The Pac-10 plays the toughest schedules in the nation because there are no misses in the conference (every team plays nine conference games) and the nonconference schedules aren't cowardly attempts to pick up easy wins (at least, not typically... nudge, nudge, Arizona).
UCLA: Nips Washington because the Bruins are at BYU and Fresno State is better than Notre Dame. Tough Pac-10 road slate: at Oregon, California and Arizona State.
Washington: Nonconference schedule includes Oklahoma, BYU and Notre Dame. At Oregon to start and visits to California, USC and rival Washington State
Oregon State: Two tough nonconference road games -- Penn State and Utah -- but favorable home schedule (Arizona State, California and Oregon).
USC: Virginia on the road, plus Ohio State and Notre Dame, but home vs. California, Oregon and Arizona State.
Arizona State: Only one tough nonconference game, but that's No. 1 Georgia. Also, stretch of four road games in five weeks is brutal, particularly when it's California and USC, back-to-back.
Oregon: At Purdue and Boise State are fairly tough -- at USC, Arizona State, Cal and Oregon State is tougher.
Stanford: Seven road games, including at TCU and Notre Dame.
California: Seven home games and three winnable nonconference games (Michigan State, at Maryland, Colorado State).
Washington State: Two long nonconference trips -- Hawaii and Baylor -- are both winnable and Oklahoma State in Seattle is also. Plus, seven home games in 13-game schedule.
Arizona: Only Pac-10 team without a challenging BCS nonconference opponent. Should be 3-0 after Idaho, Toledo and New Mexico.
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Ted Miller
Ted Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-10. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
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Ted Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-10. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
