A September to Remember: NCAA Football's Toughest September Schedules

(Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

I recently wrote an article asking how exactly to determine strength of schedule. One aspect is the assumptions we have and our own opinion on who is a good team and who is not.

These are my picks for who is playing the toughest September schedule from each conference. Of course this is open to debate so feel free to tell me if you think I missed a tougher one.

To the following teams I say, way to set the bar high. Oh, and good luck.

Clemson

The opening weekend isn’t as tough as last year, not by a long shot. The Tigers play Middle Tennessee State in game one. Now don’t sleep on the Blue Raiders, they beat Maryland last season and are capable of pulling an upset when they catch a team off guard.

They jump right into conference play for week two and three. First is a trip to play at Georgia Tech followed by a home date with Boston College. Both will be considered contenders for the ACC title.

For the final week of September they host potential BCS buster, TCU. The Horned Frogs will be hoping to bolster their resume with a win over an ACC team on the east coast.

Oklahoma State

Simply by opening with Georgia on the schedule puts the Cowboys ahead of all the rest of the Big XII teams. The one thing going in their favor is that the game is at home.

In fact all the games in September are at home for Oklahoma State. After Georgia, Conference USA comes to town when Houston and Rice visit back to back.

Now before you question why I picked Oklahoma State, one, look at the other schedules and two, don’t forget that Houston beat Oklahoma State just a couple years ago in 2006.

Syracuse

I guess the Orange think they are in the Big Ten because that’s what their September schedule looks like. They take on three Big Ten bowl teams from last season, including a trip to the 2008 Big Ten champs, Penn State.

That game is sandwiched between two home dates. First up is Minnesota who finished at 7-6. After the Penn State game is a visit from 9-4 Northwestern.

Minnesota

While the opener with Syracuse is a sleeper the rest of the month fires up nicely.

Hosting two out of conference games will be a nice way to break in the new stadium, or will it?

First up is the much overlooked Air Force out of the Mountain West. Everyone wants to talk about Utah, TCU, and BYU out of the Mountain West but Air Force was right behind the big three.

After that is a California team that many believe have a shot at winning the Pac-10 this season.

Before the month is out, the Golden Gophers open conference play at Northwestern.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?