I got to wondering which conference team has the hardest OOC schedule this year, and this is what I came up with for the East.

Based on the ESPN Power Index, I awarded points to each of the opponents in the inverse order of their power index ranking, i.e., the number 130 ranked team received one point, the 129 ranked team received two points, and so forth. (http://www.espn.com/college-football/sta...eamratings) I awarded all FCS opponents zero points.

I used the total opponents' points for each team to place them in rank order, with the team garnering the most points being ranked first with the hardest schedule, down to the team garnering the least points being ranked seventh with the easiest schedule. This is how it turned out.

1. Middle Tennessee (251 points) – Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Syracuse, Bowling Green
2. Marshall (239 points) – Miami (Ohio), NC State, Kent State, Cincinnati
3. Old Dominion (222 points) – Albany, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, UMass
4. Florida International (194 points) – Alcorn State, Central Florida, Indiana, Tulane
5. Florida Atlantic (183 points) – Bethune-Cookman, Navy, Wisconsin, Buffalo
6. Western Kentucky (157 points) – Eastern Kentucky, Ball State, Illinois, Vanderbilt
7. Charlotte (140 points) – NC A&T, Eastern Michigan, Kansas State, Georgia State

The results look reasonable to me. Somewhat fittingly, MTSU has the toughest schedule. I was a little surprised to find that Marshall has the second hardest schedule. Charlotte having the easiest schedule seems appropriate, but I was really surprised to find that WKU is playing the sixth hardest schedule in the East.

I was going to do the full conference, but doing the East took a little more time than I intended. So -- I will do the West a little later.

Cheers!