Sorry Kirk Herbstreit, We Love You but the Irish's Start Not the Most Difficult

On Wednesday morning, Kirk Herbstreit appeared on ESPNU to discuss Notre Dame football. The former Ohio State quarterback said, in assessing the first half of the Fighting Irish's 2010 season, "Their schedule, these first six games, has gotta be as tough as anyone in the country."

Now, before we explore that quote, let me say this about the ESPN College GameDay analyst/ABC Saturday Night College Football analyst (now there's a player who goes both ways, Coach Kiffin). I don't like the job Herbstreit does. I don't even love the job he does. The only proper way for me to express the way I feel about his work is to paraphrase Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) in "Annie Hall" and say, "Love is too weak a word for what I feel -- I luuurve him, you know, I loave him, I luff him, two F's, yes I have to invent words ... "

Secondly, Herbstreit was appearing on ESPNU. This is like asking everyone's favorite English teacher to substitute teach the P.E. class that has all the AP Calculus and Physics geeks in it (who wouldn't be taking the class if the state didn't require it, by the way).

Still, now that everyone plays a 12-game season, it's simple to divide each school's season into two halves. And if it isn't, then you're probably a student at (INSERT NAME OF HATED RIVAL INSTITUTION HERE). This allows for fans to argue about, and for writers to devote a column to, just which school has the toughest first-half schedule.

First up, Notre Dame: The Irish open with Purdue and Michigan at home, then travel to Michigan State, host Stanford, visit Boston College and then host Pittsburgh.

How does that stack up? Using the USA Today/Coaches poll as our yardstick, the Irish will face just one ranked team, No. 15 Pittsburgh, in the first half of the season. Granted, it's no easy slog. The Irish secondary will go up against some of the nation's better quarterbacks early in Robert Marve (Purdue), Kirk Cousins (Michigan State) and Andrew Luck (Stanford). Imagine if Ryan Mallett had remained in Ann Arbor.

In their fifth game, at Boston College, the Irish will face one of the nation's best linebackers in Luke Kuechly, although he may be no better than the one they will have met in their first road game, Michigan State's Greg Jones. And against Pitt, a team that has beaten them two straight, the Irish must contend with arguably the country's most elusive back, sophomore Dion Lewis, who rushed for 1,799 yards in 2010. Plus, the Panthers have first-round talent in both 6-foot-5 wideout Jonathan Baldwin and defensive end Greg Romeus.

So no gimme games among the first six, although Purdue and Michigan are must-haves for Brian Kelly and his RKGs (Right Kind of Guys). But is this as tough an opening half-dozen games as anyone's in the country? No. Not hardly. Here's my list of the toughest first-half schedules of 2010:

1. Miami: In 1992, the Hurricanes played Florida State and Penn State, both undefeated, on consecutive October weekends and won. That was impressive. This year, they visit No. 2 Ohio State and No. 15 Pitt 12 days apart, followed by a visit to Death Valley (Clemson-style) before hosting No. 20 Florida State.

2. Virginia: The Cavaliers, coming off a 3-9 season, must visit USC (ranked anywhere from 10th-12th in other polls; ineligible for the USA Today poll) early. Come October, the Cavs host No. 20 Florida State, visit No. 17 Georgia Tech and return to Charlottesville to host No. 18 North Carolina on three straight Saturdays. Good thing FCS teams VMI and Richmond are also among the early foes.

3. Tennessee: New coach Derek Dooley hosts No. 11 Oregon and No. 3 Florida on consecutive September Saturdays, then visits No. 21 Georgia and No. 16 LSU back-to-back in October. No wonder the Vols canceled the North Carolina series. They were feeling the stress of the next two months.

4. Oregon State: The Beavers play two teams in the USA Today's top seven and neither at home, opening in Dallas versus TCU (a veritable home game for the Fort Worth-based Horned Frogs) and then visiting Boise State two weeks later. The Broncos will be riding a 44-game regular season home win streak when Oregon State comes to town. The Rodgers brothers, Jacquizz (right) and James, and their teammates finish up the first half with visits on consecutive weekends (never an easy feat) to a pair of Pac-10 schools on the rise, Arizona and Washington.

5. Texas: While Texas Tech (Sept. 18, in Lubbock) may not be the same minus Mike Leach, the Longhorns are the only program besides Oregon State that must play two preseason top-10s in the season's first half. Mack Brown's squad plays No. 8 Oklahoma on Oct. 2 in Dallas and No. 9 Nebraska in Lincoln on Oct. 16. UCLA visits Austin, too, and expect the Bruins to be improved enough to make it competitive on Sept. 25.

6. UNLV: Considering the disparity in talent, the Rebels may have the most difficult six-pack of all. UNLV opens with No. 12 Wisconsin, then visits No. 24 (tie) Utah the following week. A trip to Pocatello and NFL-bound quarterback Nathan Enderle of Idaho comes the very next weekend. The final game in the front six is a long journey to Morgantown to play No. 24 (tie) West Virginia.

7. Alabama: Sure, Alabama is the defending national champion and we all expect the Crimson Tide to be dominant. They're ranked No. 1, after all. Still, the Tide play No. 14 Penn State, visit No. 19 Arkansas and then host No. 3 Florida.

8. San Jose State: This is almost cruel. Spartans' first-year head coach Mike MacIntyre opens his career with visits to No. 1 Alabama and No. 12 Wisconsin. If he still feels like going to work, he'll have to visit No. 24 (tie) Utah two weeks later. Then it's off to Nevada, with returning 1,000-yard rushers Colin Kaepernick (the quarterback) and Vai Taua in week six.*
(*Week seven brings a visit from Boise State.)

9. South Carolina/Arkansas: The Gamecocks' and Razorbacks' hurdles are all in-conference, as both meet SEC foes No. 21 Georgia, No. 23 Auburn (each at Jordan-Hare) and No. 1 Alabama. The Hogs must also visit vastly improved Texas A&M in College Station.

10. Clemson: The good news: quarterback Kyle Parker is choosing another year of ACC football over Major League Baseball. The bad news: the Tigers visit No. 23 Auburn, host No. 13 Miami (which may be hungry for a win by this stage) and visit No. 18 North Carolina in a three-game stretch.

Narrowly missing out: Washington, which visits BYU in its opener, then hosts No. 9 Nebraska before a trip to USC. Also, Arizona State, which visits No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 22 Oregon State and Washington while also hosting No. 11 Oregon.

So there you have it, Herbie. While the Irish may not have as soft a schedule in the first half of 2010 as, say, Syracuse (Akron, Maine, Colgate), these 10 (really, 12) have it much tougher.