Indiana fans can't deny it--a soft non-conference schedule helped the Hoosiers make a bowl game last year. Against four non-conference opponents during the regular season, IU went 4-0, winning the games by a combined score of 171-78. Had one of those games been a loss, Bill Lynch and his team probably wouldn't have played 13 games.
This year is no different, and this time, other people have taken notice.
Just over a week ago, Bruce Feldman, a senior writer for ESPN the Magazine and a blogger for ESPN.com, put together his list of
the Top 10 softest non-conference schedules in the NCAA. The Hoosiers were at the top of the list, meaning Feldman believes they have the easiest non-conference schedule in the country.
Don't get mad at Feldman--he used an unbiased point ranking system to get the order:
I made this top 10 based on a points system, assigning a value to each opponent on a scale of one to nine with a bonus point if that team plays the game at home. Then, I totaled up all of the nonconference points and divided by the number of games.
Can you blame Feldman for coming up with the results he did? After all, we play Western Kentucky and Murray State, have a week off to prepare for Ball State, then the toughest of our non-conference competition is Central Michigan. All four of these games are at home in Bloomington.
The list doesn't bode well for Big Ten BCS Strength of Schedule ratings. Three of the conference's other schools made the top 10--Northwestern was third, Minnesota seventh, and Iowa rounded out the list at tenth.
What do you think--was Feldman's assessment right? Does IU have the softest non-conference schedule in the nation? Share your thoughts.