Easiest 2016 Football Schedules

[mmboys07]

Always a lot of talk about who has the most difficult schedule. But, who has the easiest? Of the major powers Michigan has to be right up there close to the easiest, if not the easiest.
(not in order) Harbaugh walked into an ideal situation. He will take all the credit for turning the team around so fast; but some credit must go to the schedulers.

Rutgers
Indiana
Iowa
Hawaii
UCF
Penn State
Illinois
Maryland
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Ohio State
Colorado

 

[NDAFArly]

Always a lot of talk about who has the most difficult schedule. But, who has the easiest? Of the major powers Michigan has to be right up there close to the easiest, if not the easiest.
(not in order) Harbaugh walked into an ideal situation. He will take all the credit for turning the team around so fast; but some credit must go to the schedulers.

Rutgers
Indiana
Iowa
Hawaii
UCF
Penn State
Illinois
Maryland
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Ohio State
Colorado

It's even crazier when you look at the makeup of their schedule.
They leave the state of Michigan ONCE before WEEK 11! (At Rutgers, lol).
First 5 games at home.
First game home against Hawaii (3-10) a week after they play in Australia, then UCF (0-12) & Colorado (4-9) to round off their OOC, all at home. (Combined 7-31 last year).

That is the 2nd weakest OOC in the nation behind UNC who plays two FCS teams.

Michigan will probably be 8-0 & top 4 before they play a game.

 

[ftnfan62]

i hate it, but thats a nat title schedule......Iowa proved the committee will chose record over schedule in any power conf......this schedule allows for player dev and a title run.....ND's schedule is for fans.....you really only need to play 1-2 top 25 and win.....not even a top 10

ND could dial it down a notch...

 

[NDSMC78]

i hate it, but thats a nat title schedule......Iowa proved the committee will chose record over schedule in any power conf......this schedule allows for player dev and a title run.....ND's schedule is for fans.....you really only need to play 1-2 top 25 and win.....not even a top 10

ND could dial it down a notch...

What did Iowa prove? They lost one game and were left out of the playoffs. Similarly, if Michigan loses to Michigan St. or Ohio St., they are done. Their schedule is just too weak.

 

[perseverare]

looked at the USC schedule, ND's last opponent, and it could go various ways for 1 or both teams:
playing for playoff spots or playing with beaten battered lineups

 

[chaseball]

Michigan will have to go through MSU, PSU, Wisconsin, OSU, and then the big 10 championship game. And then there's still an 11-1 IOWA on their schedule as well. You can never count out a team that just went 11-1 the year before.

 

[NDAyers]

I touched on this a few weeks ago.



The defenders of the Big 10 will always be there but they're still a joke and outside of the 2014 bowl season they always have a below .500 record come that time of year. I'll give a little credit to OSU but that's about it. Michigan's OOC schedule is embarrassing this year.

 

[Headwaters]

Always a lot of talk about who has the most difficult schedule. But, who has the easiest? Of the major powers Michigan has to be right up there close to the easiest, if not the easiest.
(not in order) Harbaugh walked into an ideal situation. He will take all the credit for turning the team around so fast; but some credit must go to the schedulers.

Rutgers
Indiana
Iowa
Hawaii
UCF
Penn State
Illinois
Maryland
Wisconsin
Michigan State
Ohio State
Colorado

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND

Now I might concede that from games 7-11 ND plays tougher opponents but I may not. None of those teams on either side are ranked and both teams should mop up on the Colorado's and Syracuse's of the world. Army, Navy, NC State, Central Fl, Hawaii? Who cares? It's like choosing between the tallest midget and none of those teams are ranked anyway. Among the Top 5 teams on both sides, it's not even close as to who plays a tougher schedule. Not. Even. Close.

Harbaugh may not take the credit but he damn well deserves it....and you know it. He decimated the SEC Champ in a JANUARY 1st Bowl Game in YEAR #1. Remind me again...after 6 years at ND, what is Brian Kelly's BEST BOWL WIN???? Pinstripe? Sun? Music City?? lol

 

[cgvr]

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND

Now I might concede that from games 7-11 ND plays tougher opponents but I may not. None of those teams on either side are ranked and both teams should mop up on the Colorado's and Syracuse's of the world. Army, Navy, NC State, Central Fl, Hawaii? Who cares? It's like choosing between the tallest midget and none of those teams are ranked anyway. Among the Top 5 teams on both sides, it's not even close as to who plays a tougher schedule. Not. Even. Close.

Harbaugh may not take the credit but he damn well deserves it....and you know it. He decimated the SEC Champ in a JANUARY 1st Bowl Game in YEAR #1. Remind me again...after 6 years at ND, what is Brian Kelly's BEST BOWL WIN???? Pinstripe? Sun? Music City?? lol

Show some respect! He's also won the Papa John's and International Bowls. In addition, he could have added the Motor City Bowl had he not "bailed out" and ditched his CMU team.

Lastly, um caught a break in that msu plays osu the week before the osu/um game.

 

[NDSMC78]

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND

Now I might concede that from games 7-11 ND plays tougher opponents but I may not. None of those teams on either side are ranked and both teams should mop up on the Colorado's and Syracuse's of the world. Army, Navy, NC State, Central Fl, Hawaii? Who cares? It's like choosing between the tallest midget and none of those teams are ranked anyway. Among the Top 5 teams on both sides, it's not even close as to who plays a tougher schedule. Not. Even. Close.

Harbaugh may not take the credit but he damn well deserves it....and you know it. He decimated the SEC Champ in a JANUARY 1st Bowl Game in YEAR #1. Remind me again...after 6 years at ND, what is Brian Kelly's BEST BOWL WIN???? Pinstripe? Sun? Music City?? lol

Are you for real? Are you really trying to discuss SOS based upon only five games of each team's schedule? Discussions of SOS have to take into account all 12 games, not 5 or 6. Michigan's schedule is terrible this season.

BTW, Michigan did not "decimate the SEC champ in a bowl game." The SEC champ was Alabama. Michigan did not play Alabama.

 

[Buguit]

http://www.maizenbrew.com/football/...-easiest-schedule-in-the-country-per-espn-fpi

Big 10 blows .... in hindsight ND should've joined this conference .... their schedule would've been 10x easier ..... half the teams in the country could go 10-1 with Iowa's schedule

 

[Syd4ND]

I actually think ND schedule looks a little soft this year. Obviously it could be the toughest ever by the end of the season but I see a lot of tough teams in name only. Teams with question marks. At first I was most concerned about Miami and Duke. But Miami looks to be in some trouble right now. I'm not sure if USC, MSU, and Stanford are the world beaters people think. A lot of issues to iron out.

 

[chaseball]

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND
--- cut off here ---

What is this 1995 ? There is something called FPI that takes the entirety of the schedule into consideration.

Michigan FPI strength of schedule is ranked 65th. ND FPI strength of schedule is 48th.

There's a big difference in the strength of schedule when it comes to the top teams ... ... it's the weaker big 10 opponents that are much stronger than NDs cupcakes like Army/Navy/Nevada etc. that makes the ranking closer.

Key opponents and their FPI rank:
ND SCHEDULE (ND plays 6 teams in the top 40)
Texas: 23
MSU: 32
Stanford: 21
Miami: 30
USC: 9
Virginia Tech: 40

UM SCHEDULE (Michigan plays 5 teams in top 40)
OSU: 15
IOWA: 34
MSU: 32
WISCONSIN: 37
PENN STATE: 33

An ND 12-0 season would be far more impressive than a UM 12-0 (at least as it stands today)... You guys will need an undefeated season and a good win in big 10 championship game to close the gap.

Definition of Football Power Index (FPI)
The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily.

 

[mmboys07]

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND

Now I might concede that from games 7-11 ND plays tougher opponents but I may not. None of those teams on either side are ranked and both teams should mop up on the Colorado's and Syracuse's of the world. Army, Navy, NC State, Central Fl, Hawaii? Who cares? It's like choosing between the tallest midget and none of those teams are ranked anyway. Among the Top 5 teams on both sides, it's not even close as to who plays a tougher schedule. Not. Even. Close.

Harbaugh may not take the credit but he damn well deserves it....and you know it. He decimated the SEC Champ in a JANUARY 1st Bowl Game in YEAR #1. Remind me again...after 6 years at ND, what is Brian Kelly's BEST BOWL WIN???? Pinstripe? Sun? Music City?? lol

What?? Playing at USC is not as tough as playing at Iowa?? Now, that is hilarious.

 

[perseverare]

USC, even though recent talent level is lower, has playoff talent but has had high school coaching.
If they get things righted, then they are Top 8. Speed size athleticism but the schemes resemble a Goerge Costanza fire drill!

 

[NDCap]

once again, a hilarious yet pathetic post. Lets compare the best 5 teams on Michigan's schedule to ND and rank their respective toughest games in descending order of difficulty using ESPN's week 1 rankings and considering last year's results:

Michigan plays AT Ohio State (6)
ND is HOME against Stanford (9)
More difficult: Michigan by wide margin

Michigan plays AT Michigan State (12)
ND is HOME against Michigan State (12)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan plays AT Iowa (17)
ND plays AT USC (20)
More difficult: Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Wisconsin (28)
ND is HOME against Va Tech (not ranked)
More difficult: slight edge to Michigan

Michigan is HOME against Penn State
ND plays AT Texas
More difficult: ND

Now I might concede that from games 7-11 ND plays tougher opponents but I may not. None of those teams on either side are ranked and both teams should mop up on the Colorado's and Syracuse's of the world. Army, Navy, NC State, Central Fl, Hawaii? Who cares? It's like choosing between the tallest midget and none of those teams are ranked anyway. Among the Top 5 teams on both sides, it's not even close as to who plays a tougher schedule. Not. Even. Close.

Harbaugh may not take the credit but he damn well deserves it....and you know it. He decimated the SEC Champ in a JANUARY 1st Bowl Game in YEAR #1. Remind me again...after 6 years at ND, what is Brian Kelly's BEST BOWL WIN???? Pinstripe? Sun? Music City?? lol