Matt Hayes of the Sporting News says the Pittsburgh Panthers have the second toughest non-conference schedule in the country behind LSU in 2011.
Pittsburgh's non-conference opponents are: Buffalo, Maine, at Iowa, Notre Dame and Utah. For my money, Pitt's non-conference schedule is tougher than LSU's.
Two Big East teams made Hayes' bottom ten: #6 Connecticut and #7 Rutgers.
Connecticut plays Fordham, at Vanderbilt, Iowa State, at Buffalo and Western Michigan.
Rutgers has out of conference games against North Carolina Central, at North Carolina, Ohio, Navy and Army.
None of the slate of non-conference games played by Big East teams made Hayes' list of the best five non-conference games of the 2011 season. However, two league non-conference games made the bottom five non-conference games:
September 1: North Carolina Central at Rutgers
September 1: Fordham at Connecticut
By the numbers: the Big East will play 40% of its non-conference games against BCS opponents, 40% against non-BCS FBS opponents and 20% against FCS opponents.
What do you think of the Big East's non-conference scheduling this season? Is the league headed in the right direction on scheduling or not? Are there any other Big East teams you think should be in the running for top ten or bottom ten in non-conference scheduling? How about your best and worst non-conference games this season? We're all ears.