Strength of schedule is completely thrown for a loop by rankings... it's a garbage stat that I don't value much. The ACC and the Big East teams get $hi+ SOS and often rankings. If your conference doesn't have an elite to set the pace for everyone else in the rankings, you won't have a bunch of teams ranked and your strength of schedule will be lower, because you get points based on someone's opinions --- often pre-season opinions before a down is even played.

(04-19-2012 04:47 AM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Strength of schedule is completely thrown for a loop by rankings...

How so?

Big east has more to prove than any other conference, right or wrong. Scheduling 16 AQ teams is good, but you gotta win them, convincingly, in order to start changing the perception of the league. I wouldn't want BE to schedule like the SEC, we don't have the cache yet to do so. If BE, hypothetically, went out 16-0 against AQ in the out of conference schedule, perception would change quickly about the merits of the league. Until then, we just gotta keep battling.

(04-19-2012 08:00 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  Big east has more to prove than any other conference, right or wrong. Scheduling 16 AQ teams is good, but you gotta win them, convincingly, in order to start changing the perception of the league. I wouldn't want BE to schedule like the SEC, we don't have the cache yet to do so. If BE, hypothetically, went out 16-0 against AQ in the out of conference schedule, perception would change quickly about the merits of the league. Until then, we just gotta keep battling.

I don't think the total NUMBER of BCS AQ non-conf opponents is key...its WHO they are...i.e. are they some of the biggest/best/largest programs like USC? (yep, but CUSE is leaving after next season), Texas, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, etc...

Games vs the likes of Vandy, Northwestern, Indiana, Washington State or Duke like caliber opponents are basically meaningless (get more pub beating a top team from CUSA or MWC or BYU).

Wins against perrenial Top 10 programs is what will help Big East get some positive national pub.

Advantage that major conf like SEC have is they have Top 5-Top 10 CONF GAMES...which obviously doesn't happen much in Big East...which is why non-conf schedule and landing and beating BIG FISH (Top 10 teams) is much more important than say it is for SEC or Big Ten non-conf schedules.

(04-19-2012 08:33 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(04-19-2012 08:00 AM)Knights_of_UCF Wrote:  Big east has more to prove than any other conference, right or wrong. Scheduling 16 AQ teams is good, but you gotta win them, convincingly, in order to start changing the perception of the league. I wouldn't want BE to schedule like the SEC, we don't have the cache yet to do so. If BE, hypothetically, went out 16-0 against AQ in the out of conference schedule, perception would change quickly about the merits of the league. Until then, we just gotta keep battling.

I don't think the total NUMBER of BCS AQ non-conf opponents is key...its WHO they are...i.e. are they some of the biggest/best/largest programs like USC? (yep, but CUSE is leaving after next season), Texas, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, etc...

Games vs the likes of Vandy, Northwestern, Indiana, Washington State or Duke like caliber opponents are basically meaningless (get more pub beating a top team from CUSA or MWC or BYU).

Wins against perrenial Top 10 programs is what will help Big East get some positive national pub.

Yes, e.g., if West Virginia had beaten LSU in either of their recent two games, that would have been a big feather in the Big East cap. But Uconn playing Vanderbilt or Louisville playing Kentucky doesn't have much of an impact.

So yes, rather than aping the SEC approach, we need to go in the opposite direction, as USF has done by scheduling FSU, Miami, and Florida. It's winning those high-profile matchups that will gain the league credibility.

(04-19-2012 09:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  So yes, rather than aping the SEC approach, we need to go in the opposite direction, as USF has done by scheduling FSU, Miami, and Florida. It's winning those high-profile matchups that will gain the league credibility.

Totally agree . . . . but while we're at it let's schedule Vandy, Ole Miss, Miss State, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Duke, Wake Forest, Maryland, Boston College, Oregon State, Cal, Arizona, Utah, Washington State, Washington, Colorado, Kansas and Iowa State as much as possible.