College Football 2011: 14 Teams That Should Win All of Their September Games
It used to be the case in college football that the best teams in the country, the teams destined for national title contention, had only cupcakes and the Blind Sisters of the Poor to contend with in the early season.
Nowadays, with the BCS as scrutinizing and competitive as it is, taking it easy in September is no longer as common amongst the nation's elite.
Just about all of the top-ranked teams going into the 2011 college football season, from Oklahoma and Oregon to Florida State, Alabama, LSU and beyond, have games against tough opponents, many of them against each other.
As such, it's no longer a given that the best teams in the country will emerge unscathed from the first month of the season, making the task of predicting teams that will finish September unblemished that much more difficult.
Nonetheless, we were able to dig up 14 teams, many of them rather obscure, that should get off to a solid start in 2011.
Virginia Tech Hokies
1 of 14
Year in and year out, the Virginia Tech Hokies find themselves atop the Atlantic Coast Conference, thanks in part to the cakewalks that Frank Beamer schedules for his teams in September.
The Hokies have perhaps the easiest early-season slate of any team in the country, with a murderer's row of opponents consisting of Appalachian State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall.
Whether fans will be shouting "Tech Triumph" into October is another question, as the Hokies look to replace Tyrod Taylor.
North Carolina State Wolfpack
2 of 14
It will be a Wolfpack party in Raleigh when North Carolina State finishes September 4-0.
Not that Tom O'Brien's team will be up against particularly good competition. Their opponents for the month? Liberty, Wake Forest, South Alabama and Cincinnati.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
North Carolina Tar Heels
3 of 14
Elsewhere in the state of North Carolina, Butch Davis' Tar Heels will have the perfect opportunity for an easy rebound from a trying 2010 season rocked by scandal and suspensions.
UNC will have only to contend with James Madison, Rutgers and ACC bottom-feeders Virginia and Georgia Tech on the way to a perfect September.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
South Carolina Gamecocks
4 of 14
A hop across the Carolina border into Columbia will yield yet another team that should still have a clean sheet come October.
Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks will have a couple of tough opponents to dispatch in the early going, namely Georgia and Navy, but assuming the team gets its quarterback situation and Marcus Lattimore improves on his phenomenal freshman year, South Carolina should be in prime position to defend its SEC East crown after the first month of the season.
Auburn Tigers
5 of 14
No Cam Newton? No Nick Fairley?
No problem for Auburn, at least until the leaves start changing colors in earnest.
The Tigers shouldn't be troubled too much by Utah State, Clemson or Florida Atlantic, though a date with Mississippi State on the second Saturday of the season may prove to be a tough game.
Not that Gene Chizik hasn't brought in enough talent in his short tenure to keep the defending BCS champions on track on the early going.
TCU Horned Frogs
6 of 14
Of course, the Auburn Tigers weren't the only team that went undefeated last season, nor are they the only team that figures to be undefeated come October.
TCU has about as easy a schedule as you'll find in the country. The second game against Mountain West foe Air Force may be tough, but don't expect much resistance from the likes of Baylor, Louisiana-Monroe and Portland State as they lie down against Gary Patterson's Rose Bowl champions.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
7 of 14
Switching conferences but staying in the state of Texas, Tommy Tuberville's Red Raiders won't encounter much resistance before delving into the Big 12 portion of the schedule.
Before things get under way in earnest with a road game at Kansas, Texas Tech will have only to overcome home dates against Texas State and Nevada and a visit to New Mexico.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
8 of 14
Once upon a time, Nebraska also played in the Big 12, though the move to the Big Ten should suit the Cornhuskers program quite well.
What will suit Big Red even better is the early-season schedule, which features dates against Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington and Wyoming.
Fans of U-Dub may be quick to remind folks in Lincoln of the Huskies' 19-7 domination of the Huskers, to which Nebraska fans might retort that Jake Locker is no longer around to save the day.
They'd be right.
Michigan State Spartans
9 of 14
Among the teams Nebraska will have to contend with for Big Ten supremacy is Michigan State.
The Spartans nabbed a share of the conference crown in 2010 and will look to at least fare as well in 2011 with the return of Kirk Cousins.
Sparty's quest for repeat glory will be buoyed by September swings against Youngstown State, Florida Atlantic and Central Michigan. A mid-month meeting with Notre Dame in South Bend will certainly be tough but should prove to be a good litmus test of whether or not Mark Dantonio's club is for real this season.
Wisconsin Badgers
10 of 14
The Wisconsin Badgers were another one of the three teams that snagged a piece of the Big Ten pie in 2010.
Bret Bielema will miss a number of key players from last year's Rose Bowl runners-up—namely John Clay, Scott Tolzien and Gabe Carimi—but with the tailback tandem of James White and Montee Ball due back, the Badgers should have more than enough talent to scamper past UNLV, Oregon State, Northern Illinois and South Dakota before what should be a monumental clash with Nebraska to start the Big Ten schedule in October.
Iowa Hawkeyes
11 of 14
Iowa found itself in the muddled middle of the Big Ten standings in 2010.
The Hawkeyes will have to do better than 8-5 overall and 4-4 in conference play to keep Kirk Ferentz on solid footing, especially since he is far and away the highest paid public employee in the state.
The quest for ensuring Ferentz's job security in 2011 will begin with a rather modest collection of opponents, including Tennessee Tech, Louisiana-Monroe and in-state "rival" Iowa State.
A matchup with Pitt during the third week of the season poses the biggest threat to a perfect September for Iowa, though the Panthers won't likely have enough pieces together by then in the wake of the fiasco that led to Todd Graham landing safely in Pittsburgh.
Boise State Broncos
12 of 14
A relatively modest venture west across America's heartland will yield another team aiming for a perfect September—Boise State.
The season opener against Georgia at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta should be a tough one, more for the atmosphere than what the Bulldogs bring to the table, though not much more intimidating than what Kellen Moore and company faced when they took on Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.
Aside from that, September should be nothing but smooth sailing for the Broncos, who will face Toledo and Tulsa after an open date before sojourning into their Mountain West conference slate.
Washington State Cougars
13 of 14
A hop across the Washington-Idaho border brings us to yet another team looking for a strong start in September, though this one may catch more than a few people by surprise.
Say what you want about Washington State under Paul Wulff, but the Cougars may just be on the verge of a breakout season. Certainly, they'll need to be if Wulff is going to keep his job much longer after posting an overall record of 5-32 in his first three seasons.
However, with an emerging offense led by quarterback Jeff Tuel and wide receiver Marquess Wilson, the Cougs should be able to get past Idaho State, UNLV and Brady Hoke-less San Diego State in the early going.
Whether those games generate enough momentum to carry Wazzu into the Pac-12 schedule remains to be seen.
Hawaii Warriors
14 of 14
Another hop, skip, jump and a leap will land you in Honolulu, where you'll find the last of our 14-team field of spotless September squads—the Hawaii Warriors.
Last year's Western Athletic Conference co-champions return quarterback Bryant Moniz and leading rusher Alex Green to a team that should once again finish atop the standings, especially with Boise State off to the Mountain West and Nevada in rebuilding mode after the graduation of Colin Kaepernick.
Back-to-back games against Pac-12 foes Colorado and Washington might make for a bump or two, but beyond that, the Warriors will have only UNLV and lowly UC-Davis to worry about before the hectic travel schedule of October begins.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
