College Football Teams with Easiest, Hardest Road-Game Schedules in 2015
Road games can make or break a season. Wins away from home hardly ever come easy in college football, and losses can destroy any momentum a team has created.
While teams receive huge boosts from road victories, it's no secret they would rather play within the comforts of their home stadium every single time—let the other team deal with unfamiliar surroundings and hostile crowds.
Conference schedule rotations play a major role in how tough a particular schedule is each season. Programs can schedule every nonconference game at home—and some do—but they can't hide from road tests in league play.
As we inch closer to the start of a new season, here is a look at the teams with the easiest and hardest road schedules in all of college football. Only true road games and zero neutral site games were considered for this list, which consists of two teams from each FBS conference.
Sound off on these schedules and share who you think has the easiest or toughest road slates in the entire country this season in the comments below.
ACC
1 of 10
Easiest: Duke
The Blue Devils might take a step back this year after back-to-back nine-win seasons, but it won't be because of their schedule. Duke's two nonconference road games in 2015 are against Tulane and Army, a pair of teams that combined for only seven victories in 2014.
Virginia Tech and North Carolina—two teams that are around Duke's strength—will be the toughest road contests on this year's slate. While the Blue Devils will hit the road for back-to-back games to end the season, those games are against Virginia and Wake Forest, two programs that finished last in their respective divisions last year. Duke could avoid a drop-off altogether with this slate.
Hardest: Boston College
Boston College's first four games are all at home, and the Eagles will hope that will prepare them for the rough end to their 2015 schedule. They travel to Duke in October to play in the Blue Devils' homecoming game and follow it up with a trip to Clemson two weeks later.
A road game at Louisville follows right behind the visit to Death Valley, giving the team three road contests in four weeks against ACC foes who won at least nine games last season. Boston College gets a break from the road until late November, when it travels to a Notre Dame team hoping to be in the national-title picture. Thankfully for the Eagles, their fifth and final road game comes against a struggling Syracuse program.
American
2 of 10
Easiest: Memphis
Memphis took a great leap forward from being a three-win team in 2013 to a three-loss team in 2014. That progress under head coach Justin Fuente looks ready to continue in 2015 with an easier road slate that starts with winnable nonconference games at Kansas and Bowling Green.
In American play, the Tigers only face one bowl team away from home—a Houston program that has a new coaching staff this season. Other than that trip to Texas, the Tigers play USF, Tulsa and Temple, three teams that stayed home during the 2014 postseason. All six of Memphis' road games look like possible wins for this rising program.
Hardest: USF
After starting the season with FCS program Florida A&M in Tampa, USF gets a double-barrel of power-conference contests away from home. The Bulls travel to defending ACC champion Florida State during Week 2 and travel to the Big Ten's Maryland the following weekend.
While USF plays fellow cellar-dweller UConn away from home in what could be one of the most miserable games on the 2015 calendar, their final three road games come against a trio of teams who went bowling last season—East Carolina, Navy and UCF. Brace yourself, Willie Taggart.
Big Ten
3 of 10
Easiest: Ohio State
The toughest road game on Ohio State's schedule is the one it opens the season with in a Labor Day contest against a Virginia Tech team that shocked the eventual national champions in the Horseshoe last season. After that highly anticipated game—one that Ohio State should win by multiple possessions—the road slate drops off for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State faces Indiana, Rutgers and Illinois all away from home before its season-ending matchup with Michigan at the Big House. While the first and final road contests on the defending champion's schedule are ones that will command a lot of attention, Ohio State should be a strong favorite in every one of these road games. Right now, it's good to be the king of college football.
Hardest: Maryland
The Terps have the unfortunate draw of facing both Michigan State and Ohio State on the road this season. Those two contests away from home already make it one of the toughest schedules in the Big Ten, but a couple of the remaining games put it over the top.
Maryland will also face West Virginia and the Mountaineers' raucous home crowd on Sept. 26 in Morgantown. A trip to Iowa won't be a walk in the park, either, as the Terrapins had to hold off a late comeback effort from the Hawkeyes at home last season. Throw in Rutgers to end the season, and Maryland has all five of its road games against teams that went bowling last season—including one that won the national championship game and another that won a New Year's Six contest.
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Big 12
4 of 10
Easiest: Kansas State
Congratulations, Kansas State. You Wildcats have the blessing of playing the terrifying trio of Baylor, Oklahoma and TCU each from the comforts of your own stadium. That also means your toughest road games in the Big 12 will come against Oklahoma State and Texas, which will both be winnable contests.
The Wildcats' nonconference road game this season comes against UTSA in the Alamodome, which should be a relatively easy win for coach Bill Snyder's team. Kansas State's final two road games of the season come against Kansas and Texas Tech, two teams that finished with losing records a year ago. This road slate is more than manageable.
Hardest: Texas
Texas' road schedule is downright brutal this year, and that starts with a game at Notre Dame on the first Saturday of the season. After three straight home games, Texas will hit the road again and face powerful TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, before their annual rivalry game against Oklahoma.
Iowa State and West Virginia will also have their own challenges, as Texas escaped both places with narrow road wins in 2013. The Longhorns will end their regular season with a road game against Baylor, who could be looking for style points for the playoff committee or survival in the Big 12 race. Coach Charlie Strong's second season at Texas could be another tough one.
Conference USA
5 of 10
Easiest: Old Dominion
Old Dominion is now eligible for postseason play after its transition from the FCS, and the Monarchs just might get to that point with this 2015 schedule. They avoided the nonconference matchup against a major team this season and will start the campaign at Eastern Michigan, who hasn't had a winning season since 1995.
The Monarchs must face the conference's toughest team, Marshall, away from home Oct. 3. But, past that trip, the schedule sets up extremely well for Old Dominion. The final trio of road games for Old Dominion consists of FIU, UTSA and Southern Miss, who each finished with a worse 2014 record than the 6-6 Monarchs.
Hardest: UTSA
The Roadrunners have three tough games to start the season, and two of them are on the road against nonconference opponents who will most likely be ranked. A Thursday night game at Arizona opens the campaign for UTSA, and a trip to Oklahoma State comes two weeks later.
In the Conference USA schedule, UTSA only has to visit one team that was bowl-eligible last season in UTEP. The Roadrunners' league schedule is easier away from home, but no one else in the conference has to play two ranked teams on the road as quickly as they do.
MAC
6 of 10
Easiest: Buffalo
New Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold has one major road game in his first season since his arrival from Division III powerhouse Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Bulls visit Penn State for a game that will be an extremely stiff challenge, but the road gets a lot easier after that trip.
With the exception of a visit to Central Michigan, the rest of the road games on Buffalo's schedule are against teams that had worse records than the Bulls had last season—Florida Atlantic, Kent State, Miami (Ohio) and Akron. Buffalo received a favorable draw this year from the conference schedule rotation, and it could not have come at a better time for the program.
Hardest: Bowling Green
Three of the first four games on Bowling Green's schedule are road trips to face Power 5 teams. The Falcons start their second season under coach Dino Babers with Tennessee, Maryland and Purdue away from home, with a tough home contest against Memphis tossed in to make things even more difficult.
Bowling Green also has four road games in MAC play, giving the program seven games away from home in the 2015 regular season. The toughest road test in the conference looks like it will be against Western Michigan, but the grueling start and sheer volume of trips makes this one of the toughest road schedules in the entire country.
Mountain West
7 of 10
Easiest: Colorado State
Mike Bobo is another first-year head coach who will get an easier start at his new job when it comes to road schedules. The Rams have three straight road contests after two home games to start 2015, but they all look like candidates for Colorado State victories—rival Colorado, UTSA and Utah State.
The road schedule drops down a few notches toward the end of season with trips to Wyoming and New Mexico before it picks up slightly against Fresno State to wrap up the campaign. The Rams don't have a road game against Boise State this season and won't be overmatched in a single one of their trips.
Hardest: Hawaii
Hawaii's struggles in recent years look destined to continue this season after taking a glance at its schedule. The Rainbow Warriors' first road game comes in Week 2 against defending national champion Ohio State, and they will head back to Big Ten country two weeks later to face Wisconsin.
The schedule doesn't let up at that point, either, as Hawaii goes to Boise State right after its visit to Wisconsin. The final three road games consist of New Mexico, 2014 bowl team Nevada and UNLV, which will be a somewhat welcome change after the unbelievably rough start to the 2015 campaign.
Pac-12
8 of 10
Easiest: Arizona State
The Pac-12 South is an extremely competitive division, but Arizona State managed to get the easiest draw out of all of its teams. The Sun Devils do not have a true road game on its nonconference schedule, and their opening road game against UCLA in October appears to be the hardest one on the docket.
Arizona State travels to Utah two weeks after visiting UCLA and has November road games against Washington State and Cal. This isn't a cupcake schedule by any means, but it could be a lot worse—just ask any other team in one of the nation's fiercest divisions.
Hardest: Cal
Cal will open its road schedule as an underdog at Texas and will immediately follow it up with a visit to Washington, who could take a big step this year in head coach Chris Petersen's second season. Then, starting with Oct. 10's visit to Utah, the Cal schedule is as follows: open date, at UCLA, vs. USC and at Oregon.
That means the Bears will play on the road against two of the Pac-12's best teams in the span of three weeks. And, to wrap up this nightmare stretch, Cal visits rival Stanford two weeks after visiting Oregon's Autzen Stadium. "Brutal" doesn't even begin to describe what the road has in store for the Bears this year.
SEC
9 of 10
Easiest: Missouri
Missouri plays in the easier of the two SEC divisions, and it also has the luxury of facing only two projected Top 25 teams away from home this year. The two-time defending SEC East champions visit Arkansas State—figure that one out—and Kentucky within the first four games on the schedule.
The Tigers' seventh game of the season will be its greatest road test, as they face Georgia between the hedges in Athens. A trip to face struggling Vanderbilt follows a week later, and they get a break from the road games until the regular-season finale at Arkansas, a team it defeated to clinch a spot in Atlanta for the SEC Championship last year. This road schedule isn't a laughingstock, but it's a far cry from what is common for the rest of the conference.
Hardest: Arkansas
Arkansas only has four true road games this season—the Razorbacks face Texas A&M in Arlington again—but they are a pair of one-two punches that could send any team straight to the canvas. The first comes in early October with a trip to rising Tennessee and then defending conference champion Alabama.
One month later, the Razorbacks will face two more strong teams away from home in Ole Miss and LSU. Arkansas definitely has the strength to win any of these games this season, but it will be extremely difficult. Surviving back-to-back road games on two separate occasions is a mammoth task for any program, and this setup sets Arkansas' road schedule apart from the rest of the SEC West.
Sun Belt
10 of 10
Easiest: UL-Lafayette
The Ragin' Cajuns, who have gone 9-4 in every single season under head coach Mark Hudspeth, open the season with a great chance at a road upset. UL-Lafayette visits Kentucky, who suffered back-to-back losses to former Sun Belt school Western Kentucky early in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
The Cajuns' other nonconference road game, a trip to in-state foe Louisiana Tech, will be winnable, as will the four Sun Belt games away from home—Arkansas State, Georgia State, South Alabama and Appalachian State. With this slate, this could be the year Hudspeth gets his first 10-win season with the program.
Hardest: Troy
First-year head coach Neal Brown will be thrown into the fire early at Troy, who plays seven road games this season. The Trojans open the season against NC State and visit Wisconsin two weeks later at raucous Camp Randall Stadium.
After opening the conference season with rival South Alabama at home, Troy visits Mississippi State to wrap up non-league play. Road games against New Mexico State, Appalachian State and Georgia State could be victories for Brown's new team, but it also ends the season with conference power UL-Lafayette. Let the long rebuild begin in the Wiregrass.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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