1. Toughest September: BYU. The Cougars open at Nebraska, home against Boise State, at UCLA, at Michigan. Just for kicks, BYU follows that Michigan game with a short-turnaround Friday contest against Connecticut on Oct. 2. Being an independent is fun, isn’t it, Bronco Mendenhall?
2. Toughest October: Miami. The Hurricanes are at Cincinnati on a Thursday, then at Florida State, home against Virginia Tech and Clemson, and at Duke on Halloween. Combined 2014 record of those opponents: 49-18.
3. Toughest November: Baylor. The Bears are at Kansas State on a Thursday night, home against Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State and at TCU on the day after Thanksgiving with the Big 12 (undisputed!) title perhaps on the line in that one.
4. Toughest schedule, period: Alabama has at least two slobberknockers a month. Every month. In September it has Wisconsin and Mississippi. In October it visits Georgia and Texas A&M – the latter coming off a bye while the Crimson Tide is coming off a rumble with Arkansas. In November it plays LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn – the final two on the road. If anyone complains about the Tide scheduling Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern, tell them to look at the schedule in its entirety and hush.
5. Kudos to bluebloods daring to leave home early. Ohio State’s Labor Day game at Virginia Tech is the Buckeyes’ first on-campus road opener since 1998, when they played at West Virginia. Texas’ Sept. 5 game at Notre Dame is the Longhorns’ first true road opener since 1995, when they played at Hawaii. Michigan’s Sept. 3 opener at Utah is the Wolverines’ first true road opener since 1998, at Notre Dame.
6. Jim Harbaugh takes an eight-game, five-year-old winning streak as a college coach into Salt Lake City.
7. For the first time since 1915, Notre Dame does not play a single team from the Big Ten. The Fighting Irish play six opponents from their pseudo-home conference, the Atlantic Coast.
8. Fire The Coach schedules: Virginia might have kept Mike London for one more season simply to spare the new guy from facing UCLA, Notre Dame and Boise State in the first month. Miami’s aforementioned October could have Al Golden under intolerable heat heading into the home stretch. Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads better have some wins in the bank by mid-October, because the Cyclones close with seven straight against the top seven in the Big 12 last year (TCU, at Baylor, Texas, at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, at Kansas State, at West Virginia).
9. Save The Coach schedules: Rutgers coach Kyle Flood likely saved himself last year with upset wins over Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina, but he could get some added insurance this season with a non-conference slate of Norfolk State, Washington State, Kansas and Army (combined 2014 record: 12-34). Scott Shafer of Syracuse starts work under a new boss with a full September of home games, and if things go really well he could be 6-1 heading into a difficult closing gauntlet. Larry Fedora has only four true road games in year four at North Carolina, and the Tar Heels leave the state only three times.
10. Schools that need to put on their big-boy scheduling pants: Baylor (non-conference lineup of SMU, Lamar, Rice); Oklahoma State (Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, UTSA); Kansas State (South Dakota, UTSA, Louisiana Tech, in a return to Bill Snyder’s weakling schedule roots); Arizona (UTSA, Nevada, Northern Arizona); Penn State (Temple, Buffalo, San Diego State, Army); Mississippi State (Southern Miss, Northwestern State, Troy, Louisiana Tech); Mississippi (UT Martin, Fresno State, New Mexico State, Memphis); North Carolina State (Troy, Eastern Kentucky, Old Dominion, South Alabama).
11. Arizona might not have scheduled much in terms of non-conference rigor, but it also did not give itself a break. Literally. The Wildcats play 12 straight weeks without a bye, ending the year early (Nov. 21) against arch-rival Arizona State. Strap up, training staff.
12. The Big 12 gifted four teams with back-to-back headaches: league favorites Baylor and TCU in succession. Oklahoma is at Baylor on Nov. 14, hosts TCU on Nov. 21; West Virginia is at Baylor on Oct. 17 and at TCU on Oct. 29; Texas Tech hosts TCU on Sept. 26 and plays Baylor in Arlington on Oct. 3; and Iowa State hosts TCU on Oct. 17 and is at Baylor on Oct. 24. Enjoy!
13. On the flip side, the Big 12 also has bestowed back-to-back games against league lightweights Kansas and Iowa State to five teams. Oklahoma rests up for that Baylor-TCU double with games against the Jayhawks on Oct. 31 and Cyclones on Nov. 7; Texas gets Iowa State on Oct. 31 and Kansas on Nov. 7; Kansas State hosts Iowa State on Nov. 21 and is at Kansas on Nov. 28; West Virginia is at Kansas Nov. 21 and hosts Iowa State on Nov. 28; and Texas Tech has Iowa State at home Oct. 10 and visits Lawrence on Oct. 17.
14. Texas A&M does not leave the state of Texas until Oct. 24, when it plays at Mississippi. Prior to that are four true home games and pseudo-neutral-site games against Arizona State (Houston) and Arkansas (Arlington).
15. Penn State doesn’t leave the state until Oct. 17. The only road game in the first six is the opener at Temple, and there likely will be more Nittany Lions fans than Owls backers in attendance for that one. Don’t be shocked if Penn State is 6-0 going to Ohio State – and then gets absolutely shellacked by the Buckeyes.
16. The downside of the Penn State schedule: it plays the first 10 weekends without a bye, and catches both Maryland and Northwestern coming off open weeks.
17. Temple won’t have a true home-field advantage in a game until Oct. 10, when it hosts Tulane. Of course, that assumes some Owls fans – or fans of any team – show up for that game.
18. Georgia is not breaking the bank on travel expenses. All 12 games are played within the state or in an adjoining state – the longest road trip is 300 miles to Nashville to play Vanderbilt. A potential 13th game in the SEC championship game would also be in the Peach State. A victory there could put the Bulldogs in Florida for an Orange Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. Thus if the season goes ideally for Georgia, its 15th and final game – the national championship game in Arizona – would be the only one that required leaving the Southeast.
19. Mississippi visits Florida for the first time since The Promise. That’s when the Rebels upset the Gators in 2008, which led to this Tim Tebow declaration, which is now memorialized on a plaque outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Why? Because Florida won out in ’08, including the national title. Promise kept.
2. Toughest October: Miami. The Hurricanes are at Cincinnati on a Thursday, then at Florida State, home against Virginia Tech and Clemson, and at Duke on Halloween. Combined 2014 record of those opponents: 49-18.
3. Toughest November: Baylor. The Bears are at Kansas State on a Thursday night, home against Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State and at TCU on the day after Thanksgiving with the Big 12 (undisputed!) title perhaps on the line in that one.
4. Toughest schedule, period: Alabama has at least two slobberknockers a month. Every month. In September it has Wisconsin and Mississippi. In October it visits Georgia and Texas A&M – the latter coming off a bye while the Crimson Tide is coming off a rumble with Arkansas. In November it plays LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn – the final two on the road. If anyone complains about the Tide scheduling Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern, tell them to look at the schedule in its entirety and hush.
5. Kudos to bluebloods daring to leave home early. Ohio State’s Labor Day game at Virginia Tech is the Buckeyes’ first on-campus road opener since 1998, when they played at West Virginia. Texas’ Sept. 5 game at Notre Dame is the Longhorns’ first true road opener since 1995, when they played at Hawaii. Michigan’s Sept. 3 opener at Utah is the Wolverines’ first true road opener since 1998, at Notre Dame.
6. Jim Harbaugh takes an eight-game, five-year-old winning streak as a college coach into Salt Lake City.
7. For the first time since 1915, Notre Dame does not play a single team from the Big Ten. The Fighting Irish play six opponents from their pseudo-home conference, the Atlantic Coast.
8. Fire The Coach schedules: Virginia might have kept Mike London for one more season simply to spare the new guy from facing UCLA, Notre Dame and Boise State in the first month. Miami’s aforementioned October could have Al Golden under intolerable heat heading into the home stretch. Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads better have some wins in the bank by mid-October, because the Cyclones close with seven straight against the top seven in the Big 12 last year (TCU, at Baylor, Texas, at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, at Kansas State, at West Virginia).
9. Save The Coach schedules: Rutgers coach Kyle Flood likely saved himself last year with upset wins over Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina, but he could get some added insurance this season with a non-conference slate of Norfolk State, Washington State, Kansas and Army (combined 2014 record: 12-34). Scott Shafer of Syracuse starts work under a new boss with a full September of home games, and if things go really well he could be 6-1 heading into a difficult closing gauntlet. Larry Fedora has only four true road games in year four at North Carolina, and the Tar Heels leave the state only three times.
10. Schools that need to put on their big-boy scheduling pants: Baylor (non-conference lineup of SMU, Lamar, Rice); Oklahoma State (Central Michigan, Central Arkansas, UTSA); Kansas State (South Dakota, UTSA, Louisiana Tech, in a return to Bill Snyder’s weakling schedule roots); Arizona (UTSA, Nevada, Northern Arizona); Penn State (Temple, Buffalo, San Diego State, Army); Mississippi State (Southern Miss, Northwestern State, Troy, Louisiana Tech); Mississippi (UT Martin, Fresno State, New Mexico State, Memphis); North Carolina State (Troy, Eastern Kentucky, Old Dominion, South Alabama).
11. Arizona might not have scheduled much in terms of non-conference rigor, but it also did not give itself a break. Literally. The Wildcats play 12 straight weeks without a bye, ending the year early (Nov. 21) against arch-rival Arizona State. Strap up, training staff.
12. The Big 12 gifted four teams with back-to-back headaches: league favorites Baylor and TCU in succession. Oklahoma is at Baylor on Nov. 14, hosts TCU on Nov. 21; West Virginia is at Baylor on Oct. 17 and at TCU on Oct. 29; Texas Tech hosts TCU on Sept. 26 and plays Baylor in Arlington on Oct. 3; and Iowa State hosts TCU on Oct. 17 and is at Baylor on Oct. 24. Enjoy!
13. On the flip side, the Big 12 also has bestowed back-to-back games against league lightweights Kansas and Iowa State to five teams. Oklahoma rests up for that Baylor-TCU double with games against the Jayhawks on Oct. 31 and Cyclones on Nov. 7; Texas gets Iowa State on Oct. 31 and Kansas on Nov. 7; Kansas State hosts Iowa State on Nov. 21 and is at Kansas on Nov. 28; West Virginia is at Kansas Nov. 21 and hosts Iowa State on Nov. 28; and Texas Tech has Iowa State at home Oct. 10 and visits Lawrence on Oct. 17.
14. Texas A&M does not leave the state of Texas until Oct. 24, when it plays at Mississippi. Prior to that are four true home games and pseudo-neutral-site games against Arizona State (Houston) and Arkansas (Arlington).
15. Penn State doesn’t leave the state until Oct. 17. The only road game in the first six is the opener at Temple, and there likely will be more Nittany Lions fans than Owls backers in attendance for that one. Don’t be shocked if Penn State is 6-0 going to Ohio State – and then gets absolutely shellacked by the Buckeyes.
16. The downside of the Penn State schedule: it plays the first 10 weekends without a bye, and catches both Maryland and Northwestern coming off open weeks.
17. Temple won’t have a true home-field advantage in a game until Oct. 10, when it hosts Tulane. Of course, that assumes some Owls fans – or fans of any team – show up for that game.
18. Georgia is not breaking the bank on travel expenses. All 12 games are played within the state or in an adjoining state – the longest road trip is 300 miles to Nashville to play Vanderbilt. A potential 13th game in the SEC championship game would also be in the Peach State. A victory there could put the Bulldogs in Florida for an Orange Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. Thus if the season goes ideally for Georgia, its 15th and final game – the national championship game in Arizona – would be the only one that required leaving the Southeast.
19. Mississippi visits Florida for the first time since The Promise. That’s when the Rebels upset the Gators in 2008, which led to this Tim Tebow declaration, which is now memorialized on a plaque outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Why? Because Florida won out in ’08, including the national title. Promise kept.
