Toughest 2013 CFB schedules

Florida, Oklahoma among six teams with hardest 2013 slates

Originally Published: March 19, 2013

By Phil Steele | Special to ESPN Insider

With the exception of the Mountain West finalizing the dates for its conference games, every team in the country has its upcoming 2013 schedule set. The question arises each year: "Who plays the toughest schedule?" But the answer isn't always so simple. There are several different methods you can use to figure this out in the preseason. One of the ways is to take a look at how their upcoming opponents fared last season with reference to overall record, number of bowl teams and the number of ranked teams they play from a season ago. Combine those three and you get a pool that's pretty inclusive when it comes to teams that could have been considered upper tier from the previous season.

While this doesn't compensate for who will be much improved and who will get weaker in 2013, there is no better starting point. With that in mind, here are the six teams that play the toughest schedules in 2013.

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