Who plays the toughest Non Conference games year in and year out?

• cats gone wild

  Who you got? This has been huge talk lately about Boise, SEC teams, and with OSU every year.
  
  As for my team...LSU is really starting to schedule tough OOC games. They got UNC and WVU this year and next year they have WVU and Oregon. LSU just picked up Oregon for next season to be played in Texas.
  http://www.2theadvocate.com/blogs/tigertracks/102370569.html
• cats gone wild

  And oh yeah, who plays on average.....the toughest schedule year in and year out?
• DeyDurkie5

  

  It's definitely not LSU
• karen lotz

  

  Toughest non conference games? Notre Dame.
• centralbucksfan

  Why even do this thread? I mean its gotta be LSU! Then probably ND at #2! No brainers!
• karen lotz

  

  centralbucksfan;475153 wrote:Why even do this thread? I mean its gotta be LSU! Then probably ND at #2! No brainers!

  
  
  Are you that dense that you didn't realize my Notre Dame comment was a joke? Notre Dame didn't bite at the offer to have games televised by the BTN.
• se-alum

  

  Definitely LSU. No brainer!
• cats gone wild

  Ummm, this is a serious thread. Feel free to add something valuable to this topic.
• centralbucksfan

  cats gone wild;475167 wrote:Ummm, this is a serious thread. Feel free to add something valuable to this topic.

  
  Well then...I would say up until this year, it was USC and it probably isn't close after that.
• enigmaax

  centralbucksfan;475169 wrote:Well then...I would say up until this year, it was USC and it probably isn't close after that.

  
  And it depends on whether you are limiting the conversation to elite teams or everybody. It is really hard not to view them differently. I think USC played the most BCS schools and never scheduled an FCS school. Most other teams are about the same - one good/great game or two mid-level BCS games while the rest are cupcakes that may include an FCS school.
  
  There are probably some teams that aren't very good who played tougher schedules than anyone, but they didn't have any notable wins so people don't really remember it.
  
  Texas' OOC schedule last year stands out as being incredibly bad (no BCS schools) and Penn State's wasn't anything to write home about (they didn't leave there - Syracuse was their toughest test). Most of the time, there isn't a lot of difference.
• se-alum

  

  I would be willing to bet it's one of the teams that gets beat up by the BCS schools.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  I'd also mention USC, with trips to VT, UVA, Hawaii, OSU, Minn this year, and Auburn I think over the past 5 or so years. Also, add in Fresno St every once in a while as well. Not to mention ND every year.
  OSU's is also mentionable, with Texas, USC, Miami, UCLA, in the last ten years with Tenn, VT ( I think) and Navy upcoming.
  
  Oregon, Oregon St. and of course Boise usually have one good game a year.
• krambman

  

  Ohio State's recent and upcoming OCC BCS opponents:
  
  1999
  Miami (FL) (at East Rutherford)
  UCLA
  
  2000
  @Arizona
  
  2001
  @UCLA
  
  2002
  Texas Tech
  Washington State
  
  2003
  Washington
  North Carolina State
  
  2004
  @ North Carolina State
  
  2005
  Texas
  
  2006
  @ Texas
  Cincinnati*
  
  2007
  @Washington
  
  2008
  @ USC
  
  2009
  USC
  
  2010
  Miami (FL)
  
  2011
  @ Miami (FL)
  Colorado
  
  2012
  Cincinnati
  Cal
  
  2013
  @ Cal
  
  2014
  Cincinnati
  Virginia Tech
  
  2015
  @ Virginia Tech
  
  2016
  @ Oklahoma
  
  2017
  Oklahoma
  
  2018
  @ Tennessee
  
  2019
  @ Tennessee
  
  *OSU also played Cincinnati in 1999, 2002, and 2004, but UC didn't join the Big East and become a BCS school until 2005.
  
  Now I'm not saying that it's the toughest by any means, but they have scheduled at least one major top level BCS opponent out of conference nearly every year since the BCS came into being. I also someone mention who they thought OSU has on their upcoming schedule, so I figured I would tell you exactly who they have on their upcoming schedule.
• Little Danny

  

  Fresno State. Pat Hill has earned a reputation of playing anyone, anytime, anwhere. I know they have faced many BCS opponents on the road without a return trip back to Fresno. In the past five years they have played @USC, @LSU, @Wisconsin (Wisky did play them again in Fresno), @Oregon, @Oregon State, @Washington, @Rutgers, @Illinois, @UC, @ Texas A&M and Kansas State.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  I thought I read somewhere where OSU will play Navy in Baltimore in a few years.
  Yeah, google search. 2014.
  http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-02-28/sports/bal-sp.digest280feb28_1_chet-gladchuk-navy-athletic-director-mt-bank-stadium
• se-alum

  

  I still don't understand OSU scheduling the Cal series.
• grodt

  

  IMO, any school that schedules a 1-AA team cannot claim to play the "toughest schedule".
• redfalcon

  

  As much as I hate them, I really don't see how it can be any other school than USC.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Coldwater
• fiction

  

  Florida State always schedules pretty well (playing UF every year helps).
  
  2002 -- Iowa State, Miami, Florida
  2003 -- Colorado, Miami, Florida
  2004 -- Miami, Florida
  2005 -- Syracuse, Florida
  2006 -- Florida
  2007 -- Colorado, Alabama, Florida
  2008 -- Colorado, Florida
  2009 -- BYU, USF, Florida
  2010 -- Oklahoma, BYU, Florida
• Pick6

  

  looking at that,I think FSU wins it.
• krambman

  

  grodt;475249 wrote:IMO, any school that schedules a 1-AA team cannot claim to play the "toughest schedule".

  
  Ok, then Notre Dame wins. I believe that are the only school that has never scheduled an FCS opponent.
• enigmaax

  krambman;475390 wrote:Ok, then Notre Dame wins. I believe that are the only school that has never scheduled an FCS opponent.

  
  Maybe never ever. Not sure, but I was trying to think of who both USC and UCLA play. I don't recall either of those schools playing FCS schools, but its really just a recent memory.
  
  But here are UCLA's non-conference games of the past few years...solid:
  
  2010 - @ Kansas State, Houston, @ Texas
  2009 - SD State, @ Tennessee, Kansas State
  2008 - Tennessee, @ BYU, Fresno State
  2007 - BYU, @ Utah, Notre Dame
  2006 - Utah, Rice, @ Notre Dame
  2005 - @ SD State, Rice, Oklahoma
• darbypitcher22

  

  Fresno State looks like they ran a pretty legit gauntlet there
• Mulva

  

  Louisiana-Lafayette has to be up there.
  
  2006: @LSU, @ Texas A&M, @ Houston
  2007: @ South Carolina, @ Tennessee
  2008: @ Southern Miss, @ Illinois, @ Kansas State
  2009: Kansas State, @ LSU, @ Nebraska
  2010: @ Georgia, Oklahoma State, @ Mississippi