Preseason College Football 2010: The Weirdest Schedules

Thumbing through some of the college football schedules in 2010 can be puzzling. Yes, it's hard to predict how good a team will be five years down the road when scheduling non-conference foes, but sometimes a little common sense should prevail.

If you are looking for a cupcake, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, or Boise State should probably be avoided at all costs. Same with Alabama, USC, TCU, Utah, and Ohio State.

You should also look for a balanced schedule—don't schedule all cupcakes or all prime ribs. And certainly consider geography when traveling on the road.

Yet, there are some schools who ignored the obvious scheduling decorum and came up with some real mind-boggling schedules.

So which teams' schedules make us go "Hmmmm"?

Oklahoma Sooners

If your biggest game of the year is usually against Texas, why don't you schedule a bye before playing the Longhorns?

Moreover, why do you schedule a September stretch of land mines before playing Texas?

The Sooners play Utah State, Florida State, and Air Force, then travel to Cincinnati before flying home to face Texas.

AFTER the Texas game, they get a bye.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Texas Tech has a new coach in Tommy Tuberville, but already he has to be concerned with his schedule. The front half isn't too bad, but the last three games are puzzling.

After traveling to Oklahoma, the Red Raiders host Weber State, a team that will NOT impress any BCS pollster in November. This cupcake should have been scheduled in September.

Their final game? Against Houston, the same team they lost to last year, 29-28. After playing Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, do you really want to play a team, a non-conference foe, which has a good shot of keeping you from bowling?

Miami Hurricanes

When scheduling non-conference games, it's always advisable to take a look at the total picture before committing to some big games.

Case in point: Miami plays at Ohio State, takes a bye, then plays at Pittsburgh on a Thursday night, and then travels to Clemson.

Three straight road games—two of them non-conference matchups—could spell disaster for a team who is getting a lot of hype this year. The 'Canes could very well be 1-3 before playing Florida State on October 9th.

Duke Blue Devils

When trying to build a program, it is never wise to have delusions of grandeur. The Blue Devils start off fine hosting Elon, but after that, it's a nightmare.

Elon certainly won't prepare Duke for a road game at Wake Forest, but after that, they go home. To play Alabama.

Other non-conference foes include Army and Navy, both of which always play competitively. The problem is Duke should be scheduling some Sun Belt cupcakes, and not service academies and the defending National Champ.

Oregon State Beavers

Didn't the Beavers learn from the Ducks' mistake in scheduling Boise State? Apparently not, even though this game was likely scheduled a few years ago.

The Beavers are going to experience baptism by fire their first week of play when they play TCU in Arlington.

That's one nasty road game. They get a bye before hosting Louisville, then travel to the Smurf Turf to play Boise State.

The Beavers are notorious for starting off slow in September. Their non-conference scheduling in the past few years (PSU, Boise State, Cincinnati) has taken a toll on every one but the Athletic Department, which continues to adhere to the Pat Hill philosophy of playing anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Stanford Cardinal

Who was the genius that OK'd hosting Wake Forest, then traveling to Notre Dame, Oregon, and then hosting USC?

Washington Huskies

Washington is one of those schools that always seems to be in the top ten in SOS. This year is no exception.

At BYU, hosting Syracuse, hosting Nebraska then traveling to USC ought to cause a minor tsunami in Lake Washington.

This schedule is no way to get a program back to its glory days. Props for the muscle in the schedule, but once again, the Huskies will fall victim to a nasty schedule.

Pittsburgh Panthers

This has got to be a sick joke. Opening at Utah, then playing New Hampshire. Hosting Miami, then playing FIU and Notre Dame.

Playing cupcakes before Big Boys is a disaster, but the Panthers commit that offense TWICE in the first six weeks.

West Virginia Mountaineers

This has to be the oddest scheduling yet.

Coastal Carolina, Marshall, LSU, and UNLV as non-conference foes? Their SOS is awful—playing at LSU saves them from being in the bottom 25.

Still, if you're trying to get more respect in the Big East, playing a perennial SEC cupcake non-conference foe (Coastal Carolina) doesn't help when the rest of your schedule couldn't possibly match SEC conference play.

South Florida Bulls

Yes, playing Stony Brook in your opening game will certainly prepare you for the following week when you play at The Swamp against the Florida Gators.

Fail.

TCU Horned Frogs

Yes, the MWC should get more respect. But you're not going to get it when you schedule Tennessee Tech as a non-conference game.

We get that TCU's traditional non-conference foes are Baylor (from the old Southwest Conference days) and SMU (The Iron Skillet game), but somewhere down the line, the Frogs are going to have to step it up if they want more respect.

Fresno State Bulldogs

With the entire state of California basically bankrupt, you have to wonder how a state school like Fresno State can travel almost coast-to-coast while the Pac-10's Cal had to bus their players to the UCLA game last year in Pasadena.

Fresno State's schedule this year is a jet-lag wonderland. They host Cincy, then travel to Utah State. Then they travel to Mississippi and go home to host Cal-Poly before playing Hawaii.

Maybe California should hire FSU's game scheduler to balance California's budget?

LSU Tigers

Deathwish III coming soon to Death Valley.

The SEC is always tough, but it gets even tougher when your first eight games look like this: UNC, at Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, West Virginia, Tennessee, at Florida, McNeese State, and at Auburn.

You would think there would have been a bye before Florida, wouldn't you? Eight straight games without a chance to breathe? Granted, McNeese State is almost as good as a breather, but it's still a game.

South Carolina Gamecocks

You get a lot of preseason hype, and your schedule looks like this: Southern Miss, Georgia, Furman, at Auburn, bye, Alabama, at Kentucky, at Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Arkansas, at Florida, Troy, and at Clemson.

Drawing Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas from the SEC West is bad enough, but playing Southern Miss, Troy and Clemson in non-conference games makes it worse.

If South Carolina comes away with only two losses after navigating this treacherous schedule, they should play in the Natty. 'Nuff said.