No Texas, no Oklahoma, no Texas Tech, no sweat, right?

Wrong.

Kansas University’s football schedule only looks easy when focusing on what schools are not on it this season.

It’s always wiser to look at who’s on a schedule when assessing its strength. Other than the first two weeks, there isn’t a game that could be considered a major upset whether KU wins it or loses it.

Assuming victories over Northwestern State on Saturday and Louisiana-Monroe a week later, KU will need to go 4-6 the rest of the way to be eligible for a bid to a bowl game.

Going from toughest to “easiest” opponents for KU, a look at those 10 games:

1. At Nebraska, Sept. 30: Payback. Zack Ross. Massive corn-fed linemen.

2. At Iowa State, Nov. 4: The Cyclones, with 10 returning starters on an offense that averaged 28 points a game in 2005, are my pick to win the North, despite a tough schedule. A healthy year from running back Stevie Hicks will mean a return to 2004 production levels. Bret Meyer-to-Todd Blythe, touchdown!

3. Texas A&M, Oct. 7: Jackie Sherrill called Dennis Franchione in midseason last fall to tell him he thought he was starting the wrong quarterback, so don’t shed too many tears for the Aggies over their loss of dual-threat quarterback Reggie McNeal. Sherrill thinks Stephen McGee is that good. He will be protected by a massive offensive line and can hand off to Courtney Lewis and has a highly regarded fleet of wide receivers at his disposal. The Aggies hung tough with Oklahoma and Texas in the final two weeks of last season. Kerry Meier shredding an inexperienced secondary is KU’s best chance.

4. At Baylor, Oct. 21: The Bears lost in double overtime at Oklahoma and won at Iowa State, so it’s no longer fair to say the name of this conference is Baylor and the Big 11. Shawn Bell and favorite target Dominique Ziegler will test a young secondary.

5. At Missouri, Nov. 25: Most opponents were delighted to see Brad Smith use up his eligibility, but KU usually found a way to shut him down. Smith’s replacement, Chase Daniel, won a national player-of-the-year award in high school and played well in relief a year ago.

6. At Toledo, Sept. 15: Picked to win the MAC, the Rockets already are stoked at the prospect of playing host to a school from a BCS conference and have 16 starters back. Tough, tough game.

7. Colorado, Oct. 28: Dan Hawkins knows what he’s doing, and the players appeared to have tuned out Gary Barnett at the end of last season.

8. Kansas State, Nov. 18: Will this be Meier vs. Meier or will super-talent true freshman Josh Freeman be in charge by then?

9. South Florida, Sept. 23: The Bulls, who play in the Big East, smoked a strong Louisville team a year ago, 45-14, so they are legitimate. USF also hammered Rutgers, Syracuse, and Cincinnati. Especially since it’s early in the season and KU is so young, this is no gimme.

10. Oklahoma State, Oct. 14: Any conversation about the worst offenses in the Big 12 must include the Cowboys. Ditto for the defense.