Overscheduling 101

Falcon52 · Post by **Falcon52** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:20 am

I wish we would get a chance to play the #1 team in the country every year. No matter who it is.

I would rather get a chance to play the best then kill Temple 70-10. Or lose to Boise the way we did last year.

Krebs - think of who might be #1 next year and let's schedule them. I think it's great publicity for our program.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:11 am

Falcon52 wrote:Krebs - think of who might be #1 next year and let's schedule them. I think it's great publicity for our program.

What does New Mexico have to do with this?

transfer2BGSU · Post by **transfer2BGSU** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:17 pm

RobbyFalcon wrote:Like the 'rassler says, "to be the best, you gotta beat the best." I'd like to think we're trying to be the best.

Rob, Rob, Rob, Rob, Rob....Do I need to call this one down for Sports or Consequences?

Rick Flair is not a "rassler" - he is THE MAN. So the quote goes, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man!"

And there is absolutely no reason why BG should not be trying to schedule the likes of OSU, OU (sorry Duck fans, but that is Oklahoma U), Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and any other BCS program out there. We have to listen to some of the second-raters complain about a cream puff schedule, so let's go out and play them and beat them. Sure, this year may not be the best year to play OSU, but if their team thinks this is a bye week, well.....we'll show them that it's not.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:31 pm

There’s a fundamental difference in philosophy on how to approach this. We all want BG to defeat Ohio State and/or other high profile opponents.

The approach of some is to blindly schedule the biggest teams year after year and hope that one year the nut will finally crack.

My approach is to wisely select the right battles to fight at the right time and shrewdly position these games to provide the team the best opportunity for success at a time when the circumstances are ripe for an upset. The BG/OSU game in 2003 was a perfect example of this as the stars were nearly aligned for a monumental victory.
No, you can’t see the future for either yourself or a given opponent, but the current dynamics of the BG/OSU match-up (timing, personnel experience, location) are not conducive for success and do not give BG the best possible chance to win the game and make history.

I want to fight the good fight, but fight it by putting BG in the best possible position to succeed, something the current arrangement doesn’t do.

MACMAN · Post by **MACMAN** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:54 pm

no, I see the point...the purpose of the AD is to set games we can knowingly win, to build confidence.
Well playing games like that would mean what exactly...playing the local HS team...they surely could not beat us...and a game like would realy buil our confidence...maybe finlay college one would think we should beat them as well. what aobut D II...some of those schools are quiote good though...well we would just avoid those just to make sure.
this way we are surely going to well perpaired to play other mac schools..our guys would be so happy. yea

draw...win some lose some, learn from both, what beats you normally will make stronger and smarter the next time around.

Zom · Post by **Zom** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:14 pm

Perhaps there would be a better time to play an OOC team, but given that the game is there, it seems to me that apart from the reported $600k plus "in the bank", the exposure BGSU gets from putting in even a respectable performance is incalculable.

This "intangible" benefit was argued in a previous thread about the worth of a sports program to a university. Perhaps it has been covered already here and I have missed it, but it is crucial to the debate at hand. What value does Saturday bring if BGSU plays a solid game, or even, as is possible every Saturday, pulls off the shocker of the season? And really, if BGSU is Division 1A, why should this game be so traumatic a proposition? Northwestern is ranked at 79 in SI's power rankings, behind BGSU at 78. Does Northwestern get its knickers in a twist to such an extent whenever they face OSU?

Sieze the opportunity. Sieze the day, and dare to succeed. The prize is too great to turn away from. Not even OSU can guarantee which way the ball will bounce, and looking at this another way, what would a BGSU victory do for the rest of the Falcon's MAC run-in?

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:49 pm

Zom wrote:Perhaps there would be a better time to play an OOC team, but given that the game is there, it seems to me that apart from the reported $600k plus "in the bank", the exposure BGSU gets from putting in even a respectable performance is incalculable.

This "intangible" benefit was argued in a previous thread about the worth of a sports program to a university. Perhaps it has been covered already here and I have missed it, but it is crucial to the debate at hand. What value does Saturday bring if BGSU plays a solid game, or even, as is possible every Saturday, pulls off the shocker of the season? And really, if BGSU is Division 1A, why should this game be so traumatic a proposition? Northwestern is ranked at 79 in SI's power rankings, behind BGSU at 78. Does Northwestern get its knickers in a twist to such an extent whenever they face OSU?

Sieze the opportunity. Sieze the day, and dare to succeed. The prize is too great to turn away from. Not even OSU can guarantee which way the ball will bounce, and looking at this another way, what would a BGSU victory do for the rest of the Falcon's MAC run-in?

Zom,

GREAT post. Well said. GO FALCONS!!!! SHOCK THE WORLD!!

Falcon52 · Post by **Falcon52** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:12 pm

Warthog - I know. I was hoping someone would think it was funny. I was then going to type that it might be Michigan because we play them next year right? Or was that this year. Old jokes, are not funny anymore, I will stop.

Post by **ZiggyZoomba** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:25 pm

"Northwestern is ranked at 79 in SI's power rankings, behind BGSU at 78. Does Northwestern get its knickers in a twist to such an extent whenever they face OSU?"

That's a great comment right there, Zom!

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 9:33 pm

JoeFalcon wrote:(5) For what it's worth, in reading Greg Christopher's comments about getting more home games at the Doyt, these out of place guarantee/momentum-killing games in the middle of the season might be a thing of the past.

I wouldn't count on that.

First of all, the MAC does have some sort of global agreement with the Big Ten to supply teams during the Big Ten's bye week. I don't even know the outline, much less the details. I don't know the length. But something is there (and it is good in my opinion. With four games, I like the idea of us playing one Big Ten team each season).

Also, even if the agreement with the Big Ten goes away, it seems likely that some nonconference games will continue to happen after week four. The MAC is about to have an odd number of teams. Starting next year, most MAC teams will probably get what amounts to a conference bye at some point in the season -- and that will probably lead us back to the Big Ten, with its odd number of teams.