Let's talk about schedules
Published April 29, 2007
South Florida Sun Sentinel
OK, we've fought it, but the truth is staring us in the face: We're 123 days away from the first football game of the season and it's going to be a long summer.
Still, that doesn't mean we can't talk about the 2007 season, so let's talk schedules today -- specifically, the non-conference schedules of the six BCS-league schools. We'll take a league-by-league look:
ACC: League members are playing 22 non-conference games against fellow BCS-league schools or Notre Dame, by far the highest number among the six leagues. Every league team is playing one such game, and Duke and Florida State are playing three each -- a national-high. League members also are playing seven games against I-AA foes.
Big East: League teams are playing 15 non-conference games against BCS-league schools or Notre Dame, second most among the six leagues. Syracuse is one of just three BCS-league schools playing three BCS foes. And each league member is playing at least one BCS-league opponent. There are seven games against I-AA foes.
Big Ten: There are 13 non-conference games against BCS schools or Notre Dame, fourth among the six leagues. And there are eight games against I-AA members.
Big 12: There are 11 games against BCS schools and eight against I-AA foes.
Pac-10: There are 11 games against BCS schools or Notre Dame and just two against I-AA schools -- by far the lowest among the BCS leagues.
SEC: There are 14 games against BCS schools but nine against I-AA schools. That gives the SEC the ignominious distinction of the BCS league playing the most I-AA opponents.
These eight schools (of the 65 BCS-league teams) have the ignominious distinction of playing zero non-conference games against BCS-league schools: Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas and Texas Tech. That's the same number as last season.
Texas Tech, by the way, also was on the list last season. Weak, mighty weak. (Tech's non-conference schedule: Rice, SMU, UTEP and Division I-AA Northwestern State (La.).)
There are three schools (Duke, FSU and Syracuse) playing three non-conference games against fellow BCS-league schools this season; there were five last season. Syracuse was on that list then, too.
Good to see the ACC Beef up its OOC schedule. I do wish we played more then 15, 20 would have been better.
cuseroc Wrote:Pac-10: There are 11 games against BCS schools or Notre Dame and just two against I-AA schools -- by far the lowest among the BCS leagues.
Texas Tech, by the way, also was on the list last season. Weak, mighty weak. (Tech's non-conference schedule: Rice, SMU, UTEP and Division I-AA Northwestern State (La.).)
There are three schools (Duke, FSU and Syracuse) playing three non-conference games against fellow BCS-league schools this season; there were five last season. Syracuse was on that list then, too.
I bet the lack of far west I-AA schools plays a part in the PAC-10 playing very few teams from that division.
My preseason pick to win CUSA West is Texas Tech. They by far have the most returning talent of any team from the division.
Good to see Syracuse mentioned as playing the most BCS teams with FSU and Duke. Too bad Vandy and Ga Tech backed out, or the Cards would have had 3 as well for the 2nd straight year. We have 2 on the schedule this year but I think NC State would have been pushed back to another year if we had Vandy and Tech still slated.
Dividing the number of games play by the number of members gives you:
Big East - 1.875 games vs BCS members OOC
ACC - 1.83
Big 10 - 1.18
SEC - 1.16
PAC 10 - 1.1
Big 12 - .916
The big East schools play the largest percentage of OOC games against BCS schools with the ACC right behind. There is a fairly big drop after that. The Big 12 has 1/3 of the conference that plays no BCS opponents OOC.
Shannon Panther Wrote:Dividing the number of games play by the number of members gives you:
Big East - 1.875 games vs BCS members OOC
ACC - 1.83
Big 10 - 1.18
SEC - 1.16
PAC 10 - 1.1
Big 12 - .916
The big East schools play the largest percentage of OOC games against BCS schools with the ACC right behind. There is a fairly big drop after that. The Big 12 has 1/3 of the conference that plays no BCS opponents OOC.
Good analysis. The Big 12 (Texas Tech and Baylor in particular) is becoming a joke when it comes to scheduling. Give the Big East and the ACC some credit.
Quote:These eight schools (of the 65 BCS-league teams) have the ignominious distinction of playing zero non-conference games against BCS-league schools: Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas and Texas Tech. That's the same number as last season.
Pretty interesting, the ACC and the Big East are the only BCS conference to have every member play at least one BCS opponent. Interesting that Texas isn't playing a BCS foe.
Texas Tech is the smartest school in the BCS. D-AA, 3 Sun Belts, Kansas, and Baylor= Bowl eligible. You got to hand it to them. 6-0 start and they are bowl eligible and ranked by Columbus Day. They got a fool proof system to get to a bowl every year.
tough way to rebuild, 3 BCS schools on your sch.
Maize Wrote:Good to see the ACC Beef up its OOC schedule. I do wish we played more then 15, 20 would have been better.
We only have 8 teams.
Texas Tech should go ahead and join CUSA.
L-yes Wrote:Maize Wrote:Good to see the ACC Beef up its OOC schedule. I do wish we played more then 15, 20 would have been better.
We only have 8 teams.
Texas Tech should go ahead and join CUSA.
We played 18 against OOC BCS Leagues/Notre Dame last year.
I wanted to up it slight to 20 to shut up some of our detractors even more.
L-yes Wrote:Maize Wrote:Good to see the ACC Beef up its OOC schedule. I do wish we played more then 15, 20 would have been better.
We only have 8 teams.
Texas Tech should go ahead and join CUSA.
Texas Tech and Baylor should both join C-USA.
WacoBearcat Wrote:Texas Tech and Baylor should both join C-USA.
Waco, is it really wise to make fun of the place you work? lmfao
BJUnklFkr Wrote:WacoBearcat Wrote:Texas Tech and Baylor should both join C-USA.
Waco, is it really wise to make fun of the place you work? lmfao
No worries. Alums, students, everybody down here makes fun of the football team. ;-)
cuseroc Wrote:Let's talk about schedules
Published April 29, 2007
South Florida Sun Sentinel
OK, we've fought it, but the truth is staring us in the face: We're 123 days away from the first football game of the season and it's going to be a long summer.
Still, that doesn't mean we can't talk about the 2007 season, so let's talk schedules today -- specifically, the non-conference schedules of the six BCS-league schools. We'll take a league-by-league look:
ACC: League members are playing 22 non-conference games against fellow BCS-league schools or Notre Dame, by far the highest number among the six leagues. Every league team is playing one such game, and Duke and Florida State are playing three each -- a national-high. League members also are playing seven games against I-AA foes.
Big East: League teams are playing 15 non-conference games against BCS-league schools or Notre Dame, second most among the six leagues. Syracuse is one of just three BCS-league schools playing three BCS foes. And each league member is playing at least one BCS-league opponent. There are seven games against I-AA foes.
Big Ten: There are 13 non-conference games against BCS schools or Notre Dame, fourth among the six leagues. And there are eight games against I-AA members.
Big 12: There are 11 games against BCS schools and eight against I-AA foes.
Pac-10: There are 11 games against BCS schools or Notre Dame and just two against I-AA schools -- by far the lowest among the BCS leagues.
SEC: There are 14 games against BCS schools but nine against I-AA schools. That gives the SEC the ignominious distinction of the BCS league playing the most I-AA opponents.
These eight schools (of the 65 BCS-league teams) have the ignominious distinction of playing zero non-conference games against BCS-league schools: Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas and Texas Tech. That's the same number as last season.
Texas Tech, by the way, also was on the list last season. Weak, mighty weak. (Tech's non-conference schedule: Rice, SMU, UTEP and Division I-AA Northwestern State (La.).)
There are three schools (Duke, FSU and Syracuse) playing three non-conference games against fellow BCS-league schools this season; there were five last season. Syracuse was on that list then, too.
That analysis is obviously flawed (or at least its inferred conclusion- that teams and conferences with more "BCS" nonconference opponents play harder schedules). For example, two of the teams mentioned as having the "ignominious" distinction of not playing a BCS school (Baylor and Texas) play TCU nonconference. We are likely a preseason top 25 team so simply restricting the analysis to "BCS" teams doesn't tell the whole story. In fact if you look at the different non-conference schedules using games against teams in this composite preseason top 25 (
http://www.lsufootball.net/articles/2007...-polls.htm ), the breakdown is:
ACC- 9 games
Big East- 1 game (USF-Auburn)
Big 10- 0 games (amazing, but with ND not in that top 25, they have no games)
Big XII- 7 games
MWC- 7 games (I included out of personal interest)
PAC-10- 4 games
SEC- 5 games
Obviously the analysis is limited and you can't make any conclusion other than the ACC plays the most preseason top 25 teams non conference. And by restricting it to the top 25 you leave off several good teams, but I'd rather do that than give credit to bad or mediocre teams as the analysis does in the article. Just because a team is "BCS" doesn't make it a quality opponent, and just because a team is "non-BCS" doesn't make it a weak opponent.
One other scheduling note to be aware of: Hawai'i is able to schedule 13 games, but only has 12 on the schedule at this time and may not be able to find a 13th game. The AD sat on his hands hoping for a prime game on the mainland to showcase Colt Brennan, but the game never materialized and other teams filled their schedules.
Hawai'i now has two I-AA games on the schedule, N. Colorado and Charleston Southern. N. Arizona wants to play them to fill out the schedule. Hawai'i sold their season ticket package with seven home games, which they've filled, so if they decided to play NAU, will it be at NAU?