The BCS and Rigged Schedules
Not that they're alone. In fact the Irish are trend following. Look at who the Buckeyes play out of conference this year:
| Youngstown State (Alumni Band) | Columbus, Ohio | |||
| Akron (Hall of Fame) | Columbus, Ohio | |||
| Washington | at Seattle, Wash. | |||
| Kent State | Columbus, Ohio |
That's the number 50, 71, 105 and 119th ranked teams in the country if you're counting. And Youngstown State doesn't even get a home game out of the deal. It's an away and an away. They play in Columbus next year as well. Neither does Akron. Of course that's more money, but what about the spirit of the game? I can hear you snickering.
This points out another trend happening in college football scheduling: the haves will only play opponents who will accept deals that don't include a home and home, in other words, the havenots. The havenots have to play Ohio State on Columbus turf. The Buckeyes won't set foot in Akron, Youngstown or Troy all of whom are on the OSU schedule.
They don't have to because they know the payday is worth it to the havenots. So Ohio Sate can schedule these teams pretty much as they want with no notion of a fair trade.
The Gators are are doing the same thing. The National Champs play Western Kentucky, Troy and Florida Atlantic all in Gainesville. None will entertain the Gators for a home game.
Here's Arkansas' killer slate:
- September 1
- September 29
- October 6
- October 27
A couple of others in the running for the worst in the country:
What does it mean? It means we're likely to see more BCS type games like Florida-OSU. In retrospect OSU only played two tough games before Florida. If Ohio State played a harder schedule, it's likely they wouldn't have made the National Championship game and Troy Smith wouldn't have won the Heisman.
But without a playoff and with almost no room for a loss, teams are trying to schedule their way to more dollars and championships. Expect this to keep getting worse until a playoff becomes reality.
posted by The Rock @ 7:12 PM
11 Comments:
I agree 100% And I'm an Irish fan. It sickens me to see the ruse Kevin White justifies as "barn-storming" and then having the temerity to say Rockne would be proud for returning to the roots.
I am also an Irish fan but recognize the problem is not Kevin White, the problem is the current BCS/Bowl system. White is just playing the cards he is dealt and trying to put the Irish in the best position to be in the title game and create revenues for the University. That is his job. When we go to a true playoff system these problems will disappear and then it would make sense for the Irish to be "purer". With the convoluted system we have the top universities would be stupid to do other than they are currently doing.
As an Irish fan, I have no problems with playing teams from universities where they take the student part of student-athlete seriously, even if they tend to be weaker teams from major conferences: B.C., Stanford, Vandy, Rice, Duke, N. Carolina, Baylor,and Northwestern. While it 'dilutes' the schedule, it strengthens college football.
Seriously Andy??
That is so weak....so weak that you say that. I am a huge Irish, and it sucks to hear my friends who happen to oppose the Irish talk about some of the weak teams that have been on the schedule in the past few years. To get the respect Irish fans want we have to take on all challenges to silence the doubters. We can let the basketball team represent Notre Dame in it's attempt at diplomacy with teams from weaker conferences who take the student-athlete part seriously. Think big or go home!!
You know what strengthens college football?? ND vs Michigan, ND vs FSU in november, ND vs. any top level team. Why not pick up an SEC team, or play Wisconsin?? Sorry to bust your balls here, but come on!!
Before trashing the Irish, the key is to look at their overall schedule. What team would want to trade with them when they play a schedule ranked #1 difficulty in many polls, all front-loaded & many away from home.
I can't think of any justification for classifying their schedules year after year as being anything but top notch compaired to a lot of Division 2 matchups I see in the conferences.
First and formost I think it is only fair to mention I am a die hard Notre Dame Fighting Irish Fan. Am I the only one who thinks Kevin White needs to play stop stinking up schedule. He is from a Pac 10 second tier team in ASU. They have never won a Nation Championship. ASU might start winning now but at what price. They hired one of the biggest cheaters in NCAA history in Dennis Ericson. He makes Oklahoma's Barry Switzer look like a Choir Boy in comparison.
ASU will be on probation for cheating in the next 5 years .Bank on it.
Back to ND.Why not do the smart thing and keep Michigan on the schedule as well as adding Oklahoma. ND is dropping all the Service Acadamies but Navy in the next few years. But to me the most natural game to scedule in a wonderful win win is to put UCLA on a Home and Home shedule. Imagine the recruiting benefits Notre Dame and UCLA both get playing each other. It would help delute USC recruting line in LA and UCLA just gave Notre Dame 25,000 tickets for its fans,students and Alums. USC gives maybe 5000. seats at most to the Coliseum and the seats pretty much all stink.
This way ND can come playin LA every year. So drop a game no one cares about in Stanford and replace it with UCLA.
It is a natural with our basketball history together.
Last years game was a barn burner andUCLA seems to have done a great job in turning their program around too. They pounded USC last year in an upset in the last game.
ND could play both the ND and Usc games as the last ones of the year in LA.
Get it done Kevin White White. Keep Michigan on full time and add Oklahoma and then Alabama or Tennesse or Georgia every year in the deep South. Plus one of the Florida teams.
Rockne said to be the best ,play the best and beat the best. Keep our tradition of tough if not the toughest schedule every year.
Coach Weis and the team will be up to it.
GO IRISH.
I too am chagrined by the dumbing down of schedules across the nation.
But I do part ways on the concept that a playoff will solve the problem. How would a playoff create more incentive to play a tough schedule?
Schedules have been dumbed down since the BCS formula replaced straight polling for picking a champion, and a playoff formula isn't going to be much different. You've still got to have some method for determining which 4, 8, 16 or whatever teams will play in the playoff. Any playoff system is going to resemble the BCS formula at some level. Any formula starts and ends with the win- loss record and the subjective polls.
Even the strength of schedule component is a function of the subjective polls. The most prominent poll is made up of voters who can't, by virtue of their professions, even watch the games!
"Scheduling for a national championship" results from having a system that purports to be based on objective criteria. But the only objective criteria for ranking football teams are the W-L record and margin of victory. Those criteria compel a team to schedule as many patsies as possible.
Give me a regular season filled with compelling matchups, and a bunch of good bowl games on January 1, and let us all argue about who is the best until September.
Robbie-
You want ND to go back to the masochistic schedule of years past so that even an outstanding team might finish 9-3 or 10-2 while the rest of college football's elites play Troy?
Others are right that this is a BCS byproduct. Just look at the current College Football landscape. Kevin White would lose his job right behind his headcoaches if they went back to murderous schedules
Let's be honest here. There's a difference between creating a tough schedule by taking all opponents (including 'Bama) and creating a tough schedule by incompetently scheduling the toughest opponents in the first 6 weeks. It seems as though we could have a tune-up game against one of the more academically oriented teams (Northwestern, Stanford, etc.) but then have a mix of opponents alternating between traditional, inter-sectional powerhouses (USC, UM, UF, OK, 'Bama) and opponents we are used to seeing on the same field as the Irish (Navy, Purdue, etc.).
The point is it doesn't have to be either a schedule filled with chumps OR a nearly impossible front-loaded mess. If the product on the field is good, and the leadership is good, we should be able to schedule a tune-up game followed by games alternating between interesting, inter-sectional match-ups and traditional Irish opponents.
NDY2K in PDX
Well let me just say first that I am from Pennsylvania and how Penn States Schedule didn't get mentioned in this article I have no idea!!! Temple, Fl.Int and Buffalo not to mention Illinois and Indiana.
But anyway it would be foolish for ND not to put some of the weaker teams on their schedule. I mean look at what the 2012 line up is looking like right now. Road games against USC and Oklahoma and home against Michigan?? Ouch!! Add in the regulars like Purdue and the occasional Pitt, BC, ect and things could get ugly. AS for this year it's front loaded and ugly. I will be pulling for them every week as usual but when other teams like Penn State start the season with 5 out of 7 at home and 3 against the 117-118-119th ranked teams in the nation it's time to make a change in South Bend.
Just a thought.....most of these 'small' schools you are refering to don't have NBC funding their athletic departments.
Why does ND not want to join a conference? They don't want to share any money they make.
That sound you hear is glass breaking from all the stones being thrown.
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