More than ever, nonconference play has become critical for a team's national success. Given the insanely complicated Bowl Championship Series ratings, teams can no longer take chances by playing 'soft' schools.
Now, BCS hopeful teams find themselves playing their most important games before all of the rust has come off.
However, major conference teams seem to have different strategies when it comes to nonconference scheduling.
On the one hand, strong teams in weaker conferences hate to see their national title hopes dashed before they even begin conference play. Just ask the Miami Hurricanes, who lost to the Washington Huskies last year and narrowly missed playing for the National Championship.
On the other hand, teams that play in strong conferences like to schedule easier competition, but the BCS rewards quality opponents, so these teams must search for big time programs.
Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr said the BCS' emphasis on the strength of nonconference opponents changed how coaches schedule.
'[The BCS] is causing a lot of people to re-evaluate the importance of the nonconference, because certainly it does play a role in the rankings,' Carr said. 'It is a much more important factor than it used to be.'
For example, Michigan had a relatively tough nonconference schedule this season, as the Wolverines played No. 13 Washington, Miami of Ohio and Western Michigan.
Many questions arise from the different approaches to nonconference scheduling.
There is no question that Miami scheduled tough nonconference opponents this year, but having already played Penn State and a future schedule that sees games against Washington and Florida, there is a concern that the top-ranked team scheduled too tough of a nonconference season.
On the other hand, Florida and Northwestern, two teams with national title hopes, only play one quality nonconference opponent between them, as Florida plays in-state rival Florida State Nov. 17.
The key for every team is striking the right balance in scheduling nonconference opponents.
However, teams from smaller and lesser-known conferences sometimes must forget about balance and go for the glory.
Enter Fresno State, this year's example of extreme scheduling. Head Coach Pat Hill recognized that his team wouldn't be detectable on the BCS radar simply by playing in the Western Athletic Conference, so he scheduled arguably the toughest nonconference schedule in the nation.
It worked out this year for the Bulldogs, as they beat Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin, but it can also backfire. Last year, Fresno State went 1-2 in nonconference games against UCLA, California and Ohio State.
This year has seen other impressive performances by smaller schools. Toledo, a school in the Mid-American Conference, humbled Minnesota 38-7 in the Golden Gophers' home opener, and Louisville, from the traditionally weak Conference USA, is close to cracking the Top 25.
Teams from smaller conferences also stand to gain exposure and money by scheduling nonconference games against major programs.
Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller favors playing at least one team from the MAC each year to help the smaller schools with their budgets.
'When they play a Big Ten team, [it's] a big pay day for them,' Tiller said.
For the major conferences, striking a balance between safety and statement games seems to be the thing to do. Most major football programs schedule a game or two against mediocre to solid opponents and one or two games against ranked opponents.
While nonconference games are important, Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel believes that success is achieved simply through the balance a team experiences while preparing for every game in a season.
'As you go through the season, how you progress each game is going to have a lot to do with just how good you are at the end,' Tressel said.
For many teams, whether that 'end' is the Rose Bowl or Budgetcarrental.com Bowl can sometimes come down to one nonconference game.
