College Football 2011: Power Ranking the Toughest Schedules in the Pac-12
The 2011 season will be bringing us the new-look Pac-12 Conference by adding Utah and Colorado to the existing schools. How that addition affects the conference remains to be seen, but it is sure to make things more interesting.
Here we will be going through all 12 schools and ranking them based on how schedule difficulty.
Non-conference foes range from the likes of Ohio State to Sacramento State so it is apparent that teams have a wide range of opponents that they look to schedule.
Read on to take a look at each school's schedule and let us know which one looks easiest to you.
12. California Golden Bears
1 of 12
9/3 Fresno State
9/10 at Colorado
9/17 Presbyterian
9/24 at Washington
10/6 at Oregon
10/13 USC
10/22 Utah
10/29 at UCLA
11/5 Washington State
11/12 Oregon State
11/19 at Stanford
11/26 at Arizona State
Toughest Feature: Back-to-back games between Oregon and USC are tough to deal with and having to play at Stanford is never easy. The Bears also have 10 conference games because of a game previously scheduled against Colorado.
Easiest Feature: The non-conference schedule is actually pretty easy. Fresno State is the toughest non-conference game, which means it isn't all that bad. Also, their 10th conference game is against Colorado so it's not exactly a difficult extra game.
11. Utah Utes
2 of 12
9/1 Montana State
9/10 at USC
9/17 at BYU
10/1 Washington
10/8 Arizona State
10/15 at Pitt
10/22 at California
10/29 Oregon State
11/5 at Arizona
11/12 UCLA
11/19 at Washington State
11/26 Colorado
Toughest Feature: At USC and at Pittsburgh are the two most difficult games on the schedule for the Utes. But to be honest, playing their first season in the Pac-12 is going to make things a lot more difficult for this team.
Easiest Feature: The Utes miss both Stanford and Oregon in their initial season in the conference and that makes things at least a little easier.
10. Arizona State Sun Devils
3 of 12
9/3 UC Davis
9/10 Missouri
9/17 at Illinois
9/24 USC
10/1 Oregon State
10/8 at Utah
10/15 at Oregon
10/29 Colorado
11/05 at UCLA
11/12 at Washington State
11/19 Arizona
11/26 Cal
Toughest Feature: Two of the Sun Devils' first four games are home against very tough opponents. Missouri is probably going to take a slight step back in 2011 but the Tigers are still a quality opponent. USC is also a tough game for Arizona State just two weeks later. They also have to play at Oregon a few short weeks later.
Easiest Feature: Missing Stanford is a huge plus for the Sun Devils and they also have a fairly easy five games to finish their season.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
9. Stanford Cardinal
4 of 12
9/3 San Jose State
9/10 at Duke
9/17 at Arizona
10/1 UCLA
10/8 Colorado
10/15 at Washington State
10/22 Washington
10/29 at USC
11/5 at Oregon State
11/12 Oregon
11/19 California
11/26 Notre Dame
Toughest Feature: The Cardinal have three very tough games out of their last five. At USC, Oregon at home, and Notre Dame at home are all going to be difficult for the Cardinal to finish with.
Easiest Feature: Stanford's non-conference (besides Notre Dame) is very easy. San Jose State at home and at Duke aren't going to challenge Stanford very much.
8. UCLA Bruins
5 of 12
9/3 at Houston
9/10 San Jose State
9/17 Texas
9/24 at Oregon State
10/1 at Stanford
10/8 Washington State
10/20 at Arizona
10/29 California
11/5 Arizona State
11/12 at Utah
11/19 Colorado
11/26 at USC
Toughest Feature: Texas is probably going to be better this year than last year. The Longhorns are also going to be really looking for revenge against the Bruins after getting beat up by a bad UCLA team in Austin last year. The Bruins also have road games at Stanford and at USC.
Easiest Feature: The best news for the Bruins is that they miss Oregon and Washington this coming season, which will be make or break for Rick Neuheisel in 2010.
7. Washington State Cougars
6 of 12
9/3 Idaho State
9/10 UNLV
9/17 at SDSU
10/1 at Colorado
10/8 at UCLA
10/15 Stanford
10/22 Oregon State
10/29 at Oregon
11/5 at California
11/12 Arizona State
11/19 Utah
11/26 at Washington
Toughest Feature: Aside from the fact that the Cougars are one of the worst teams in college football so really every game is going to be tough, the two games to really circle are Stanford and at Oregon.
Easiest Feature: The non-conference schedule isn't very difficult for the Cougars. Washington State could end up going 0-3 during the non-conference, but the games will be closer than most other games.
6. Oregon Ducks
7 of 12
9/3 LSU
9/10 Nevada
9/17 Missouri State
9/24 at Arizona
10/6 California
10/15 Arizona State
10/22 at Colorado
10/29 Washington State
11/05 at Washington
11/12 at Stanford
11/19 USC
11/26 Oregon State
Toughest Feature: The Ducks might have the toughest road this season based solely on the fact that the target is going to be on their backs from Game 1. However, throwing in a game against LSU along with back-to-back games at Stanford and against USC at home is going to make things more difficult for the Ducks to repeat their BCS appearance.
Easiest Feature: The Ducks have four road games to deal with and the non-conference, aside from LSU, is pretty easy. Nevada is going to be breaking in a new quarterback and Missouri State is just another FCS school.
5. USC Trojans
8 of 12
9/3 Minnesota
9/10 Utah
9/17 Syracuse
9/24 at Arizona State
10/1 Arizona
10/13 at California
10/22 at Notre Dame
10/29 Stanford
11/5 at Colorado
11/12 Washington
11/19 at Oregon
11/26 UCLA
Toughest Feature: Back-to-back games against Notre Dame and Stanford start a tough second half of the season for the Trojans. USC also has back-to-back games against Washington and at Oregon.
Easiest Feature: Minnesota and Syracuse are both going to be easy non-conference opponents for the Trojans, considering the fact that the Trojans are one of the more experienced teams in the Pac-12.
4. Oregon State Beavers
9 of 12
9/3 Sacramento State
9/10 at Wisconsin
9/24 UCLA
10/1 at Arizona State
10/8 Arizona
10/15 BYU
10/22 at Washington State
10/29 at Utah
11/5 Stanford
11/12 at California
11/19 Washington
11/26 at Oregon
Toughest Feature: The Beavers have games at Wisconsin, against Stanford and at Oregon during the season, which will all test an Oregon State squad that is going to be taking on its first season without Jacquizz Rodgers.
Easiest Feature: The Beavers do miss out on USC this year and they have a pretty simple warm-up game against Sacramento State.
3. Washington Huskies
10 of 12
9/3 Eastern Washington
9/10 Hawaii
9/17 at Nebraska
9/24 California
10/1 at Utah
10/15 Colorado
10/22 at Stanford
10/29 Arizona
11/5 Oregon
11/12 at USC
11/19 at Oregon State
11/26 Washington State
Toughest Feature: The Huskies are going to be breaking in a new quarterback this season which is going to make everything tougher to begin with, but traveling to Nebraska, Stanford and USC while also hosting Oregon, makes their schedule one of the toughest.
Easiest Feature: Eastern Washington may have won the FCS championship this year, but they still won't be able to matchup with Washington.
2. Colorado Buffaloes
11 of 12
9/3 at Hawaii
9/10 California
9/17 Colorado State
9/24 at Ohio State
10/1 Washington State
10/8 at Stanford
10/15 at Washington
10/22 Oregon
10/29 at Arizona State
11/05 USC
11/12 Arizona
11/19 at UCLA
11/26 at Utah
Toughest Feature: The first season for the Buffaloes in the Pac-12 is not going to be an easy one. They have a seven-week stretch in which they take on Ohio State, Stanford, Oregon and USC among others. Talk about a brutal opening year.
Easiest Feature: Honestly, there isn't much that can be considered easy about the Buffs schedule. Until we see them play under a new coach in a new conference, all I can do is take pity on them.
1. Arizona Wildcats
12 of 12
9/3 Northern Arizona
9/10 at Oklahoma State
9/17 Stanford
9/24 Oregon
10/1 at USC
10/8 at Oregon State
10/20 UCLA
10/29 at Washington
11/5 Utah
11/12 at Colorado
11/19 at Arizona State
11/26 Louisiana-Lafayette
Toughest Feature: The Wildcats have a four-game stretch against Oklahoma State, Stanford, Oregon and USC. That might be the toughest four-game stretch in college football this year.
Easiest Feature: The good news about that stretch is the fact that it is early in the season. Sure the Wildcats might go into a death spiral after after that stretch, but there is still time to pull themselves out of it.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
