(09-06-2013 01:42 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote: (09-06-2013 01:17 PM)Lou_C Wrote: This conference could look a lot better if they just scheduled smart, and then would attract better athletes and coaches, which means they would be better as well as looking better.
Isn't it obvious that's what most teams in other conferences are doing? Big Ten only played 2 games last week vs P5 - Syracuse & California. Neither team figures to win their own conference. Big XII? again, 2 games - Miss. St and LSU. Even SEC mostly picks OOC games they can clearly count on winning (except for Georgia, but that's every year for them!)
Syracuse should schedule Rutgers & Purdue, not Penn State. Maryland is probably about right for them. Pitt is about right, given they play Notre Dame as 1 of their 4 OOC games. BC is a glutton for frequent flyer miles this year, @USC and @New Mexico. Virginia will get theirs when they return on BYU and Oregon...
Maryland is just right for Syracuse...but not when they already have Notre Dame. Maryland would be fine as one test game to go with three sure wins. Maryland will likely be favored in that game.
I'm ok with Penn State or Northwestern, not both.
You're exactly right, you can look around and see what works and what doesn't in today's landscape. It's not like I've cracked some code and I'm the only one who knows it. It's right there to be seen every single year.
As I posted on the OOC series thread, WVU was a crap team last year. Play out in your head what happens with the image of the Big 12 if they played say BYU/Oregon or PSU/Northwestern, or just followed through with the FSU game.
And then went in and beat Texas and Baylor. And then made Texas Tech look good and KSU look awesome.
If WVU comes into the Big 12 2-2, the entire image of that conference changes, and it has nothing to do with how good or bad WVU was. It's all in the scheduling.
Syracuse could be coming into the Clemson game 4-0 off a big bowl win last year. That could be a prime time game. And I'm saying "could" not in the sense that they "could" have beaten Penn State, it is something almost totally in their control.
Instead, they'll likely be 2-2 and a noon game on ESPNU. That's not quite the same when it comes to recruiting.
Look at NC State. They may not be much better than Syracuse, but they have an excellent chance to come into Tallahassee at the end of October ranked and with one loss. And if so, that's going to be a big game.
Helps them, helps FSU if FSU wins, helps the conference.
But no, I guess they should have opened with a tough game against BYU and then flown cross country to have Oregon beat their pants off. That makes sense.