Regardless of what the current NET rankings or RPI say (they'll work out a bit better as the year goes on), and regardless of if we have a weak ACC (it was weak last year too).
We already have:
- Road win at Alabama - Road win at Pittsburgh - Two neutral site wins - Home win over Boise State
Jury is still out on Boise State, but let's compare to last year's non-conference:
- Win over Penn State (Home) - Loss to Iowa (Neutral) - Win over Cal (Neutral) Note Cal was abysmal last season - Loss to Loyola - Win over Richmond - Win over Wake - Some other miscellaneous wins, Towson, Loyola MD, etc.
If nothing else, this start gets us resume bolstering wins we can look back on in March, and also frees the team up to play without a lot of "gotta win" pressure which I think can only help. Winning against USC Wednesday would pretty much put the stamp on what will be our best non-conference performance in many years, still with TCU and Memphis to go.