- ABC News
- February 8, 2017
Ranking college football schedules in February is a lot like ranking teams. It's tricky. Nonetheless, we've taken our shot at ranking the 10 toughest nonconference schedules for the 2017 season among Power 5 teams. There are plenty of marquee games, especially in Week 1, but the scheduling formula for most teams now is to play just one demanding nonconference game and then try to schedule a few wins. Every Power 5 conference but the Big Ten is represented in our list, and Florida State, Pittsburgh and USC make the list for a second consecutive year. In fact, the Trojans were ranked first a year ago, although part of the reason they were ranked so highly was because of their season-ending clash with Notre Dame, which started the season in the top 10 and limped to a 4-8 finish. Again, schedules always look a little different come November. Here's what we came up with. All rankings referenced are from Mark Schlabach's Way-Too-Early Top 25. 1. Pitt...