. There should at least be a lot of points. And remember, you probably have Monday off! So just sit around and enjoy some more football. Also, I like Tulsa. (Is it just me, or am I picking a lot of away games? Hrm.)

3:30: Southern Methodist @ Texas Tech (ESPN): Texas Tech begins their shameful OOC schedule run against the Mustangs, who at least are actually better than when TTU originally scheduled this game.

Monday
4:00: Navy vs. Maryland (@Baltimore, MD; ESPN): I like this game, despite the fact there's a very real chance Maryland will embarrass the ACC by losing it. And I actually think they will. It's just hard to see what Maryland will be able to do this year, as one of the trio of schools with coaches who more closely resemble zombies than head football coaches.

8:00: Boise State vs. Virginia Tech (@Landover, MD; ESPN): By far the biggest game of opening weekend. Both these teams think they have a shot at the national title, and the loser is out, as neither has room for error. It should be fun, it should be intense, and it should be close. But in the end, I think VPI just a better team - their offense is sketchy, of course, but their defense is just so good. While of course Boise has had time to prepare, well, it's not Bud Foster has been sitting on his thumbs all summer, you know?

Anyway, I'd like to wrap up this column with a little feature looking back at 20 years ago in college football. Now, the season in 1990 didn't actually begin until next weekend, but a few teams had played in the old "kickoff classics" the weekend before. One of them being the Colorado Buffaloes, who tied Tennessee 31-31 down in Anaheim in one of those games. They were ranked #5 in the pre-season AP poll, and would move down to #6 20 years ago this Monday. Georgia Tech was, at the time, unranked and had not yet played a game.

At any rate, enjoy the first weekend! This should be a very interesting year of college football.

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate: Epilogue

Editor's note: parts of this post have been shamelessly ripped-off from last year's. Sorry, but I don't have a lot of time right now.

Before we can properly dive back in to college football, let's examine our treatment of the best, and worst, of college football scheduling this year. Unlike the previous editions, this has a bit of subjectiveness to it, after all, no one really cares what kind of schedule Duke plays - the point here is to reward or shame programs that should, well, know better.

First, let's look at the worst OOC schedules in college football, this time sorted by their "legit average".
Dis-honorable mentions: Virginia and Arizona State. While their 0.25 legit averages are too "high" for the below, they were the only two teams in major college football to schedule 2 DI-AA teams this year. So way to (not) go!

The following teams had a 0.125 legit average, but they weren't even the worst in their conferences so I felt bad about pointing them out each, so I'll just list them here in no particular order: Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Arkansas. So without further adieu, here's the top 6 worst schedules in major college football:
6. Rutgers (0.5 legit, 1 DI-AA): Norfolk State, @Florida International, North Carolina, Tulane, N-Army. The reason why they rate lower than the above with 1 BCS team is because of the 5 out-of-conference games (which is taken into account for the average). Nonetheless, this is a bad schedule. But it gets worse!
5. California (0.25, 1): California-Davis, Colorado, @Nevada. With only 3 OOC games, it's hard for Pac-10 teams to appear here, but Cal managed to pull it off because there is nothing here. Perhaps you can cut them some slack because, hey, why would Colorado be this bad? Well, them's the breaks.
4. Oklahoma State (0.25, 0): Washington State, Troy, Tulsa, @Louisiana-Lafayette. I didn't have much to say the first time I saw this schedule. I still really don't. It's just a poor effort by OSU. You'd think with all that money they could get some decent OOC scheduling, but hey at least it's not as bad as the next three.
3. Mississippi State (0, 1): Memphis, Alcorn State, @Houston, Alabama-Birmingham. Last year's worst schedule, er, "winner", is vaulted to the top of the "0" heap thanks to the away game at Houston. The next two aren't so lucky.
2. Mississippi (0, 1): Jacksonville State, @Tulane, Fresno State, Louisiana-Lafayette. They were the worst last year, but they've swapped places with Texas Tech for now. Still not great, though. Hopefully Fresno will give them the what-for.
1. Texas Tech (0, 1): Southern Methodist, @New Mexico, Weber State, Houston. Seriously, is Texas Tech even trying? They were #2 last year, and I think this schedule is actually worse. Geez.

With that over with, let's take a look at teams who decided to entertain all of us and perhaps helps themselves a little in the process. This is a little more stringent than the above, as I wanted to focus on teams that played more than 1 BCS school and interesting inter-regional matchups.5. Miami (1.75 legit, 1 DI-AA): Florida A&M, @Ohio State, @Pittsburgh, South Florida. Miami-Pitt reunite in a battle of former Big East foes, and Miami also travels to the Shoe in a rematch of the 2003 Fiesta Bowl that decided the national title.
4. Pittsburgh (2.75, 1): @Utah, New Hampshire, Miami (FL), Florida International, @Notre Dame. They should be #1, but the average hurts them again with the 5 OOC teams. Nonetheless, this is a great schedule, even if they do play ND every year.
3. Florida State (2.5, 1): Samford, @Oklahoma, Brigham Young, Florida. This is a good schedule as well, but they do have the rivalry game factor here that perhaps should push Miami or Pitt above them. Nonetheless, solid.
1. Washington (1.75, 0): @Brigham Young, Syracuse, Nebraska. Well, I'll do now what I should've done earlier this week, which is consider Oregon State and Washington a tie for first. These are both good schedules and benefit from the average and not having any DI-AA teams on the schedule.
1. Oregon State (1.75, 0): N-Texas Christian, Louisville, @Boise State. Nonetheless, Oregon State does have its two biggest OOC games away from home. That's definitely a factor in their favor.

Well, that's that. Now, it's time to play the game and not talk about them! TV schedule should be up shortly.

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 6: SEC

Let's hastily conclude our survey of the 2010 non-conference schedules with the Southeastern Conference.

1. Louisiana State (1.5 legit, 1): N-North Carolina, West Virginia, McNeese State, Louisiana-Monroe. Well, that UNC game's lost a little lustre in the past two weeks, with the entire starting Carolina defense potentially ineligible. Otherwise, WVU-LSU matches perhaps two of the most inebriated fanbases in college football, with the rest of the schedule consists of the requisite DI-AA sacrifice and a Sun Belt team.
2. Florida (1.5, 1): Miami (OH), South Florida, Appalachian State, @Florida State. Nope, wrong Miami! At any rate, when a rivalry game and USF propel to a tie for first place in your conference's OOC schedules, well, that's pretty bleak I'd say. Let's soldier on.
3. Georgia (1.25, 1): Louisiana-Lafayette, @Colorado, Idaho State, Georgia Tech. Well, in fairness, there were points in the past 10-15 years in which Colorado would rate above a 0.25. This is not that time, as most observers would say that Dan Hawkins is only around because the university can't afford to fire him, and that they may even have to delay their entry to the Pac-10 due to money issues. As for UGA, well, they do have both "halves" of the 1990 national title on their schedule, so that's interesting, even if they play half of that every year anyway.
4. Alabama (1.25, 1): San Jose State, Pennsylvania State, @Duke, Georgia State. Penn State: good! The rest of this schedule: horrendous! I'm sure someone will wax poetic about the olden days of the SIAA or whatever by visiting Wallace Wade. Nonetheless, I think Georgia State traveling to Tuscaloosa to cap off their inaugural season will make the time Bill Curry had a brick tossed through his window seem pleasant by comparison.
5. Vanderbilt (1, 0): Northwestern, @Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, Wake Forest. This is a pretty solid Vandy schedule, and if they have a good year they could win all these games. Or they could lose three of them. Them's the breaks when you're Vandy.
6. Tennessee (1, 1): Tennessee-Martin, Oregon, Alabama-Birmingham, @Memphis. Tennessee throws Memphis a bone by traveling to the Liberty Bowl, otherwise, there's not much to see here except for Tennessee's bi-annual West Coast roadtrip.
7. South Carolina (1, 1): Southern Mississippi, Furman, Troy, @Clemson. Them's pickin's? Yeah, they're starting to get slim.
8. Auburn (1, 1): Arkansas State, Clemson, Louisiana-Monroe, Tennessee-Chattanooga. Well, at least Auburn-Clemson isn't an annual rivalry. Nonetheless, USM pushed South Carolina over the edge in terms of a tiebreaker. But, hey, Tigers-Tigers, woo!
9. Arkansas (0.5, 1): Tennessee Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, N-Texas Agricultural and Mechanical, Texas-El Paso. Outside of the now-annual rivalry matchup at Jerry Jones's Intergalactic Space Palace, there's not much to see here. An easy schedule for a potential SEC/national darkshorse.
10. Kentucky (0.5, 1): @Louisville, Western Kentucky, Akron, Charleston Southern. Noir Rich Brooks thinks your schedule is weak, weak like the firing pin of a gun that's been fired one too many times.
11. Mississippi State (0, 1): Memphis, Alcron State, @Houston, Alabama-Birmingham. Okay, Houston is probably worth more than "0", which is what broke the tie with their cross-state comrades down at...
12. Mississippi (0, 1): Jacksonville State, @Tulane, Fresno State, Louisiana-Lafayette. Well, okay, Fresno State is perhaps roughly equivalent to Houston, but still, come on! It's like half this conference isn't even trying, but then again, ESS-EEE-CEE! WOO!

That's all I got for now. I'll put together a slapdash epilogue as well, just give me a minute.

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 5: Pacific 10

In part 5 of our on-going series, we examine the Pac-10, traditionally a strong OOC scheduling bunch. Hopefully that remain with the Pac-11 next year and the Pac-12 the year after.

1. Washington (1.75 legit, 0 DI-AA): @Brigham Young, Syracuse, Nebraska. If Washington is looking to have a breakout season, this schedule can both help and hinder them. Beat two out of three of these teams, and U-Dub makes a statement. While no one would fault them for losing to both BYU and Nebraska, those two losses don't help them get back to a bowl. Oh, and I bet Jake Locker and co. remember that BYU loss from two years ago.
2. Oregon State (1.75, 0): N-Texas Christian, Louisville, @Boise State. I would consider this a tie with Washington's schedule honestly. This I think the main reason it isn't is because Nebraska trumps both TCU and Boise, but not by much (in terms of the criteria used to rank these schedules, at least). A great schedule for a Pac-10 title contender, going toe-to-toe with two mid-major hopefuls.
3. California-Los Angeles (1.25, 0): @Kansas State, Houston, @Texas. While last year's 6-6 rebuilding job may not have ended the football monopoly in Los Angeles, this schedule provides some chances to go above that mark even with a middle-of-the-pack finish in the Pac-10. Of course, we can go ahead and mark Texas in the loss column, so that leaves a very winnable K-State game and a Houston game that I believe is a toss-up.
4. Stanford (1.25, 1): Sacramento State, Wake Forest, @Notre Dame. This schedule checks off the "required OOC teams" check boxes pretty well, and may have even been a great schedule for Stanford in the recent past. However, this Stanford team has Rose Bowl aspirations (hey, they make it about once every ten years, so it's that time again) and so dates with Sacramento State and Wake Forest don't seem that great anymore.
5. Oregon (1, 1): New Mexico, Tennessee, Portland State. Well, we have Tennessee's bi-annual West Coast roadtrip, but outside of that this schedule is pretty "meh". It's pretty much downhill from here.
6. Southern California (0.75, 0): @Hawaii, Virginia, @Minnesota. Well, the date at Hawaii this Thursday will be this year's bowl game for the Trojans. This is a pretty apropos for this year's edition, though, feature games that even this decimated squad should be able to handle.
7. Washington State (0.75, 1): @Oklahoma State, Montana State, @Southern Methodist. I'm not sure what's worse, the schedule, or the fact that Wazzou could lose all three of these games and I wouldn't be terribly surprised.
8. Arizona (0.75, 1): @Toledo, Citadel, Iowa. I'm going to go on a limb and say that Arizona probably won't suffer the same fate Colorado did at Toledo last year. As for the rest, they'll probably lose to Iowa. I guess. Hey, at least they're not last! Yes that's right folks - after embarrassing schedules in 2007, 2008, and 2009 Arizona has risen out of the gutter, though apparently this is because we massively underrated Iowa last year.
9. Arizona State (0.75, 2): Portland State, Northern Arizona, @Wisconsin. Two DI-AA schools? Really? Most of your conference comrades don't even have one yet you have the audacity to schedule two. Why there oughta be a law... anyway, at least they bothered to make the third game a game against a BCS conference team.
10. California (0.25, 1): California-Davis, Colorado, @Nevada. Well, they do have the game out in Reno, which is kind of interesting, and also a content against future conference mate Colorado, but there's not really a lot of meat on these bones. Though they should probably be ranked above Arizona State just on principle, but hey, rules are rules.

Anyway, next time we'll take a look at the SEC, and then hopefully wrap it all up before Thursday! 

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 4: Big XII

Tonight, we examine the conference that is soon to have two less members than its numerical title states. Seriously, it's not like the Big 12 has even been around that long, how much of a brand is there to worry about? Anyway...

1. Colorado (1.75 legit, 0 DI-AA): @Colorado State, @California, Hawaii, Georgia. Colorado has far and away the strongest OOC schedule of any of the Big 12, but they're also one of the worst teams in the conference. I'd say that Dan Hawkins is trying salvage his job this year, but that would imply there's anything left to salvage.
2. Oklahoma (1.5, 0): Utah State, Florida State, Air Force, @Cincinnati. Optimism is high at Oklahoma, and well it should be. Their new offensive skill players were able to take their licks last year as opposed to this year, meaning the projected rebuilding timetable in the post-Bradford era has been moved up. This schedule also provides a good foundation for a darkhorse national title run, assuming Cincy is decent again this year.
3. Iowa State (1.5, 1): Northern Illinois, @Iowa, Northern Iowa, Utah. I need some sort of provision for OOC rivalry games or something. Though fans of Pitt, Penn State, and Miami probably would tell you that you should appreciate it if your OOC rival actually does play you every year. At any rate, at least ISU sourced their DI-AA patsy locally. (College Football 2010: the cash money isn't the only thing that's green!) (Also, UNI probably has a fighting chance against ISU, but that's another story.)
4. Kansas (1, 1): North Dakota State, Georgia Tech, @Southern Mississippi, New Mexico State. A mea culpa from my ACC article, wherein I said that KU was location in Manhattan. I should know better than that, being born in Kansas and having multiple cousins who went to K-State and all. However, since my Mom was the one who told me about the error, that pretty much confirms no one is reading this thing except for her.

5. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical (0.75, 1): Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana Tech, Florida International, N-Arkansas. Outside of the continuing TAMU-Arkansas series at Jerry Jones's Intergalactic Space Palace, there is literally nothing worth writing home about here, provided we lived in an era in which people still wrote letters.
6. Texas (0.5, 0): @Rice, Wyoming, California-Los Angeles, Florida Atlantic. President John F. Kennedy once asked, "Why does Rice play Texas?" Well, in this case, I suspect it's because they got a lot of money for it. Even more sad is that Rice, despite having the most disproportionately sized stadium in college football (full capacity: 70,000, enrollment: 6,799) is actually holding this game at Reliant Stadium. I'm still counting it as a home game for Rice, though. Oh, I guess Texas also plays UCLA, but at any rate Texas should win all these games by at least two touchdowns.
7. Baylor (0.5, 1): Sam Houston State, Buffalo, @Texas Christian, @Rice. If this is finally Baylor's year, playing @TCU doesn't do them any favors, as that would require a perhaps difficult 3rd Big 12 win for bowl eligiblity.
8. Nebraska (0.5, 1): Western Kentucky, Idaho, @Washington, South Dakota State. At U-Dub is kind of interesting, I guess. Otherwise, this is a pretty unimpressive schedule. And it only gets worse from here.
9. Missouri (0.5, 1): N-Illinois, McNeese State, San Diego State, Miami (OH). I think TAMU-Arkansas is more interesting, but the rising trend of neutral-site inter-conference games is very encouraging.
10. Kansas State (0.5, 1): California-Los Angeles, Missouri State, Central Florida, @North Texas. Well, they get a road trip to Denton, TX at least. Other than that, I've got nothing.
11. Oklahoma State (0.25, 0): Washington State, Troy, Tulsa, @Louisiana-Lafayette. Amazingly, this is not the worst OOC schedule in the Big 12. Once again that title goes to...
12. Texas Tech (0, 1): Southern Methodist, @New Mexico, Weber State, Houston. Other than a love of pirates, throwing it around the field, and a dislike of Adam Jones, the other thing Texas Tech under Mike Leach did was come up with some truly awful schedules. Though they did lose to Houston last year, so there could be some revenge there, though perhaps not that the Cap'n's new gig is at Fox College Sports.
    

Well, that's all I got. Two more to go! Next up, the Pacific 10.

The Crazy Conference Expansion We Waited All Summer For...

...involves the Mountain West and the WAC?

Indeed it does. It is confirmed that Fresno State and Nevada will join the Mountain West effective in time for the 2011 football season, coming along with fellow WAC compadre Boise State. All this is on the heels yesterday morning that BYU was thinking about going on its own in football and joining the WAC in all other sports, a la Notre Dame.

What took the Big Ten 12 months to decide took the Mountain West less than 12 hours, as later in the day the conference's official website announced that invitations had been extended to Fresno and Nevada, and then later, accepted. With Boise already in the fold, this removes basically every decent team from the WAC, leaving them with a pile of geographically disjointed refugees in the form of Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State.


The question now is, what happens to the BYU rumors? Does BYU now stay put, as the new-look MWC now has the muscle to make up for the loss of Utah and preserve their chance at getting a BCS bid? Or does BYU still go at it alone? Another rumor is that the WAC will attempt to poach some of the MWC's lesser teams, like San Diego State and UNLV, but that was before the MWC's actions.

Assuming BYU now stays, that gives the MWC 11 teams. They're out of WAC teams worth poaching now, though. They could attempt to grab another Texas school from Conference USA, such as Houston or UTEP, to get to 12.

And wither the WAC? Keep in mind the MWC started in 1999 as a splinter group from the monster 16-team WAC of the mid-90's (made mostly up of the original 9 WAC schools). 11 years later, have they finished the job?

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 3: Big Ten

Okay, I am really busy right now, but I should be able to finish all of these before the season starts. Let's do one right now, shall we?

1. Michigan (1.5 legit, 1 DI-AA): Connecticut, @Notre Dame, Massachusetts, Bowling Green. This schedule is pretty "meh" because they play Notre Dame pretty much every year. What gets them over the top is the game with UConn. UMass continues the new Michigan trend of scheduling patsies. I think RichRod can figure to get at least two, if not three, wins out of this part of the schedule. But then again, it's difficult to image that Michigan has actually been as bad as they have been the past couple of years.
2. Ohio State (1, 0): Marshall, Miami (FL), Ohio, Eastern Michigan. As I said during the ACC preview, Ohio State-Miami is one of the most interesting inter-conference games on the schedule this year. The rest of this schedule is pretty bad, though. Marshall and Ohio had decent years last year, but Eastern Michigan was 0-12.
3. Pennsylvania State (1, 1): Youngstown State, @Alabama, Kent State, Temple. Also interesting is Penn State's game at Alabama. I actually had to double-check to make sure this was happening, and yes it is. The rest of this schedule is fluff - there should be a law that Pitt and Penn State have to play each other every year.
4. Minnesota (1, 1): @Middle Tennessee State, South Dakota, Southern California, Northern Illinois. There's something to be said for offsetting your return trip to MTSU by getting USC at home. The question for the Gophers is will they manage to win both of those? And if they only win one, will it be the one they should win?
5. Purdue (1, 1): @Notre Dame, Western Illinois, Ball State, Toledo. This is pretty much a boilerplate Big Ten schedule: Notre Dame, DI-AA team, and a double serving of some MACtion. Yawn.
6. Michigan State (1, 1): Western Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Notre Dame, Northern Colorado. Well, this one has some Sun Belt mixed in as well. For some reason the FAU game is in Detroit. I would guess that still counts as a home game for MSU.
7. Iowa (0.75, 1): Eastern Illinois, Iowa State, @Arizona, Ball State. Yes, you may have two BCS conference teams on your schedule Iowa, but they're not very good. Nonetheless, Iowa has managed to lose 5 of their last 10 games with Iowa State, which makes you scratch your head a bit.
8. Illinois (0.5, 1): N-Missouri, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, @Fresno State. We continue to applaud the Illinois-Mizzou series, it's just that neither team is very interesting or likely to be good this year. Illinois more so than Mizzou. If Zook hasn't been fired already, the game at Fresno may be for his job.
9. Wisconsin (0.5, 1): @Nevada-Las Vegas, San Jose State, Arizona State, Austin Peay. I wonder how many comp'ed casino drinks it takes to get a Wisconsinite drunk? (My guess: at least 20.) Nonetheless, the Arizona State game is somewhat interesting and hopefully Wisconsin continues to take their scheduling in that direction.
10. Northwestern (0.25, 1): @Vanderbilt, Illinois State, @Rice, Central Michigan. Man, if NU played Duke this year they would've played the entirety of the "small DI-A private shcools" circuit. Other than that, there's not much to say other than we'll miss being able to make ourselves seem smarter than we actually are by making Kafka jokes.
11. Indiana (0, 1): Towson, @Western Kentucky, Akron, Arkansas State. Indiana may not be the worst team in the Big Ten this year, but this schedule sure is. But hey, the objective I suspect is to go 4-0, beat two of Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, or Michigan and go to a bowl.

Anyway, I have to run, but hopefully next week I can go from one part of the heartland to another by taking on the Big XII. See you then!

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 2: Big East

All right, it's time for the Big East. Remember, these guys have 5 out-of-conference games so their legit scores will seem higher than most other conferences (which is why for my overall ratings I use averages). Anyway, let's get this over with:

1. Pittsburgh (2.75 legit, 1 DI-AA): @Utah, New Hampshire, Miami (FL), Florida International, @Notre Dame. Even accounting for the 5 OOC teams, this is still a pretty good OOC schedule. Going back to the ACC column for a second, we'll recall that some conferences are looking for legitimacy and the Big East probably needs it more than anyone else. Pitt beating Utah, Miami, and Notre Dame would be a good start.
2. South Florida (2, 1): Stony Brook, @Florida, Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, @Miami (FL). Well, at least all the major Florida teams will be no more than one step away from the others thanks to South Florida. Nonetheless, while the Bulls probably have a chance in the Big East, they probably don't have a chance against the two biggest foes on their schedule.
3. Cincinnati (1.25, 1): @Fresno State, Indiana State, @North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Miami (OH). I'm not sure whether the Oklahoma game is a neutral site game or not since it is still technically in Cincinnati, it just will be at the Bengals's stadium instead of the Bearcats'. I guess it depends on how the split the ticket sales. Outside of that, there's not much to work with here except for the somewhat unusual trip out to Fresno.
4. Connecticut (1.25, 1): @Michigan, Texas Southern, @Temple, Buffalo, Vanderbilt. At Temple? Outside of that, this is okay, if not a little pedestrian. The Michigan game will probably be a barometer for both teams, which probably makes most in the maize and blue shake their heads a bit.
5. West Virginia (1.25, 1): Coastal Carolina, @Marshall, Maryland, @Louisiana State, Nevada-Las Vegas. When I think West Virginia, I always think about how crazy and wide open they were under Rodriguez, so for a split second I was excited about their trip to Baton Rouge before I remembered that he's not there anymore.
6. Louisville (1, 1): Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, @Oregon State, @Arkansas State, Memphis. Instead of playing all the teams in Kentucky that they could (no love for Western Kentucky, which is, you know, in DI-A?) they instead to go and play at....Arkansas State? I wonder if that will be on TV because I honestly don't think I've ever seen a game broadcast from there.
7. Syracuse (1, 2): @Akron, @Washington, Maine, Boston College, Colgate. So the 'Cuse is probably past the point where they have to worry about losing to Akron, Maine, and Colgate (though I note that Akron game is at Akron). So that's three wins right there. Though the Quest for Toronto is dead, is this the year the Orangemen make their first bowl game since 2004?
8. Rutgers (0.5, 1): Norfolk State, @Florida International, North Carolina, Tulane, N-Army. I'm sorry, this schedule sucks. There's no two ways about it. Sure, there's the trip to Miami, and the neutral site game at the New Meadowlands that I really need to come up with a clever nickname for. Jiants Stadium? Hrm.

Anyway, just us next time for a discussion of the extra-conference games of the Big Ten .

Rating the 2010 Non-Conference Slate, Part 1: ACC

The ACC actually has a lot of make-or-break out-of-conference games this year, a big deal for a conference hoping to live up to their new TV deal. As an ACC fan, let me tell you a lot of folks in this conference (especially from the "southern wing") suffer from what I call "SEC-envy". Unlike many of these folks, I don't think the media is actively biased against the conference. That said, sometimes the conference doesn't really help itself. But with the nation's 2nd toughest OOC schedule as a group (with a "legit average" of 0.3177) the ACC will have its chances to show its mettle. Let's get started.

Oh, I should note that in some cases, schools were tied with the same rating, in which case the tie is broken first by the number of DI-AA teams on the schedule and then completely arbitarily.

1. Florida State (2.5 legit, 1 DI-AA): Samford, @Oklahoma, Brigham Young, Florida. Hope of getting back to the ACC forefront abounds in Tallahassee this year, and this schedule can help with 3 pretty legit teams on the slate. Florida is of course a rivalry game, but Seminole fans have to be hoping Christian Ponder can show Sooner fans what they're missing this year. If FSU can win two of the big three of these they will finish the season ranked, provided their defense doesn't catch fire within the conference again.
2. Miami (1.75, 1): Florida A&M, @Ohio State, @Pittsburgh, South Florida. Okay, this isn't, your, um, older brother's Miami team, but a rematch of a national title game is always fun. 
3. Clemson (1.75, 1): North Texas, Presbyterian, @Auburn, South Carolina. Well, it's not Clemson-Georgia but Tigers vs. Tigers is always fun. 
4. North Carolina (1.5, 1): N-Louisiana State, @Rutgers, East Carolina, William & Mary. Well, the biggest thing here is the season kick-off neutral site against LSU. Most ACC partisans feel LSU is ripe for the pickin' in this game, but then they turn around say that UNC themselves is extremely beatable. So we'll see. I will say that if there's year that LSU seems vulnerable, to me, this is it.
5. Georgia Tech (1.5, 1): South Carolina State, @Kansas, Middle Tennessee State, @Georgia. Well, we get post-Mangino Kansas in Lawrence. Um, outside of that, there's not really much to say about this slate, other than that the MTSU series is a 2-for-1 and I think the trip to Murfeesboro is next year.
6. Boston College (1.25, 1): Weber State, Kent State, Notre Dame, @Syracuse. I have no idea what to say about this schedule. They'll be favored to win all of these except ND, and even then they should have a pretty good chance. Oh, and it just gets worse from here.
7. Duke (1, 1): Elon, Alabama, Army, @Navy. Let's be clear here: two of three are on the schedule because this is Duke, which is also the reason they're on Alabama's joke of a schedule. 
8. Maryland (1, 1): N-Navy, Morgan State, @West Virginia, Florida International. The Navy game is in Baltimore, which should be fun except that I think Navy is probably going to win. I wish Maryland could play Colorado in the "battle of coaches who probably should have been fired a year ago" bowl.
9. Virginia (1, 2): Richmond, @Southern California, Virginia Military, Eastern Michigan. The only ACC team playing two DI-AA teams, they probably need it the most. At least their new coach probably shouldn't lose to Richmond.
10. Virginia Tech (0.75, 1): N-Boise State, James Madison, East Carolina, Central Michigan. I don't know if the VPI-Boise State game is THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN ACC HISTORY, but it is a big deal for the conference. Once again, VPI can use their opening game as the kick off to a darkhorse national title run, while this is the most important game on Boise's schedule. So that is one to watch. The rest of this schedule? Not so much.
11. Wake Forest (0.75, 1): Presbyterian, @Stanford, Navy, @Vanderbilt. Let's see... anything clever to say about this? Well, um, both Vandy and Wake have gold and black as their primary colors. Um. Yeah, I got nothin'. Oh, well, yes, Stanford is still only worth 0.5 points, one year does not grant you legitimacy. 
12. North Carolina State (0.5, 1): Western Carolina, @Central Florida, Cincinnati, @East Carolina. Who is the AD at NCSU? How did you end up scheduling two mid-majors away in the same year? There are a lot of schedules worse than this one. But there are also a lot of better ones. But then again, NCSU has been pretty solidly "mediocre-to-bad" since 2003, so if the same AD has been there the entire time (I'm too lazy to look) they should have been fired a long time ago anyway.

Join us next time, for the Big East!