Positive thoughts: Why our schedule might kneecap our season

[JoeFalcon]

In some quarters of Falcondom, making the case for a slightly more manageable non conference schedule is the equivalent of saying Brian McClure couldn’t throw, Doyt Perry couldn’t coach and Dan Dakich couldn’t swear. This line of thinking might soon change if the schedule does what I fear it might so to us this year.

Recapturing the casual (re: bandwagon) fan is unfortunately necessary to give us the type of home-field advantage we need during the meat of the schedule. They became largely disenchanted after the debacles last year and the hiring of a new coach is sure to catch their attention. So what’s on the plate for some of the most critical games of the year that will arguably shape the perceptions of BG football for thousands of people? A I-AA to help break in the apparently complicated offense to grasp and young defense? A middling Big 10 team with name recognition but still beatable on a good day? Not really.

First on the plate is Troy, a defending conference champion with most of their starters back who outgained Ohio State at the Horseshoe. The next home game is against perennial BCS Bowl Game contender Boise, who many pundits predict to go undefeated. Throw in a game at defending Big 12 North Division Champion Missouri and a “breather” on the road against Conference USA member Marshall and you have not a single game where we will likely be favored to win and at least 3 where we will almost assuredly be double digit underdogs.

Lest my argument get misconstrued, I believe we should absolutely challenge ourselves in the non-conference portion of the schedule. Play a Boise, play an Ohio State, play a Wisconsin for sure. But does *every * game have to be an uphill battle before we even get to the MAC slate? Many of these deals are done years in advance, but we seem to actively try to deprive ourselves of games that can serve as a calm before the storm. Ohio State will play one, maybe two games this year where they don’t have the most talent and would be considered the underdog. We play twice that many before we even hit the MAC.

There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that this philosophy “prepares” us for the MAC schedule. Did Pitt get the team ready for Buffalo last year? If anything, it hurts us by killing the team’s confidence or causing us to peak too early. The other common argument that it “puts us in the spotlight.” It sure does, for a fleeting moment. I like that. But so does playing for a conference championship on ESPN, winning the conference championship on ESPN and participating in the accompanying bowl games that are largely predicated on such achievements. For all of our feather-in-the-cap non conference success, Meyer and Brandon got us to a combined 1 championship game appearance in 8 years.

As long as we continue to pound our head against the wall with monumentally challenging non-conference schedules, the goal of winning a MAC championship will be that much harder to attain. It also just might cost our new coach and team the chance to develop any positive momentum either on or off the field, and that would be a shame.

Of course I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised and win some of these contests, but the point is that it shouldn’t have to be based on hope. Our schedule should put the program in a position to succeed, not be an albatross hanging around its neck.

[Ydfalcon]

Maybe I'm missing something, but how exactly are these "Positive thoughts?"

[Falconfreak90]

Personally, I think this non conf sked is pretty good. Yes, Boise State will be a handful. Yes, Troy will be a test, as will Mizzou and Marshall. We play one BCS team and 3 non BCS teams. And we own Mizzou's arse and I fully expect to beat them again. Yes we have new schemes and a new coaching staff to get going. Urban did pretty well his first year.

36 days to wait....Sept 3 needs to get here in a hurry.

GO FALCONS

[hammb]

This is the best schedule we've put together in awhile, IMO. Given the circumstance of breaking in a new coaching staff, I could see an argument for a cream puff to open the season, but I will never complain about a schedule being too tough. A patsy would be nice for THIS year, but this is the type of non-conference schedule I want to see us play every year.

And yes, every single non MAC game SHOULD be an uphill test, because the MAC has been a pathetic conference the last few years. The only way we'll ever get respect as a program is to schedule tough games and to start winning them. Dominating the MAC is meaningless, as long as the conference continues to field pathetic football teams. Once you're good enough to start winning with OOC schedules like this you'll start to dominate the MAC.

I'm sorry, but my expectations for Falcon football are high. The only way they can hope to reach those heights is by playing a super tough OOC schedule every year. I like it.

[FortWayneFalcon]

I curse the teams that schedule cream puffs in their non-conference schedules. The non-conference schedule should be used as an opportunity to show the rest of the country at what level of play that particular conference is striving, achieving, and not just a demonstration scrimmage for the offense and defense. We have teams in our schedule that are a good measure for our conference.

[orangeandbrown]

I guess when I look at this, I think about it for this year and from the big picture.

For this year, we have a tough schedule, no doubt about it. It makes things much tougher for us, especially in a transition year.

But, in the long term, I think about it more like hammb.

There is only one BCS team on our schedule....that's normal, and for financial reasons, Christopher has said we can expect to play money games in the future. I just think we should be able to compete with any non-BCS team, anytime. For certain, I think our program should be able to schedule someone from the Sun Belt conference and know that we don't consider it unduly tough. Are we really satisfied with the idea that we consider Troy a tough game, on our field?

I don't really object to a I-AA game. I think a BCS, 2 non BCS, and a I AA game would be OK. Most teams do it. But, we should be able to compete with this schedule, and if we can't, we have to get better.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I guess when I look at this, I think about it for this year and from the big picture.

For this year, we have a tough schedule, no doubt about it. It makes things much tougher for us, especially in a transition year.

But, in the long term, I think about it more like hammb.

There is only one BCS team on our schedule....that's normal, and for financial reasons, Christopher has said we can expect to play money games in the future. I just think we should be able to compete with any non-BCS team, anytime. For certain, I think our program should be able to schedule someone from the Sun Belt conference and know that we don't consider it unduly tough. Are we really satisfied with the idea that we consider Troy a tough game, on our field?

I don't really object to a I-AA game. I think a BCS, 2 non BCS, and a I AA game would be OK. Most teams do it. But, we should be able to compete with this schedule, and if we can't, we have to get better.

This sums up how I feel pretty much 100%, except I never want to see us play a 1-AA, unless that's the absolute only way to get to 6 home games and we're financially able to pull it off.

This year is tough, but if you want to excel, you have to challenge yourself every year. Say you're Dave Clawson and you're in a kid's living room. Isn't it nice to be able to tell him all the exposure he could get by playing Boise at home, or Mizzou on the road, or at Pitt, or against Wisconsin at CBS. I'm sure for some kids it's a powerful recruiting tool.

Also, there may be one year coming in the next ten or twenty where everything falls into a place and we have a shot at running the table into a BCS game. A schedule like this can get us there. Playing 1-AAs and patsies surrounding 1 decent team does not.

[JoeFalcon]

Not to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue, but I'm going to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue.

So maybe 4 straight tough games with zero breathers wasn't the best way to go.

The OU Bobcats played an average Connecticut team at home, North Texas (1-11 last year), Cal Poly (I-AA) and a 2-3 rebuilding Tennessee squad. A fairly challenging schedule but not the murderers row BG had.

[hammb]

Not to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue, but I'm going to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue.

So maybe 4 straight tough games with zero breathers wasn't the best way to go.

The OU Bobcats played an average Connecticut team at home, North Texas (1-11 last year), Cal Poly (I-AA) and a 2-3 rebuilding Tennessee squad. A fairly challenging schedule but not the murderers row BG had.

So do you believe the tough schedule we played made a difference yesterday? I doubt very seriously if our tough OOC schedule is why our secondary cannot cover or tackle. Nor is it why we get blown off the ball on both lines. I also don't believe the schedule is why our supposed #1 goto WR has had a terrible case of the drops all season long, and was really bad last night.

[FortWayneFalcon]

Not to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue, but I'm going to use this game to advance the argument on my little pet issue.

So maybe 4 straight tough games with zero breathers wasn't the best way to go.

The OU Bobcats played an average Connecticut team at home, North Texas (1-11 last year), Cal Poly (I-AA) and a 2-3 rebuilding Tennessee squad. A fairly challenging schedule but not the murderers row BG had.

Your argument has merit. How many years ahead is our non-conference schedule planned out, and therefore how soon will we be able to implement the weaker schedule format?
P.S. I still want to see us play in Ann Arbor though.

[duckunder53]

I see all of the games that we played in the non-conference as winnable, except Boise. So, I truly believe that being 3-1 with wins over Troy, Mizzou, and Marshall could have been a possibility. How is losing by one td two times too tough? It's not like we played three or four teams that were just going to beat us down (i.e. Ohio State, Oklahoma, Boise, and Wisky) all in the same year. No, we've spread them out but given our players the chance to play programs that are at that level. It's great, and I agree, a recruiting tool of sorts.

However, BG has issues lately of not winning the games that they should win. I don't blame it on Clawson. I have faith that Clawson can change that (read between the lines, I blame Brandon...kinda have a slight dislike for the guy). There is no reason that Ohio should have knocked us off. This has been an issue for quite some time now. If we want the best recruits, we need to beat the other MAC schools on a consistent basis. We can't let the recruits in Ohio get away to other MAC schools or lowly Big Ten schools because we can't be consistent. I truly believe that if we are consistent and win when we're supposed to, we can build upon that.

We've got some solid players, but let's continue to build that so that we have depth. Losing guys for choices they make off of the field does not help our program. Let's recruit the players that are assets to society and let our coaches take care of them while they're here. I don't think Brandon did a good job of that, not that I was there. But, a lot of his players did some things that you just shake your head at. And, those players could and would have added an awful lot to what BG wants to do. If we get rid of that, we can be special!

[Zom]

I have no idea what the answers are, but having had a chance to let that post mature since July, the article makes even better reading than it did when you posted it. Nice one, Joe Falcon.

[SB-50]

We discussed earlier how Boise does it. They do not load up on BCS teams for OOC games:

09 - Oregon
08 - @ Oregon
07 - @ Washington
06 - Oregon State
05 - @ Georgia, @ Oregon State
04 - Oregon State
03 - @ Oregon State
02 - @ Arkansas
01 - @ South Carolina, Washington State
00 - @ Arkansas, Washington State

Boise dominates their league and does not bite off more than they can chew OOC. Also, there's not alot of crazy road trips there either, i.e. not blowing a ton of cash for "exposure". They have only been D-1 since 1996, and joined the WAC in 2001. They definitely have it figuired out schedule-wise, i.e. they've used that formula to produce a highly visible program.

Let's scale back OOC and dominate the MAC.

[TG1996]

...and if we blow out Liberty, WKU and SE Missouri, then lose to OU, it's because our OOC schedule didn't prepare us. This year was a difficult OOC schedule, but if we finish the job at Mizzou and Marshall, there's a completely different tone.

[1987alum]

We played three non-BCS schools and had a BCS-school payday. In general, that's a pretty good schedule for us.

My ideal schedule:
H: vs. 1-AA ... a tuneup game
H: vs. non-BCS school
A: vs. non-BCS school
A: vs. BCS school ... payday

Now, if you drop Troy and substitute, say, SE Mizzou or someone like that, for this year, what's the difference? Coming out of OOC at 2-2 is nothing shameful here. I mean, lose to Mizzou and to Boise, beat Marshall and Troy. A good BG team should be able to do that.