2010 College Football Preview: The 50 Toughest Remaining Schedules

We are now heading into the third week of college football and there have already been plenty of big-time upsets and shockers.

It's safe to say that there will be plenty of more entertaining games to look forward to this season.

Looking ahead at the schedule it's time to reevaluate the college football schedules and figure out which teams will face the hardest competition.

Does your favorite team have a rough road ahead?  Click to find out.

Here are 50 teams with the toughest schedules going into Week 3.

The Owls play out of the Sun Belt Conference but they also have a big-time opponent to look forward to when they match up against the Texas Longhorns on the road later in the season.

That will be the first of three extremely tough games to close out their schedule. 

After Texas, their next two games will be against Sun Belt title contender Middle Tennessee at home and four-time Sun Belt title champion Troy, on the road.

The Ducks are a high-scoring team and favored to win the Pac-10 title this season.

What teams stand in the way?

They do have to deal with USC, Oregon State and Cal on the road.

But fortunately for them, upstarts Arizona and Stanford will be paying a visit to Duck territory this year.

The biggest game for the Gators this year will be October 2 game against the Crimson Tide.

Florida will be looking to avenge their only loss from last season to Alabama, but they are also rebuilding on the fly, so that will be an interesting game to watch.

After Alabama, they will also be playing LSU, Georgia and South Carolina.  However, LSU and South Carolina will be home games and the Georgia game will be played in neutral territory.

Florida State at the end of their schedule could also be troublesome.

The Blue Devils start Week 3 with some serious competition.  They host that nation's No. 1 team and defending national champion, Alabama Crimson Tide.

And they start October with three serious opponents.  Sandwiched between two road games against Maryland and Virginia Tech, is a home game against a potential top ten team in Miami (Fl.).

To top it off, the last three games on their schedule feature Boston College, Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

They will be facing Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes on October 2.

Then they'll have their hands full with back-to-back road games against tough Big Ten opponents, Penn State and Michigan State.

Later in the season is an away game against Michigan.

And their last two games on the schedule have Northwestern and Fresno State.

They started their season with an unexpected loss against North Dakota state and then redeemed themselves with an upset win over Georgia Tech.

Now they'll face a respectable Southern Mississippi team on the road for what is expected to be a well-fought game.

There is trouble ahead in the schedule when the Jayhawks face two teams that have looked good early in the season Kansas State and Texas A&M.

They also have a big road game against Big Ten powerhouse Nebraska Cornhuskers and close the season against the Missouri Tigers.

The Mustangs will be hosting two ranked teams in TCU and Houston.

Add two big road games against Navy and East Carolina and they're probably looking forward to next season already.

The Broncos' toughest matchup this year is in Week 4 when they face the Oregon State Beavers. 

After Oregon State, their schedule sees a shortage of top-25 competition. 

Not so fast: The road to another perfect season will see some obstacles in Idaho, Fresno State, and Nevada.

After beating the Pitt Panthers in the first game of the season, the Utes are looking to prove that they are a true top 25 team.

Their biggest match of the season is against TCU on November 6.

But they also have road games against Wyoming, Air Force, and Notre Dame that will pose a challenge.

Alabama accomplished something pretty impressive least season.  They played through their SEC schedule and came away undefeated.

Can they do it again this season?

The positive thing about the Tide's schedule is that they play Florida and Auburn at home.

Arkansas, South Carolina, and LSU are all road games.

This will be a tough year for the Cougars since they'll be looking at facing at least five Pac-10 teams that are ranked in the top-25, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, Arizona, and Stanford

And outside of the top 25, there's Washington and Cal, two teams that could surprise this year.

In Week 3 they hit the  road against an Oklahoma State team that averaged 53 points in their first two games.

They also play a ranked Houston team away on November 23.  

Add two road games against Southern Methodist and Notre Dame and this Tulsa team has its hands full.

Starting on Week 3 the Sooners have three straight tough opponents in Air Force, Cincinnati and Texas.

Then they have a midseason showdown against Missouri on the road; and Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to end the year.

Rice will face a good Northwestern team for their Week 3 matchup, then more quality foes in Baylor and Southern Methodist one right after each other.

Then they have an October 16 showdown against Houston, arguably the toughest opponent they'll face this season.

The RedHawks have two big road games in the near future. 

The first, against Missouri and the second, against Cincinnati.

There's also Ohio on October 23 and a game against Temple to finish up their schedule. 

This year, the Buckeyes path to the Big Ten title will need to go through Wisconsin and Iowa. 

Both games against those rival teams are on the road.

Add a late season duel against JoePa's Nittany Lions and a game against dark horse Big Ten title contender Michigan, and OSU has plenty of roadblocks ahead.

The Hurricanes visit Pitt on Week 3 for a tough match.  This Pittsburgh team was ranked in the top 25 during the preseason and were believed to be Big East title contenders.

After the Panthers, Miami has to deal with the likes of Clemson, Florida State, Duke, North Carolina and Virginia in October.

Then they have star studded teams like Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech later in the year.

Next up for Iowa State are the Kansas State Wildcats.  The Wildcats have looked good early in the season, so they should be a formidable opponent.

There will also be difficult games against Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Missouri.

After an off week, the Golden Panthers resume their season on the road against a very good Texas A&M team.

Then two more grueling road games Maryland and Pitt.

Add to that a late season match away against defending Sun Belt conference champion Troy.  With a schedule like that they will be crawling home to end the season.

Steve Spurrier's team has started the season with a lot of promise, 2-0.  But it seems like they always get everyone's hopes up every year.

Up next for this SEC team will be games against Auburn and Florida on the road, and Alabama and Arkansas at home.

Then they'll also be facing two decent opponents in Troy and Clemson to end their schedule.

The road bumps for the Bulls start midseason when they face West Virginia and Cincinnati in back-to-back away games, after that they go back home to host Rutgers.

Then they also have more tough November matches with Pitt at home, then away against Miami (Fl.).

Looking to rebound against a big Week 2 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, the Seminoles will face a good BYU team this week.

BYU sat just outside the top-25 rankings in the preseason.  And with both teams looking to rebound after slow starts this should be a good game to watch.

Florida State's schedule only gets tougher after that BYU game, they it has to deal with the Miami Hurricanes on the road next month, then take care of North Carolina and Clemson back-to-back.

And the last game on their schedule will be against their rivals, Florida Gators.

They Cowboys face a daunting schedule full of quality opponents starting with top-ranked Boise State this weekend.

After that they also play host to a tough Air Force team, then they go on the road for back-to-back games against Toledo and TCU.

Then two games against Brigham Young and Utah, and that only takes us near the end of October.

This is a very tough schedule for Wyoming.

The Wolverines have impressed so far this year but more challenges lie ahead in their schedule.

Michigan State and Iowa in back-to-back home games will prove to be no easy work.

Then they go on the road against an always competitive Penn State team.

To end their schedule, Michigan will play Wisconsin at home and Ohio State on the road.

There will be some very tough road games for this Rockets team this season.

They face Purdue, Northern Illinois and top-ranked Boise State all on the road.

And they have to deal with the Wyoming Cowboys in between their Purdue and Boise State matches.

The most daunting part about their schedule is the face that they face two Big 12 powerhouses, Oklahoma and Nebraska, on the road.

But aside from that, the work ahead of them will not be easy.

They face Georgia and Missouri in back-to-back games.

Then they play Texas Tech before their Oklahoma game and play Kansas State before Nebraska.

This year the Tigers will face SEC-rivals Florida, Auburn and Arkansas all on the road.

They will also play host to a tough West Virginia team on September 25.

Then Les Miles will go head-to-head with Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide at home in early November.

Whew.

Not only do the Huskies have to deal with plenty of heavy-hitters from the Pac-10, they also get a visit from the Nebraska Cornhuskers to start off Week 3.

Their games against USC, Arizona, Oregon and Washington State are all on the road.

That adds up to a make a very, very scary schedule.

The Trojans swept through the Sun Belt conference last season with a perfect record.

But that may be hard to match this year, since most of their big games will be on the road.

Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Monroe and Florida Atlantic will all be hosting Troy this season.

Add to that a visit from Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks, and that makes for a tough schedule.

The Irish will open Week 3 on the road against a Michigan State team that has showed a lot of promise so far this year.

They also face two strong Pac-10 teams in Stanford and USC in their schedule.

As well as, a Big East contender in Pittsburgh and a powerhouse in Utah.

Now with USC out of the way, the Warriors still have a tough schedule to play through starting with a Week 3 road game against Colorado.

They will also be traveling to Fresno State, on October 9, for a tough matchup and to Boise State, on November 9, where the Broncos as nearly unbeatable.

Home games against Nevada and Idaho will also be challenging. 

The Bulldogs found themselves in the top-25 during the preseason but a loss to South Carolina in Week 2 resulted in a drop in rankings.

Now they'll be facing more big-time SEC competition in Arkansas, Florida and Auburn.  There is also an end-of-schedule game against Georgia Tech that could prove to be problematic.

Arkansas State plays out of the Sun Belt Conference but it still has a hard schedule to deal with.

After their opening game against Auburn, they face three of the better teams on their schedule Troy, Indiana and the Navy all on the road.

They also have back-to-back home games against Sun Belt title contenders Middle Tennessee and Florida Atlantic.

Week 3 begins with a home game against Marshall and then a duel against top-ranked Michigan away.

The Falcons also face tough road games against Temple, Ohio, and Central Michigan.

Top-ranked TCU and Utah are up ahead in the Rams schedule.

As well as potentially tough away games against Air Force and Wyoming.  There is a home game against BYU before the last game of their schedule.

They Trojans have rest of the Pac-10 to deal with and also Notre Dame near the end of the season. 

Four of their future opponents currently sit on the AP's top 25.

Stanford, Arizona, and Oregon State will all be road games.  And their always tough rivalry game against UCLA will also be away.

After a Week 2 match against No. 1-ranked Alabama, there's more heavy competition on their schedule.

They play Big Ten powerhouse teams Iowa and Ohio State both on the road.  Then they play host to Michigan on October 20, for what is expected to be a well-fought battle.

Then they have to deal with Indiana and Michigan State to finish up their schedule.

After their Week 3 home game against the Miami Hurricanes, the trouble for the Panthers this season may lie on the road.

They will travel to Notre Dame and UConn for tough road matches.

Pitt will also have to deal with top-ranked West Virgia at home and Cincinnati on the road for the last two games of their schedule.

Four of their five games in October could prove to be problematic.  The Cavaliers will play Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Miami (Fl.).

They also end their schedule with two tough road games against Boston College and Virginia Tech.

After two road losses to start the season, they may be happy to head home but the Tigers play Week 3 against Sun Belt title contenders Middle Tennessee.  And they're not to be taken lightly.

Looking ahead at their schedule, there may be more trouble on the road against Louisville and Marshall.

They also have to deal with a late October 30 visit by top-ranked Houston and a game against the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers on November 6.

BYU will look to regroup from a big loss to the Air Force with a Week 3 game on the road, against the Florida State Seminoles.

But this will be just another one of tough road battles for the Cougars.  They will be playing Utah State and top-ranked TCU and Utah, all on the road.

They also have to deal with Nevada and Wyoming at home.

After being shocked by James Madison during Week 2, the Hokies are now 0-2 to start the season.

But there are more rough matches ahead.

Three of their last four games of the year are against top teams Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Miami (Fl.).  Both games against the Tar Heels and the Hurricanes are also on the road.

What does Bowling Green, Southern Miss, UCF, Ohio, East Carolina and Southern Methodist all have in common?

They're top-100 teams in college football and they're slated to face the Thundering Herd this season.

With their first two games against national title contenders West Virginia and Ohio State, this is tough schedule for Marshall.

Next up for the Lobos in Week 3 is No. 14 ranked Utah.

Afterward, they'll be playing some other decent competition in the Mountain West.

They also face off against against powerhouse TCU for the final game on their schedule.

UCLA has a tough Pac-10 schedule that has them battling the likes of top-ranked teams Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State and USC among others.

Add to that their next two games against the University of Houston and the Texas Longhorns, and the Bruins will be lucky if they finish the year at .500.

The Commodores have an extremely daunting SEC schedule which that means they'll be playing top-ranked Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas and Florida, and it so happens that they'll be facing those teams one right after each other.

Add to that Ole Miss in Week 3 and Tennessee near the end of the season and it will be a rough, rough schedule.

UNLV will be facing a top-50 team in Idaho for Week 3 and have matches against top-25 teams West Virginia and TCU later in their schedule.

BYU on the road and Nevada, Wyoming, Air Force at home won't be easy matches either.

After a big-time matchup against LSU to open their season, the Tar Heels have more quality opponents to deal with.

Their next four games are against Georgia Tech, @ Rutgers, East Carolina and Clemson.  All four teams are not to be taken likely.

Then the also play Miami (Fl.) and Florida State on the road and Virginia Tech at home, later in their schedule.

The Beavers have top-ranked team Boise State for a non-conference match in their third game of the year.

Though the Beavers are arguably the toughest team the Broncos will face this season, the Beavers have a lot more road bumps ahead in their schedule.

With their opening game match against TCU behind them, they still compete in a completely stacked Pac-10, they'll be facing top-ranked Arizona, and Stanford away while they match up against USC and Oregon at home.

You have to hand it to the Beavers for not being afraid to schedule their non-conference games against tough opponents.

After starting their season 0-2 the Spartans must feel relieved, considering that they played against Alabama and Wisconsin, two top-ranked teams.

But it's still an uphill battle for this team.  They face the Utah Utes on the road for their fourth game of the season and then have to look forward to playing Boise State in the middle of the schedule.

They'll also be facing tough WAC rivals in Nevada on the road and Fresno State at home.