Rating the 2008 Non-Conference Slate, Part 2: Big East

The Land of 5 Out-of-Conference games is next up. (Amazingly, despite having to schedule 5 OOC teams, none of them has 2 DI-AA teams. Huh.)

1. Syracuse (2.25 legit, 1 DI-AA): @Northwestern, Akron, Penn State, @Notre Dame, Northeastern. Leaders by half a point, but in a way this schedule really isn't even that legit since they're probably being scheduled as a BCS patsy for at least two of these teams. They will probably be favored against Akron and Northeastern, though. Not sure about Northeastern's similarly named Chicago counterpart, though.
   
2. West Virginia (1.75, 1): Villanova, @Auburn, @Marshall, @Colorado, @East Carolina. Their game down at Auburn is probably one of my most looked-to intersectional matchups of the year. Kudos to both parties for scheduling it. That said, non-kudos to WVU for managing to only get 1 OOC home game.
   
3. Cincinnati (1.5, 1): Eastern Kentucky, @Oklahoma, Miami (OH), @Akron, @Marshall, @Hawaii. Another good set of intersection matchups here for Cincy, though @Hawaii is obviously a shameless grab at a 13th game.
   
4. Pittsburgh (1.5, 0): Bowling Green, Iowa, Buffalo, @Navy, @Notre Dame. Not much to write home about here, other than that none of these teams are in DI-AA! Though Buffalo should count towards that.
   
5. Louisville (1.5, 1): Kentucky, Kansas State, Tennessee Tech, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State. After the disaster that was last season for the Cardinals, this schedule is actually pretty tough. Lucky for them, it's all home games, and it's hard to say if Kentucky or Kansas State will be improved from last year.
   
6. Connecticut (1.5, 1): Hofstra, @Temple, Virginia, Baylor, @North Carolina. Two ACC teams, but otherwise not much to write home about. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the Huskies went 2-0 against them,
   
7. South Florida (1.5, 1): Tennessee-Martin, @Central Florida, Kansas, @Florida International, @North Carolina State. It's hard to say how good Kansas will be this year, but that's the only interesting part of this schedule.
   
8. Rutgers (1, 1): Fresno State, North Carolina, @Navy, Morgan State, Army. The last minute addition of Fresno State made this schedule not completely a joke. That said, it's still pretty pathetic, especially since this is a program trying to "prove" itself.
   

Anyway, next up on our exciting journey is everyone's favorite conference that's not too good with counting, the Big Ten. See you then.