Ugh. Brett McMurphy just tweeted that UC and Marshall will play at Nippert in 2017, Huntington in 2019. That leaves us with a wholly uninspiring home nonconference slate of Austin Peay and Marshall in 2017, and FOUR road nonconference games in 2019 (Miami, Ohio State, Boise, and Marshall) with UCLA at home. I would put on the tinfoil hat and say that one of those must be a future conference game in order for this to work, but none make sense. Something will have to change in 2019, and I hope something changes in 2017 as well.

The 2019 OOC schedule is completely out of whack. Five OOC opponents including four road games?

The possibilities here are 1) we will drop a couple of these games 2) someone will be joining the conference or 3) we will be moving to a 13 game regular season. I don't see #3 being very likely.

They really need to get rid of the Miami home and home. Something has to give with that 2019 schedule.

Something has to give because we cant have 5 OOC games. Drop the Miami game would be good for starters.

I'd be down with replacing Marshall for the Redhawks every year.

Not a far distance to travel and they have a great traveling fan base (remember how many people were at our game in 2007).

In looking more closely at this, quite a bit needs to change in 2019. We not only have to lose one of the four road games, but likely a second one as well. We didn't just spend $86 million on Nippert to have one OOC game - albeit a great one in UCLA - per season.

Yay! A home and home with a CUSA school. Whoop whoop!

I think UC is doing a good job finding P5 opponents for home and home schedules where they can and filling the rest with quality G5 teams (Marshall and Boise are great examples...BYU not technically G5 but also a good choice). Obviously there is some tweaking to be done, but I like the job they have done finding future opponents. My real hope is they phase out the games against FCS competition.

Maybe OSU is backing out.

Any 2019 schedule must be written in erasable ink; I think four years out these are more placeholders for one or both schools. Depending upon the closeness of relationships, there can be real flexibility with the contract.

Personally, I'm lukewarm about Marshall, but they have a tradition of good football and an excellent fan base that will travel. It's an easy road trip for our fans too. A game with Marshall becomes even more palatable if the UC conference schedule suddenly includes ACC or B12 foes.

When we last played at Marshall I found them to be very hospitable and a nice victory.

Last road game at Marshall I ran into Rath for the first time, who brought the party to the bleachers there.

(10-22-2015 02:31 PM)OKIcat Wrote:  Any 2019 schedule must be written in erasable ink; I think four years out these are more placeholders for one or both schools. Depending upon the closeness of relationships, there can be real flexibility with the contract.

Personally, I'm lukewarm about Marshall, but they have a tradition of good football and an excellent fan base that will travel. It's an easy road trip for our fans too. A game with Marshall becomes even more palatable if the UC conference schedule suddenly includes ACC or B12 foes.

Shh! The new conference is a double secret secret.

We are going independent in 2019 . We need 7 more games.

(10-22-2015 02:29 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  Maybe OSU is backing out.

ya think? seriously, uc could use the cash buyout from TO$U

(10-23-2015 06:01 AM)dave108 Wrote:  

(10-22-2015 02:29 PM)bearcatdp Wrote:  Maybe OSU is backing out.

ya think? seriously, uc could use the cash buyout from TO$U

I doubt they buy us out. More likely the game gets kicked down a few years later.

Scheduling Marshall home and away doesn't make me want to do back flips but it is a road trip I would consider making. Huntington is about a 5 hour trip from my place in North Carolina. So from that standpoint, it's a good opportunity for me to support the Cats at one of their away games. Never been to Huntington so I always enjoy visiting a new city that I have never been to.

I would rather play Marshall than some FCS school. Playing another top level G5 school is not terrible. We need these games to prove separation from other G5 schools for the access bowl slot. However, this is predicated on us winning the games.

I doubt OSU would be pushing for it to be out of that year (will probably be open to moving, but I doubt pushing). We need 3 home games out of conference for 7 home games that year and it's already set. Plus the deal was negotiated some time ago, so the pay is probably less than it would be if it was signed now.

That said, from UC's end, my guess is it will be the easiest one to move and it goes back to 2020 or 2021.

Next year we have 7 home games:

UTM
REDSKINERS
MORMONS
ECU
UH
MEMPHIS
USF

Roadees:
UCF
UCONNS
TEMPLE
TULSA
PU