It’s the middle of summer, and man cannot live by “Shark Week” alone. So it’s time for a college football intervention. Forty observations on the 2015 schedule that you can use to amaze and entertain your friends:

1. Toughest September: BYU. The Cougars open at Nebraska, home against Boise State, at UCLA, at Michigan. Just for kicks, BYU follows that Michigan game with a short-turnaround Friday contest against Connecticut on Oct. 2. Being an independent is fun, isn’t it, Bronco Mendenhall?

2. Toughest October: Miami. The Hurricanes are at Cincinnati on a Thursday, then at Florida State, home against Virginia Tech and Clemson, and at Duke on Halloween. Combined 2014 record of those opponents: 49-18.

3. Toughest November: Baylor. The Bears are at Kansas State on a Thursday night, home against Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State and at TCU on the day after Thanksgiving with the Big 12 (undisputed!) title perhaps on the line in that one.

View photos As per usual, Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide face a difficult slate this season. (AP) More

4. Toughest schedule, period: Alabama has at least two slobberknockers a month. Every month. In September it has Wisconsin and Mississippi. In October it visits Georgia and Texas A&M – the latter coming off a bye while the Crimson Tide is coming off a rumble with Arkansas. In November it plays LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn – the final two on the road. If anyone complains about the Tide scheduling Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern, tell them to look at the schedule in its entirety and hush.

5. Kudos to bluebloods daring to leave home early. Ohio State’s Labor Day game at Virginia Tech is the Buckeyes’ first on-campus road opener since 1998, when they played at West Virginia. Texas’ Sept. 5 game at Notre Dame is the Longhorns’ first true road opener since 1995, when they played at Hawaii. Michigan’s Sept. 3 opener at Utah is the Wolverines’ first true road opener since 1998, at Notre Dame.

6. Jim Harbaugh takes an eight-game, five-year-old winning streak as a college coach into Salt Lake City.

7. For the first time since 1915, Notre Dame does not play a single team from the Big Ten. The Fighting Irish play six opponents from their pseudo-home conference, the Atlantic Coast.

8. Fire The Coach schedules: Virginia might have kept Mike London for one more season simply to spare the new guy from facing UCLA, Notre Dame and Boise State in the first month. Miami’s aforementioned October could have Al Golden under intolerable heat heading into the home stretch. Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads better have some wins in the bank by mid-October, because the Cyclones close with seven straight against the top seven in the Big 12 last year (TCU, at Baylor, Texas, at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, at Kansas State, at West Virginia).

9. Save The Coach schedules: Rutgers coach Kyle Flood likely saved himself last year with upset wins over Michigan, Maryland and North Carolina, but he could get some added insurance this season with a non-conference slate of Norfolk State, Washington State, Kansas and Army (combined 2014 record: 12-34). Scott Shafer of Syracuse starts work under a new boss with a full September of home games, and if things go really well he could be 6-1 heading into a difficult closing gauntlet. Larry Fedora has only four true road games in year four at North Carolina, and the Tar Heels leave the state only three times.

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