Ranking the nonconference schedules

[fsquid]

Tought I might go ahead and start a fight.

Quote:

Ranking the nonconference schedules: The leagues Matthew Hayes This is the ninth and final installment in a series of columns that have ranked nonconference schedules. Stop us when you've heard this before. Don't play tough nonconference games, the popular theory goes. There's too much to lose and nothing to gain. Unless, that is, you think like USC coach Pete Carroll. "Why wouldn't you play games like that?" Carroll asked. Carroll's reasons sound a whole lot better than the annual gobbledygook of "too much to lose." "Players want to play in these type of games," Carroll said. "They want to play at Ohio State or Auburn or Nebraska. If you're a competitor, you want to play the best." Since everything in Carroll's world revolves around recruiting, guess where his recruiting pitch begins? No one plays a better schedule. And no conference in college football, year-in and year-out, plays a nonconference schedule better than the Pac-10. USC will play at Ohio State and Notre Dame this fall, and those two games are part of 15 that Pac-10 teams will play against foes from other BCS leagues (that's half of the conference's nonconference games). Nine of those 15 matchups -- including Washington State's game against Notre Dame in San Antonio -- are on the road. The Trojans have been everywhere under Carroll. And recruits eat it up. Those games, Carroll said, are a big reason why USC has averaged 12 wins a season since 2002 and played in seven straight BCS bowls. "The best way to explain it is we want to be pushed, to be tested," Carroll said. "That's where you find out who you are." Ranking the BCS conferences 1. Pac-10: Two reasons the Pac-10 is annually the best in nonconference scheduling: television money and exposure. The Pac-10 doesn't have a CBS-type deal like the SEC, or an ESPN-type deal like the Big Ten, where the conference is given prime television spots and celebrated on a weekly basis. Whether or not you choose to believe it, there is an East Coast bias -- if for no other reason, the three-hour time difference. Playing intriguing non-con games allows the league to force itself on the television-viewing public, and of course, poll voters. 2. ACC: It's easy to take shots at the league that expanded for football greatness, and then watched its two marquee teams (FSU, Miami) go in the tank. For all the grief the league has taken, no one plays the big, bad SEC better than the ACC -- the always-trying-harder little brother in the South. No one plays more games against BCS teams -- including national heavyweights Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama. 3. SEC: We've all heard the argument, but until another SEC team gets hosed in the BCS scramble because of a soft slate (see: Auburn, 2004), the majority of the SEC will continue to schedule non-con fluff to help absorb the body blows of the weekly league schedule. Is it right? If you're a coach in the league, you better believe it is. But it's shameful that Florida, with arguably the best players and coach in the nation, plays FIU, Troy and Charleston Southern in non-con games. 4. Big 12: Oklahoma, Colorado and Texas are among the best in the nation at scheduling up in non-con games, but there's a significant drop to the remaining nine teams in the league. How in the world can Nebraska -- which has been fairly solid in non-con scheduling -- play not one, not two, but three teams from the Sun Belt in one season? And don't get me started on the Kansas schools. 5. Big East: No conference was impacted more by the 12th game, leaving the league with five non-con games to fill. In this day of teams ducking BCS opponents for easy wins, the Big East annually struggles to find games. At some point, the league will have to add a team (Memphis or East Carolina?) to ease the pressure of finding five games. 6. Big Ten: There are two ways to look at the marriage between the Big Ten and the MAC: It makes for dog games, and it gives solid non-BCS programs a nice revenue stream. I prefer to look at the latter when speaking of the 14 games against the MAC. But add in the nine games against I-AA teams, and that's 23 wins (in theory, anyway) in a non-con schedule of 44 games. Ranking the non-BCS conferences 1. Conference USA: 25 games vs. BCS teams; 18 on the road. Games against top-10 teams Oklahoma, Texas (twice), Oklahoma State (twice), Mississippi (twice) and Virginia Tech (twice). Those 25 games against BCS teams average to two per team in the 12-member league. 2. Sun Belt: 22 games vs. BCS teams; 19 on the road. Fortunately, the young football conference has an unofficial affiliation with the SEC. And that means big money for big beatings: Ten games against the SEC will bring Sun Belt teams a minimum of $5 million -- and likely much more. 3. MAC: 28 games vs. BCS teams; 20 on the road. It's not just the Big Ten. The MAC has 15 other games against BCS teams, and the 28 total games against the elite conferences are the most of any league in the nation. So why are they ranked behind the Sun Belt and C-USA? Those 13 games against the Big Ten don't hold as much weight. 4. WAC: 15 games vs. BCS teams; 11 on the road. On travel issues alone, the WAC is close enough to push the MAC for the third spot. League teams play every BCS conference except the ACC, and also play a game at Notre Dame. 5. Mountain West: 14 games vs. BCS teams; 9 on the road. The best non-BCS conference has the easiest (relative to the rest of the non-BCS leagues) road in nonconference games. How's this for easy: Games against Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Oregon State, Florida State and UCLA among the group of non-cons. The BCS scoreboard Games against I-AA teams: ACC (29 percent), Big East (25 percent), SEC (23 percent), Big Ten (21 percent), Big 12 (19 percent), Pac-10 (13 percent). Games against BCS teams: Pac-10 (50 percent), ACC (42 percent), Big East (40 percent), Big Ten (32 percent), SEC (29 percent), Big 12 (23 percent). Games against non-BCS, I-A teams: Big 12 (58 percent), Big Ten (48 percent), SEC (48 percent), Pac-10 (37 percent), Big East (35 percent), ACC (29 percent).

[fishepa]

Thanks squid for pulling the pin on the grenade and running away.

[coogrfan]

"C-USA. Anyone. Anytime. Anywhere."

[Husker_OS]

Ehh this won't be too bad. This is one of those "factual" threads...which usually don't get much play here.



I agree though, Florida's schedule is awful. Alabama does well in some cases, but then not so well in others. We schedule a game in Dallas against a Big 12 foe but alas we also schedule Georgia State.

[fsquid]

Quote: Originally Posted by fishepa

Thanks squid for pulling the pin on the grenade and running away.

That is called smart strategery.

[Cusefan]

Im kinda shocked the Big East isnt last...

[superjames1992]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cusefan

Im kinda shocked the Big East isnt last...

The Big East's schedule isn't too bad this year really.

It's not great, but it's better than the last few years.

WVU has Auburn on the road and East Carolina and Colorado at home. Cincinnati travels to Oregon State and hosts Illinois and Fresno State. USF plays Miami and Florida State (And plays two 1-AA teams, LOL). Syracuse plays three Big 10 opponents in Northwestern and Minnesota at home and Penn State on the road. Connecticut plays at Notre Dame, hosts North Carolina, and plays at Baylor, who might be decent this year. Rutgers has by far the worst schedule as the only somewhat tough game is a game at Maryland. And Pittsburgh plays Notre Dame at home and N.C. State on the road.

It's not a bunch of world-beaters, but it's not emabrrassing, either (With the exception of USF and Rutgers' two 1-AA team debacle). However, that's just a casualty of the 12th game on a conference that has to schedule one more non-conference game than every other BCS conference (And two more than the Pac-10).

[Sportsforever]

I'm not going to argue...as a diehard Gator I'm embarrassed by their OOC schedule. Seriously...we should be playing FSU and Miami every year plus one other solid team. Unfortunately there is no incentive for programs to do so because so much credence is given to unbeatens regardless of who you beat.