Ranking the 2011 BC football schedule by difficulty, 12th-7th

7.) at Central Florida
September 10, 2011 | Week 2 | Orlando, FL

When an eleven-win, conference-champion, ranked team from last season is seventh on a list like this, you know you’re going to have a tough schedule. The fact that this game is on the road makes it that much tougher for the Eagles to win. They won their bowl game over Georgia last year, but lost their two regular-season games against AQ conference teams (NC State and K-State). Outside of that, the Knights largely beat the crap out of everyone else in their conference and will be a tough out for BC this year. The last time these teams played each other was in 2008 at Alumni Stadium, a game in which BC exploded in the second half and won, 34-7.

Some might argue that UCF should be a little further down this list. After all, they were pretty good last year and BC was very blah. The fact is, however, is that the best team in a non-AQ conference often isn’t as good as a middle-of-the-road team in an AQ conference. That gap still exists, and though I expect some tough sledding for the Eagles in this one, their chances of winning this game is quite a bit better than some of the best teams on the list. I think 7th is an appropriate spot (but would have been 8th if not for Miami).

Tomorrow, the six toughest games BC will play this year.