College Football 2011: 10 Teams That Got Off Easy With Their League Schedule
As all of the conferences in the FBS have released the upcoming schedules for the fall, the members of those leagues have an idea of how difficult their 2011 schedule will be.
While some teams are look with terror at their league schedule, their counterparts of the same league have a rather simple path when league play starts in early October.
With that, let’s look over the teams that have an easy course through the league schedule this fall in college football.
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West Virginia Mountaineers
1 of 10
10/08/11 – Connecticut
10/22/11 – at Syracuse
10/29/11 – at Rutgers
11/05/11 – Louisville
11/12/11 – at Cincinnati
11/25/11 – Pittsburgh
12/01/11 – at USF
With a new offensive coordinator in Dana Holgorsen and the weak schedule of the Big East, the Mountaineers are looking like they can jump back to the elite level of the Rich Rodriguez era in Morgantown.
The schedule looks very navigable. With Pittsburgh and Connecticut breaking in new coaches and Louisville and Cincinnati in rebuilding mode, West Virginia will likely be the pick among the pundits to sail through the Big East in 2011.
Boise State Broncos
2 of 10
10/15/11 – at Colorado State
10/22/11 – Air Force
11/05/11 – at UNLV
11/12/11 – TCU
11/19/11 – at San Diego State
11/26/11 – Wyoming
12/03/11 – New Mexico
As Boise State moves from the WAC to the Mountain West Conference, the level of competition in their new conference is quite similar.
With the date against TCU in November being the game of the year, the Broncos will still have an up-hill climb to make the National Championship game, which they have been left out of in recent years.
Ohio State Buckeyes
3 of 10
09/24 - Michigan State
10/08 - at Nebraska
10/15 - at Illinois
10/29 - Wisconsin
11/05 - Indiana
11/12 - at Purdue
11/19 - Penn State
11/26 - at Michigan
With the dust clearing from the NCAA investigation into the selling of memorabilia by players including Terrelle Pryor in addition to the suspension of Jim Tressel, the 2011 season for the Buckeyes might have a rough start before the new Big 10 conference play begins in early October.
After a weak start to the season with games that include Akron and Toledo, the Buckeyes will face off with Miami on the road on September 17th in a rematch of the last year's meeting in Columbus.
Ohio State will have its most difficult Big 10 game of the year when they travel to new conference foe Nebraska on October 8th with the remaining schedule looking smooth until the Big 10 championship game in Indianapolis on December 3rd.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Florida State Seminoles
4 of 10
09/24 – at Clemson
10/08 – at Wake Forest
10/15 – at Duke
10/22 – Maryland
10/29 – NC State
11/03 – at Boston College
11/12 – Miami (FL)
11/19 – Virginia
After a successful first season in Tallahassee after the Bobby Bowden-era, Jimbo Fisher has the put the Seminoles back on the map as a force in the ACC, as well as the entire college football landscape.
With the ACC Atlantic division being the weaker of the two in the conference, the showdown with interstate rival Miami will make or break FSU's season.
Michigan Wolverines
5 of 10
10/01 – Minnesota
10/08 – at Northwestern
10/15 – at Michigan State
10/29 – Purdue
11/05 – at Iowa
11/12 – at Illinois
11/19 – Nebraska
11/26 – Ohio State
As the folks in Ann Arbor try to erase Rich Rodriguez from their memories, former San Diego State coach Brady Hoke takes the reigns of the Michigan program that needs a new focus after being out of the college football spotlight for several years.
With the Big Ten splitting into two divisions after the inclusion of Nebraska, Michigan received the biggest break of the 12 programs in the league, as the Wolverines get both Nebraska and rival Ohio State in the final two weeks of the season at the Big House.
Oklahoma Sooners
6 of 10
09/24 – Missouri
10/08 – vs. Texas
10/15 – at Kansas
10/22 – Texas Tech
10/29 – at Kansas State
11/05 – Texas A&M
11/12 – Iowa State
11/19 – at Baylor
11/26 – Oklahoma State
After a bit of disappointing season for the crimson and cream in 2010, Oklahoma will look to get some retribution in the Big 12 (minus two).
Of the remaining ten teams in the Big 12, Oklahoma will likely be the front runner even after losing playmaker DeMarco Murray among others to the NFL. Showdowns with annual rivals Texas and Texas A&M will be the lone challenges for the Sooners in another title run this fall.
Hawaii Warriors
7 of 10
10/01 – at Louisiana Tech
10/15 – at San Jose State
10/22 – New Mexico State
10/29 – at Idaho
11/05 – Utah State
11/12 – at Nevada
11/19 – Fresno State
As Hawaii finishes out its run with the Western Athletic Conference before moving to the Mountain West, the Warriors will not have many obstacles in capturing the conference title in 2011.
With Boise State moving on to the Mountain West, Hawaii's biggest test will come from the Nevada Wolfpack, but that test might not be as difficult with the loss of Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Oregon Ducks
8 of 10
09/24 – at Arizona
10/06 – 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
After losing to Auburn in the National Championship game last season, Oregon still has plenty of pieces in place to recapture the magic the team had in 2010.
The Ducks can be the first Pac-12 champion, but will have to go through Andrew Luck and Stanford followed by Matt Berkley and USC in back-to-back games in late November.
Georgia Bulldogs
9 of 10
09/10 – South Carolina
09/24 – at Ole Miss
10/01 – Mississippi State
10/08 – at Tennessee
10/15 – at Vanderbilt
10/29 – vs. Florida
11/12 – Auburn
11/19 – Kentucky
While the life of an SEC football program isn’t the easiest in the country, Mark Richt and Georgia might have the easiest course through the top conference in college football in 2011.
As sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray returns under center in Athens, the Bulldogs will face a key showdown inside the SEC East during the second week of the season against reigning champ South Carolina. With the division coming off a bit of a down year, the Georgia program can bounce back from their own poor 2010 and return to their winning ways.
Utah Utes
10 of 10
09/10/11 – at USC
10/01/11 – Washington
10/08/11 – Arizona State
10/22/11 – at California
10/29/11 – Oregon State
11/05/11 – at Arizona
11/12/11 – UCLA
11/19/11 – at Washington State
11/26/11 – Colorado
Utah joined the list of programs switching conferences in 2011, moving to the brand new Pac-12 conference along with Colorado.
Unlike Utah’s fellow new member Colorado, the Utes got a nice house-warming present by dodging meetings with Stanford and Oregon, though a meeting with those two programs could happen in the Pac-12 title game in December.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
