When South Florida meets Florida State on Sept. 29, it might be one of the most anticipated home games in South Florida school history. There's a good chance both teams could enter the matchup undefeated and ranked in the Top 25.

Bulls coach Skip Holtz, however, refuses to allow his team to look past a pair of daunting opponents. South Florida must travel more than 2,800 miles across the country to face Nevada on Sept. 8 before facing Rutgers five nights later.

To that end, Holtz claims his staff has broken down tendencies on USF's first four opponents but hasn't started preparing for the Seminoles. 

“We don't want to put the cart before the horse,” Holtz said. “We could lose to Nevada and Rutgers and it would take the air out of us before we play Florida State.”

The in-state rivalry is just one of several anticipated nonconference games in the opening month of the season. A pair of Big East teams –- Syracuse and Cincinnati –- will play neutral games at NFL stadiums in the first several weeks. The Orange face Southern California  on Sept. 8 at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, while the Bearcats will meet Virginia Tech on Sept. 29 at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. Rutgers also travels to Arkansas on Sept. 22, the same day when Temple will play Penn State. Uconn also hosts NC State early in the season.

Although there is a perception that the Big East is a level below a number of other major BCS conferences in terms of talent and performance, the statistics show otherwise. The conference has a 23-11 record in bowl games over the past five seasons, including wins over Clemson,Iowa State, Kansas State and an emerging Vanderbilt program. In BCS games since 1999, the Big East is 7-7 overall and is just one of five leagues to have at least a .500 record in such contests. Additionally, the eight-team league has won 71.9 percent of nonconference games (195-79) from 2006-11. The winning percentage is third among major conferences and is higher than the PAC-12, Big Ten and ACC.

While South Florida played a relatively easy schedule in 2007 when it rose to No. 2 in the BCS standings by mid-October, the Bulls have beefed up their schedule in recent seasons. Holtz's team has responded with victories over Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Clemson and Notre Dame over the past three years.

“We could schedule a bunch of nobodies, but I think they're up for challenging themselves,” Holtz said.

Still, the Bulls' schedule pales in comparison with the one Syracuse coach Doug Marrone has put together. Besides facing the Trojans, the Orange will take on Northwestern, Minnesota and Missouri. It might be the toughest non-conference schedule in the country.

Rutgers hopes to pick up a key non-conference win at Arkansas after dropping a pair of narrow losses to North Carolina in each of the last two seasons. With the return of eight starters on defense including LB Khaseem Greene and CB Logan Ryan, the Scarlet Knights arguably have the top defense in the league. They will be tested by an explosive Razorbacks' offense that has potential All-Americans at all three skilled positions in QB Tyler Wilson, RB Knile Davis and WR Cobi Hamilton.

“They will probably be a top 10 team when we face them,” Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. “They have a probable NFL quarterback and probable NFL running back. It will be a challenge for our program to win there.”

Big East associate commissioner Nicolas Carparelli Jr. is pleased with the way a number of teams throughout the league have challenged themselves against the nation's best.

“Every conference feels they might be stronger than the next but the only real way to gauge yourself against other conferences is playing them in the early-season non-conference schedule and the bowl games,” Carparelli Jr. said. “I think (our teams) will have a lot of opportunity to prove themselves against other conferences.”

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