USC Trojans Have Easiest Path to 12-0

The preseason coaches' poll was released last week.  Given that preseason polls are meaningless (polls make no sense until October or so), it’s still fun to take a look at the poll’s Top 10 teams and try to figure out which has the easiest path to being undefeated.  (Naturally, teams outside the Top 10 may go undefeated as well, but let’s stick to the Top 10 for this exercise.)

Helping the Mountaineers is that many of the teams above them play each other during the season and will pick each other off, one by one.

Here’s the coaches' Top 10:

1. Georgia

It's nice to be No. 1, but how long will it last?  The Bulldogs must travel to Arizona State, Auburn, and LSU.  They get the “luxury” of hosting Tennessee, Florida (actually in Jacksonville), and Georgia Tech.  If they get through this schedule unscathed, then God love 'em and give 'em the crystal football.

P.S.: Chance of Knowshon Moreno sophomore slump—at least 40 percent.  Not to mention it looks like Coach Mark Richt has kicked a starter off the team every week over the summer.

Games against Top 25 teams: 5.

2. Southern Cal

Remember what the Trojans did to Nebraska at Lincoln in the second game of last year?  (Pictured here: USC offensive lineman looking for anyone, anyone, to block.)  That could be the same fate suffered by the Virginia Cavaliers, who for some inexplicable reason host USC in the first game of the year.  USC then travels home to host Ohio State in a game guaranteed to give one of the top three teams its first loss.

After that, the Trojans glide through a weak Pac-10 schedule (I never, ever trust Oregon.), with only Arizona State (at home) in the way of an undefeated season—unless Crazy Rick Neuheisel pulls something out of his hat in his first year at UCLA, that is.  Still, the Trojans have the easiest past to an undefeated regular season.

Games against Top 25 teams: 3.

3. Ohio State

The only thing worse than having to play a higher-ranked team early in the season is having to play them on the road.  tOSU travels to SoCal to play the Trojans on Sept. 13, a game that should be a national title knockout game, except that it’s so early in the season.  Other than that, the Buckeyes don't have a very challenging Big Ten schedule, with trips to Illinois and Wisconsin the only potential road bumps.

Thankfully for the Buckeyes’ bowl hopes, they’ll have several weeks to recuperate for their BCS bowl game from the exhaustion of running up and down the field at will against Michigan in their final game.  

Games against Top 25 teams: 5.

4. Oklahoma

Even assuming Big Game Bob hasn’t permanently turned into the Fiesta Bowl Fool, and the Sooners can shake off the whuppin’ the Mountaineers put on them in January, Oklahoma does not have the easiest schedule.  The Sooners won’t have to face Mizzou until the Big 12 title game, but they must play Kansas (at home), Texas (at home), and in the biggest test, Texas A&M on the road.

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