BYU may not be in a major conference, but their 2013 may give most other teams' strength of schedules a run for their money.

Reportedly, BYU has agreed to a home-and-home series with Wisconsin starting in 2013 when the Cougars make a trip to Madison, according to Madison.com's Tom Mulhern.

If this indeed comes to pass, that makes the 10th game in what should be one of the most difficult schedules in the country.

BYU would face seven BCS teams in 2013 if this is the case. They face Texas (Big 12), Boise State (Big East), Georgia Tech (ACC) and Utah (Pac-12) at home while also playing Notre Dame (AQ Independent), Washington State (Pac-12) and now Wisconsin (Big Ten) on the road.

The only AQ conference BYU doesn't have on the schedule right now is the SEC. However, as BYU still has at least two spots left on the schedule, that could soon change.

The other three games aren't exactly against patsies, either. They have games at Utah State, at Houston and at Hawaii. That away game at Hawaii means that BYU can play a seventh home game if they want to.

Something tells me that 12 will be plenty.

This schedule comes as a welcome change, as 2011 and 2012 don't have anywhere near this degree of difficulty. The home crowd is going to be thrilled to have teams like Texas and Georgia Tech coming to town as opposed to teams like Idaho.

Bronco Mendenhall already told reporters from the Deseret News, "2013 will be the toughest schedule we will have played. When you see it, you will say, 'What, is he crazy?'"

Well, prophecy fulfilled, Bronco, and we've yet to see who the other two opponents will be.

I'm 99.9 percent sure that one of those two teams is going to be a FCS team or a FBS patsy like Weber State. However, the other team might just be another team from a power conference.

That would mean that BYU would have eight BCS teams on the schedule. That's like being in a power conference.

Well, not quite. There's still no conference crown to compete for, and BYU's bowl tie-in for 2013 is with the lowly Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. So, that means one loss to any of these formidable opponents would mean a certain trip to San Francisco.

Yay?

BYU is definitely going to need to step up their game against this kind of competition. However, if they can succeed against it, you can bet that lofty rankings will be in the Cougars' future.

Are they up to the challenge?

Well, let's worry about 2012 first...