Is Indiana 2010 the weakest non-conf schedule ever?
- Thread starter HFCS
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6-6 won't get them to a bowl, what conference games will this team win? Illinois? Purdue?? Michigan?? Not much else I see even a remote chance of happening...
I disagree. I'd rather be 2-2 against NIU, Iowa, UNI, and Utah than be 4-0 against that.
All this proves is that the Big 10 is full of marginal teams, that struggled with a pretty bad Indiana team. Their play in the forth quarter against Iowa last year rivaled Jim Criner's teams in terms of hapless.
So is JoPa. People need to open their eyes to how pathetic Penn St has schedules the last 5 or 6 years. When all of the sudden people jump back on the JoPa bandwagon, it's probably no coincidence he's no too old to coach when they load up with cream puffs. They've only played 2 non conference games outside of PA in the last 6 years, and those were trips to ND and Syracuse. Why they get any national respect is beyond me.
I remember watching those 2 games and the Iowa game and thinking all the stuff you just said. Indiana was a solid team last year, they were a bowl quality team but giving away those games in Ann Arbor and Iowa City blew it.
Anyone who thinks Indiana clearly has the weakest non-conf schedule ever apparently has a short-term memory, considering last year's K-State non-conf cost them a bowl appearance:
UMass - FCS
LA-Lafayette - Sun Belt
UCLA - Pac 10
TN Tech - FCS
Granted, UCLA was a decent matchup, however, they scheduled 2 FCS teams - one of them automatically wasn't going to count towards bowl eligibility, so effectively they went 5-6 and were ineligible for bowl participation. Someone in the AD needed to be kicked in the rear for that - you can't schedule two FCS games unless you're absolutely certain you won't need that "gimme win" for bowl eligibility, and K-State hasn't been certain about wins for more than half a decade now. There's nothing wrong with pathetic scheduling to pad records - everyone in the BCS does it. But are they trying to tell me they couldn't substitute either UMass or TN Tech for another Sun Belt or MAC team and not end up in the same place?
You sure you meant to word it this way? 6-6 will almost certainly get Indiana, or just about any other BCS team for that matter, to a bowl (the only time recently I can remember was K-State last year and Iowa in 2007). I think what you meant to say is you don't see any possible way IU can get to that magical record to become bowl eligible.
UMass - FCS
LA-Lafayette - Sun Belt
UCLA - Pac 10
TN Tech - FCS
Granted, UCLA was a decent matchup, however, they scheduled 2 FCS teams - one of them automatically wasn't going to count towards bowl eligibility, so effectively they went 5-6 and were ineligible for bowl participation. Someone in the AD needed to be kicked in the rear for that - you can't schedule two FCS games unless you're absolutely certain you won't need that "gimme win" for bowl eligibility, and K-State hasn't been certain about wins for more than half a decade now. There's nothing wrong with pathetic scheduling to pad records - everyone in the BCS does it. But are they trying to tell me they couldn't substitute either UMass or TN Tech for another Sun Belt or MAC team and not end up in the same place?
You sure you meant to word it this way? 6-6 will almost certainly get Indiana, or just about any other BCS team for that matter, to a bowl (the only time recently I can remember was K-State last year and Iowa in 2007). I think what you meant to say is you don't see any possible way IU can get to that magical record to become bowl eligible.
It all depends how many conf games you are sure to win.
You should always schedule yourself a bowl game.
Under your senario, we would have to have the second best Big 12 record in ISU history just to be 6-6 and make a bowl game.
I know we'll never be able to close Pandora's box again, but this schedule your way to a bowl game or championships or yadda yadda yadda sucks.
Was watching some of the Husker Century documentary yesterday (it's on NET public television like four times per week) and one of the things that struck me was their non-conference games in the 70s and early 80s.
In 1982, the Huskers only loss was AT PENN STATE in week 3. The following week they won AT AUBURN. The opened the season with IOWA at home. Can you imagine?
In 1983, the year they lost to Miami going for two in the Orange Bowl, they opened against PENN STATE in the Kickoff Classic. Then played AT MINNESOTA with home games against UCLA and SYRACUSE.
It wasn't just Nebraska either. Everybody scheduled great non-conference games every year. THAT is one of the only ways I can see to make college football better.
Take a peek at these non-conference schedules compared to what schools are buying today ...
NEBRASKA
1986 ... Florida State, Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina
1985 ... Florida State, Illinois, Oregon, New Mexico
1984 ... Wyoming, Minnesota, UCLA, Syracuse
1983 ... Penn State, Minnesota, UCLA, Syracuse
1982 ... Iowa, Penn State, Auburn, Hawaii
1981 ... Iowa, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn
1980 ... Utah, Penn State, Iowa, Florida State
Was watching some of the Husker Century documentary yesterday (it's on NET public television like four times per week) and one of the things that struck me was their non-conference games in the 70s and early 80s.
In 1982, the Huskers only loss was AT PENN STATE in week 3. The following week they won AT AUBURN. The opened the season with IOWA at home. Can you imagine?
In 1983, the year they lost to Miami going for two in the Orange Bowl, they opened against PENN STATE in the Kickoff Classic. Then played AT MINNESOTA with home games against UCLA and SYRACUSE.
It wasn't just Nebraska either. Everybody scheduled great non-conference games every year. THAT is one of the only ways I can see to make college football better.
Take a peek at these non-conference schedules compared to what schools are buying today ...
NEBRASKA
1986 ... Florida State, Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina
1985 ... Florida State, Illinois, Oregon, New Mexico
1984 ... Wyoming, Minnesota, UCLA, Syracuse
1983 ... Penn State, Minnesota, UCLA, Syracuse
1982 ... Iowa, Penn State, Auburn, Hawaii
1981 ... Iowa, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn
1980 ... Utah, Penn State, Iowa, Florida State
We should beat Kansas State at a neutral site at a place we basically had them beat last year.
We have a Kansas team with a new coaching staff and basically all new offensive personnel traveling to Ames this year.
Then there's Colorado...
There's 3 conference wins right there.
If there was only a place where I display my thoughts in detail...
http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/98150-i-expect-6-wins-cyclone-football-team-2010-a.html
I understand. Those three wins makes us 5-7. Id prefer 7-5 with 'automatic wins'...
Ideally I would like to play great teams and win them all. Obviously. I just think you build a better team by winning bowl games. Not giving valiant efforts against great teams.
Beating teams like Akron, Arkansas State, Towson, and Western Kentucky, well...then you've got Northern Illinois. Making bowl games by beating bad, bad teams.
Sure. You can sell bowl games to fans and recruits. Extra practices, more exposure
Its how KSU and Texas Tech were built.
Can't argue against extra practices. But, if you lose by 24 in a bowl game like NIU did (or Indiana who didn't even make a bowl) how do you sell that?
Fair enough. I would argue saying you went to a bowl game is plenty important enough. You dont have to say you were bowl champions.
Scheduling cupcakes is the way to rebuild. 1 tough game is ok, 2 is really tough, 3 like this year is overboard IMO.
Eventually when you are better scheduling tougher teams makes sense.
I'm excited and looking forward to the Utah game this year. A part of me though kind of wishes we were playing Utah State.
Interesting information. Thanks for digging it up.
I am guessing a lot of the reasoning behind those schedules was that it ensured them a lot of TV time. Back then, there was no cable football and only a few telivised games a week. You had to play Penn State in the non-con to get attention. Also, they were good enough to beat those calibre of teams every year.
Nowadays, Penn State can play Youngstown State for their opener every year and still get on TV. Times have changed. However, some of the bigger schools have started scheduling at least one really good non-con matchup to get a huge TV game and boost their BCS stock if they win. As a football fan I love seeing big non-con games set up.
However, as an ISU fan, I want the program to get better as quickly as possible. Going 1-3 in the non-con because we scheduled a bunch of bowl teams is not the best way to do it. We may be lucky and go 3-1 this year in non-con, but it is likely we will end up 2-2 which makes it that much tougher to go to a bowl game.
If we end up 5-7 this year because we lost to Utah, I am going to be a bit dissapointed. We have the talent to go to bowl games and win them if we don't schedule ranked opponents for more than one non-con game.
