Kyle Flood

Rutgers coach Kyle Flood will lead his team into a tough Big Ten schedule this season. (William Perlman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

On Tuesday, ESPN's Big Ten blog took a look at the toughest Big Ten schedules in 2015. One writer said Minnesota has the most difficult schedule, while the other argued Rutgers has the toughest slate.

Those were mostly based on subjective opinions, however. I set out to objectively discover how the strength of schedules in the Big Ten stack up for the 2015 season.

There are tons of advanced formulas used to determine strength of schedule, but I kept it basic by simply adding up the 2014 regular season records of every Big Ten opponent. Of course last season's results aren't guaranteed to be duplicated this season, but it gives a baseline measure to size up every team's schedule.

Two notes: I'm strictly using regular season records. Including conference championship games or bowls would tip the scales disproportionately to a team like Ohio State that faced two premier teams in last season's playoffs. Also, I'm not including Division 1-AA opponents in the calculations.

Click through the gallery below to see who has the toughest Big Ten schedule in 2015:

Big Ten strength of schedule 2015 15 Gallery: Big Ten strength of schedule 2015

The two biggest variables in determining the strength of schedules are the cross-division matchups and the non-conference slates.

Here's the breakdown of the cross-division opponents' records:

1. Rutgers: 19-5

t-2. Maryland: 17-7

t-2. Nebraska: 17-7

t-2. Illinois: 17-7

5. Minnesota: 16-8

t-6. Ohio State: 14-10

t-6. Wisconsin: 14-10

t-6. Purdue: 14-10

9. Michigan: 13-11

10. Michigan State: 12-12

t-11. Penn State: 11-13

t-11. Iowa: 11-13

t-11. Northwestern: 11-13

14. Indiana: 10-14

Here's the breakdown of the non-conference opponents' winning percentages:

1. Michigan State: .729

2. Purdue: .639*

3. Minnesota: .617

4. Northwestern: .583*

5. Ohio State: .571

6. Nebraska: .479

7. Maryland: .472*

8. Michigan: .469

9. Penn State: .468

10. Wisconsin: .408

11. Illinois: .400*

12. Indiana: .389*

13. Iowa: .333*

14. Rutgers: .278*

*--Plays a 1-AA opponent. 1-AA records are not factored into non-conference opponents' winning percentage.

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.