The top 10 weakest schedules

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

With all the reading I've done about the College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony and my man Tim Brown, it got me itching to write something about college football. So I got to thinking. There's all kinds of scribblings about what teams have the hardest schedule. So who are the teams with the WEAKEST schedules?

Seeing as there are a lot of teams in lesser conferences who obviously play weak schedules just based on their league. Therefore, I will be exploring which BCS teams - including independent Notre Dame - have the 1o easiest schedules in college football.

10. Notre Dame
Notre Dame does play some pretty decent teams this year, but it's hard to ignore the fact that they have just three true road games this year. Both Army and Navy are neutral sights and rivalry games against Michigan, Stanford and Pittsburgh as well as a tough matchup against Utah are all at home. They do have some tough road games in USC, Boston College (Notre Dame is just 2-4 at Chestnut Hill) and Michigan State, but there just aren't enough to call it a truly difficult schedule.

9. Rutgers
Right off the bat Rutgers plays two jokes in Norfolk State and Florida International and after playing a tough North Carolina team, they face Tulane. The Scarlet Knights play seven home games, but three of the toughest games on their schedule - Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Cincinnati - are all on the road.

8. Kansas State
Kansas state has two difficult games in Texas and Nebraska, but both of those are at home. Missouri State, Iowa State, Central Florida, Baylor and North Texas should all be wins for the improved Wildcats under Bill Snyder. Colorado is also not doing so well these days.

7. Wisconsin
Back-to-back games against Ohio State and Iowa are formidable, but the rest of the schedule is pretty light. There are seven home games on the schedule, including OSU. The most difficult game other than Iowa on the road is most likely Michigan State.


6. West Virginia
There really is no game on this schedule that West Virginia can't win. The Mountaineers travel to both Pittsburgh and LSU, but home games against Coastal Carolina and Syracuse more than make up for those difficulties. Throw on Marshall, Maryland and UNLV and there are pretty much five guaranteed wins. Rutgers, South Florida are also very winnable and Cincinnati has a lot to prove before they can be considered a truly tough matchup.

5. UConn
The schedule includes Texas Southern, Buffalo, Vanderbilt and Syracuse. Yep, an FCS team, and 11 wins between the other three. On top of that, the two toughest games on the schedule - West Virginia and Pittsburgh - are both at Rentschler Field. Don't let the 7-1 conference record fool you - Temple should also be a romp as well.

4. Nebraska
You can pretty much pencil the Huskers in for at least seven wins guaranteed. The first four games on Nebraska's schedule (Western Kentucky, Idaho, Washington, South Dakota State) should be considered four easy wins. Colorado at home and Iowa State and Texas A&M are also soft matchups. In fact, Texas is the only truly formidable team on the slate for the Huskers.

3. Boston College
It can be argued that Boston College's toughest road game is Wake Forest. Enough said? No? Ok. Well, the first two games on the schedule are Weber State and Kent State and both are at home. In fact, BC plays it s first four games at home, including its two toughest opponents in Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. They also end the year with a cupcake at Syracuse.

2. Purdue
Purdue catches Ohio State and Notre Dame on the road, but would like to think they have at least five wins with home games against Western Illinois, Ball State, Indiana and Minnesota and a road game against Illinois. Traveling to Northwestern should be a winnable game as well. The Boilermakers miss Iowa and Wisconsin comes to West Lafeyette to play them.

1. Kansas
Yuck. Georgia Tech is the only team really worth noting on the schedule. The Big 12 North will be especially weak this year and their out of conference schedule is very soft outside of GT with North Dakota State, Southern Mississippi and New Mexico State.

Should Pats sign T.O?

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Should the New England Patriots sign wide receiver Terrell Owens?

That's the million dollar question right now.

Well, based on talent alone, the 36-year-old T.O. might just be a good signing.

Or would he be?

Interesting.

If you ask me, there's no substitute for talent, and T.O. adds great value to a Patriots team that is very questionable on the outside since Wes Welker is suppose to miss the beginning of the season after recovering from major knee surgery.

But T.O. also could be a major buzz kill on the field and in the locker room if he's not happy.

A cancer, as they say.

But that's why each NFL organization gets paid big bucks to make difficult decisions.

So it comes down to weighing the talent and need of a team, to how much of a negative the said player could be and how it would effect the chemistry of the team.

I know that we've always heard rumblings of T.O. being a major pain in the rump when he doesn't get the ball enough -- in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Dallas. But last year I don't remember much from him yapping in Buffalo, especially since that team was downright poor and I think he knew that anyway.

He's got a history of showing up his quarterback (remember Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo?), but would he ever consider acting up with Bill Belichick at the helm and Tom Brady as the QB?

I'm guessing no, considering Belichick puts players in a position to succeed, and Brady, with outstanding QB play, also takes care of his receivers when they get open.

Make no mistake about it, if T.O. did come in, he'd have to quickly realize that he's not the No. 1 option (Randy Moss would have a thing or two to say about that).

But from a football standpoint alone, wouldn't Moss and T.O. scare most opposing secondaries?

You're darn right they would.

But I could also see both of them ruining chemistry if they start losing or don't get enough looks in the passing game. So the season could go downhill in a hurry if one or both of those superstars aren't happy.

But Belichick and his staff have been able to turn "problem players" into model citizens (Corey Dillion, Randy Moss are great examples) before, so why couldn't they do the same with T.O., who would obviously look at New England as a spot he could win a championship at.

Go ahead and call me crazy, but I'm in favor -- not 100 percent, however -- of the Pats signing T.O.

There's just something about adding a legitimate weapon in that offense that gets me excited. But the chemistry thing, which can be a little overplayed sometimes, concerns me, too. But if the Pats are winning, not many players stand up and complain. If they do, they look silly doing it.

The question still remains: Will the Patriots land T.O.?

If I'm a betting man, I say I'm folding right away.

There's no way the Pats take that gamble, even though T.O. would be the best No. 2 receiver in the NFL, by far.

Plus, T.O. is pretty arrogant and I don't envision him letting the Pats sign him at a discounted rate. T.O. loves money, and he's going to chase the green while other players try to chase that elusive championship.

So if he's not about team, he's not the right fit here, anyway.