no Boise State this season?

[kdog27]

I heard there was a lot of grumbling on our staff having to play Wisconsin, BSU, and OSU in one season.

I sure hope that's not true. Otherwise, that is just a pathetic attitude for this program. I doubt that the 60+ BCS conference schools (including the bottom-feeders) grumble about having to play their conference schedule each year, which by default means playing at least 3 top-25 teams.

He grumbled publicly about it, when OSU was added.

And I'll side with the coaching staff on this one. Yeah, we can compete with anybody on any given Saturday (or whatever weeknight ESPN deems appropriate), but we need to be realistic. Ohio State, Wisky & Boise State is a tough OOC schedule for anybody and that includes big-name BSC-conference schools.

To wit: Ohio State's 2005 OOC included a very tough team (Texas) and two teams that were not in the same stratosphere (Miami and San Diego State). So what's wrong with BG's coaches finding an OOC slate of Ohio State, Wisky & Boise State a bit too much?

Also lets be honest with ourselves we are not a BCS school. Having three really tough OOC games is too many. If we lose all three of those games attendance is pretty much doomed for the rest of the season.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

I was looking at www.nationalchamps.net as they have 06 tentative schedules and teams with opening that I could see coming here are Rutgers, Syracuse, Houston, TCU, Wyoming, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, and Temple

FWIW, West Virginia, Minnesota, Oregon and Hawaii are also teams looking for one more game this year. Also, Boise already has Hawaii pencilled in for 9/23 now.

Of the teams you listed previously though, I think it can be narrowed done a bit. To accomodate playing league games mostly in Oct and Nov, I expect our non-conf game to be in Sept. FAU already has 4 away non-conf games scheduled, so I would throw them out. Of the teams you listed, here are the ones that have open dates in September that coincide with us: Syracuse 9/30, TCU 9/9 or 9/23, Wyoming 9/23 or 9/30, and North Texas 9/23 or 9/30. Syracuse already has 2 away non-conf games. TCU has 1 home and 2 away, Wymoning has 2 home and 1 away, and N. Tex has 1 home and 3 away.

Given all that, there is one obvious choice who our new opponent has to be: WYOMING. They should be willing to go on the road and we already have/had some kind of deal with them for a game. A return game next year at Wyoming would fit for us since we already have Boise and FIU at home in 2007. Problem is Wyoming already has 4 non-conf games for next season. But one of them is @ Ohio, so I could see part of the deal to get Wyoming to come here this season would be to let them host us in 2007 instead of traveling to Athens.

I didn't list the teams you gave as I don't see any of them coming here next year

[transfer2BGSU]

Also lets be honest with ourselves we are not a BCS school. Having three really tough OOC games is too many. If we lose all three of those games attendance is pretty much doomed for the rest of the season.

EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES

Boy we sure as hell know how to come up with plenty of those.

[1987alum]

Also lets be honest with ourselves we are not a BCS school. Having three really tough OOC games is too many. If we lose all three of those games attendance is pretty much doomed for the rest of the season.

EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES

Boy we sure as hell know how to come up with plenty of those.

Transfer: Sadly, it is true. Until we build a solid fan base, we can't ignore the fact that a poor early season performance will have a negative impact on our home attendance. That's not an excuse, that's fact. I don't think we should accept that as a long-term situation, but that certainly is the current scenario.

[kdog27]

Also lets be honest with ourselves we are not a BCS school. Having three really tough OOC games is too many. If we lose all three of those games attendance is pretty much doomed for the rest of the season.

EXCUSES EXCUSES EXCUSES

Boy we sure as hell know how to come up with plenty of those.

I guess you like sitting in half full stadiums. The momentum of last season was killed before we even had a home game.

[hammb]

For me, personally, I want us to play the best over and over again. I want us to beat the best. And I don't care where we play them. However, we cannot overlook the fact that a poor start will drastically effect our attendance for the rest of the season.

I don't like the thought of our coaching staff complaining that a schedule is too hard, because even with those 3 schools it would rank as a pretty easy schedule once you factor in the MAC slate, which will not be strong at all again next year, IMO. When you compare it to many of the BCS schools play in a year our schedule will still be pretty laughable next year. '87 points out that OSU played Texas and two bottom tier teams last year OOC. But they also played most of the Big 10. We are not given those games against Big 10 opponents, so if we want the respect of playing (and beating) a tough schedule than we must do it by putting together seemingly brutal OOC schedules.

It may not be what's best for our record, and probably not what's best for our attendance, but if we want national respect we must play multiple top teams a year, and leave off all 1AA teams. So long as BSU is replaced with a 1A team I'm not going to complain too much, but if they asked BSU to postpone that game so we can bring in Eastern Kentucky I'd add this as another reason to not like our current coaching staff.

[San Diego Falcon]

don't like the thought of our coaching staff complaining that a schedule is too hard, because even with those 3 schools it would rank as a pretty easy schedule once you factor in the MAC slate, which will not be strong at all again next year, IMO. When you compare it to many of the BCS schools play in a year our schedule will still be pretty laughable next year. '87 points out that OSU played Texas and two bottom tier teams last year OOC. But they also played most of the Big 10. We are not given those games against Big 10 opponents, so if we want the respect of playing (and beating) a tough schedule than we must do it by putting together seemingly brutal OOC schedules.

Amen.

I don't like coaches complaining about an already-set schedule. It wouldn't bother me as much is we were talking about coaches giving input on scheduling prior to finalizing it behind the scenes.

[rocketfootball]

Wow. You actually had more people at the Temple game? I know it was darn cold for the UT/BGSU game, I was there and tailgated for several hours before the game and even a little after it, but it is just hard to believe that you would have more fans for Temple than your big rival. If I remember correctly, it was a pretty good crowd for the UT/BGSU game.

RF: It looked good, but the attendance figures look like this:

Temple @ BGSU: 19,462
Toledo @ BGSU: 17.438

I was up in the press box for the game, and while there were some empty seats in the two upper corners of the visiting side.......I still guessed at least 20K. I guess I never looked at the official attendance when it was handed to us. That number just seems too low.

[svillefalcon]

Wow. You actually had more people at the Temple game? I know it was darn cold for the UT/BGSU game, I was there and tailgated for several hours before the game and even a little after it, but it is just hard to believe that you would have more fans for Temple than your big rival. If I remember correctly, it was a pretty good crowd for the UT/BGSU game.

RF: It looked good, but the attendance figures look like this:

Temple @ BGSU: 19,462
Toledo @ BGSU: 17.438

I was up in the press box for the game, and while there were some empty seats in the two upper corners of the visiting side.......I still guessed at least 20K. I guess I never looked at the official attendance when it was handed to us. That number just seems too low.

it seems to low for me too... there werent 7,000 empty seats for the UT game were there?

[TG1996]

I hope they add an away game at The Citadel.

Or Oberlin.

Random fact... the radio guy for Oberlin athletics is a BG grad.

[BGSU33]

I’d love to play schools from out west like some that were mentioned before such as Wyoming or Oregon. I wish we’d do it in basketball too.

[1987alum]

I’d love to play schools from out west like some that were mentioned before such as Wyoming or Oregon. I wish we’d do it in basketball too.

I've always liked Wyoming as a potential opponent. That being said, I'd selfishly prefer a home-and-home with Rutgers.

[ChicagoFalcon]

Hammb Wrote: "For me, personally, I want us to play the best over and over again. I want us to beat the best. And I don't care where we play them. However, we cannot overlook the fact that a poor start will drastically effect our attendance for the rest of the season.

I don't like the thought of our coaching staff complaining that a schedule is too hard, because even with those 3 schools it would rank as a pretty easy schedule once you factor in the MAC slate, which will not be strong at all again next year, IMO. When you compare it to many of the BCS schools play in a year our schedule will still be pretty laughable next year. '87 points out that OSU played Texas and two bottom tier teams last year OOC. But they also played most of the Big 10. We are not given those games against Big 10 opponents, so if we want the respect of playing (and beating) a tough schedule than we must do it by putting together seemingly brutal OOC schedules.

It may not be what's best for our record, and probably not what's best for our attendance, but if we want national respect we must play multiple top teams a year, and leave off all 1AA teams. So long as BSU is replaced with a 1A team I'm not going to complain too much, but if they asked BSU to postpone that game so we can bring in Eastern Kentucky I'd add this as another reason to not like our current coaching staff."


I'd have to agree with you on this one Hamm! I'd rather play tough teams year in and year out! Gain the exposure and national headlines, which in turn will do well for recruiting. It's called evolving and the only way to evolve in sports is to play against the best...it already hurts our chances by playing in our own conference...I hate to say that, but it's true.