The college football season comes with a disclaimer: Matchups that appear very difficult before the season can turn into something very different when the season is halfway over, and then when it concludes in early December. For example, LSU-Wisconsin seemed like a better matchup in week one, but LSU stumbled and won only seven games in the regular season. Michigan State-Notre Dame was supposed to be a clash of titans, but neither team won more than four games and both missed a bowl game. In November, these schedules might be revised, but for now, one can only go by preseason information to evaluate these college football schedules.
Florida Gators
There is a need for Florida to prove itself on a national level. The Gators are noted for not traveling out of state to play tough non-conference games, but that will change this year when Jim McElwain’s team plays Michigan in Arlington, Texas, in a spectacular week one matchup. The Gators are a team on the rise in the SEC but the Wolverines are a cut below College Football Playoff-caliber. This is a tough test. That non-conference game will be paired with an annually difficult game the Gators play, against Sunshine State foe Florida State. The Michigan-Florida State combination means Florida is playing both teams from last season’s Orange Bowl. That’s as difficult a combination as any you’ll find in the country this college football season.
Florida State Seminoles
The Seminoles naturally have to play Florida, a college football game which has already been referred to above, but Jimbo Fisher’s team has also elected to play Alabama to start the season, possibly a matchup of the two teams which will be ranked 1 and 2 in the preseason poll in the upcoming summer. The only reason Florida State falls below Florida here is that Florida State has regularly been better than Florida in recent years, making that game tougher for the Gators than the Seminoles. Alabama is tougher than Michigan, but the one-sided nature of the FSU-Florida rivalry tips the scales in the direction of the Gators being first. FSU must settle for “second.”
Pittsburgh Panthers
The Panthers have to play Penn State, and even though Pitt beat the Nittany Lions last season, Penn State became an entirely different team after that game against the Panthers. PSU is now the defending Big Ten champion, so that game will be a beast for Pitt. Then the Panthers have to play an Oklahoma State team which once again reached the 10-win mark last season and has been a beacon of consistency. This is a very difficult one-two punch for the Panthers to absorb. Also, keep in mind that the Panthers are a middling program in the ACC. They’re going to have a tough time in conference play as teams like the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles should be much better in 2017. The good news for the Panthers is that five of their final eight games on the season will be at home, so they’ll have that advantage down the stretch of the season.
USC Trojans
Here we go again. As you might recall, the USC Trojans had one of the most challenging schedules in 2016 and it cost them dearly. The started the year with a neutral-site affair against the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, which ended up in an ugly, one-sided defeat (lost 52-6). Then the Trojans had a brief reprieve when they crushed Utah State the next week. After that, they went on the road to No. 7 Stanford and lost, and then went on the road to No. 24 Utah and lost.
Well, as we look ahead to the college football schedule in 2017, it doesn’t look like the Trojans have made life easy on themselves. This is a team which will start the season in the top five, so the Trojans will be expected to beat Texas and Notre Dame. Nevertheless, Texas is coached by Tom Herman and could be much better than last season. Notre Dame should be much better than it was last season as well. This isn’t as difficult as Michigan and Florida State, but it’s still very challenging and not a walk in the park for the Rose Bowl champions.
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