2015 Season Opener Announced

[Falcon137]

And it's Tennessee.

@ Tennessee -- In Nashville
@ Maryland
vs Memphis
@ Purdue

Wow. That's tough sledding.

http://bgsufalcons.com/news/2014/12/9/F ... 45942.aspx" target="_blank

[mscarn]

That's the toughest non-conference schedule I've seen for a MAC team. Ever. Even Memphis won 9 games this past year. Brutally, brutally unfair to the program to send them on the road against Power 5 conference teams three times in the first four weeks. As a point of reference, Ohio University played 0 Power 5 teams in 2013 and that helped them make a bowl. Ohio State played 1 Power 5 team out of conference (and lost) this year. Kingston used to work for Kevin Anderson, the AD at Maryland, and I wonder if that played a role in getting that one done.

Remember the comment about the offense not fully functioning until the fourth or fifth game of the second year and the peculiar specificity it had? Looks like he knew what the schedule was going to be and we didn't.

[Falcon137]

That's the toughest non-conference schedule I've seen for a MAC team. Ever. Even Memphis won 9 games this past year. Brutally, brutally unfair to the program to send them on the road against Power 5 conference teams three times in the first four weeks. As a point of reference, Ohio University played 0 Power 5 teams in 2013 and that helped them make a bowl. Ohio State played 1 Power 5 team out of conference (and lost) this year. Kingston used to work for Kevin Anderson, the AD at Maryland, and I wonder if that played a role in getting that one done.

That may be the #1 OOC schedule in FBS next year.

The Maryland game has been on the books for awhile. They travel to BG in 2016.

[mscarn]

These really are uncharted waters.

Last year four MAC teams played just one Power 5 team. CMU played three (all non-bowl teams, BTW), but one was at home and their 4th game was at home against an FCS team. UMass played four but two were at home. The rest of the league played two each. In 2013 WMU played three on the road but had an FCS game at home to balance it out a little.

I'm not into hyperbole, but are there any other modern-era examples of playing three major conference teams on the road and having your home game against a 9-win FBS squad? If not, to paraphrase Kanye it really might be the greatest (in terms of difficulty) MAC OOC schedule of all time.

[AZZZZ]

We were looking at a trip to Nashville anyways. Just booked rooms and they weren't cheap.

Glad BG is getting $1.2M for this game because we may have to back down our FC contribution after that weekend!

Can't wait!

[bgbill]

If you don't mind staying north of the stadium area by about 3-4 miles, there are plenty of cheap hotels.

[Class of 61]

Wouldn't be surprised to see at least ONE of these games get changed around.....can't believe we would do this simply for the $$$$..... it's not unusual for teams to back out of agreements, per our FCS opponent for 2015..... and I honestly think that the MD. game(s) have already been changed before....at least in terms of yrs. Now that Md. is in the Big whatever, it might be a game we see changed.

[MarkL]

Wow. 137 said it, this might be the roughest non-conf schedule in the country next year. The only teams I can think of off the top of my head that played as many power conference teams in non-conference play in 2014 are Florida State (Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, and Florida) and UMass (Boston College, Colorado, Vanderbilt, Penn State).

[Lord_Byron]

[BGSU33]

That is a brutal non-conference schedule. We talk about being beat up by playing Power 5 teams then we go and schedule three of them, all on the road??? And Memphis had an outstanding year this season too. I also don't get why we're playing Tennessee in Nashville either. I would be excited to go to this game a lot more if it was played in Knoxville rather than in an NFL stadium. Nashville is fun city but if you're playing Tennessee let's play them in Neyland Stadium. We could be looking at an 0-4 record after these four games. We had better win our bowl this year because next season there's going to be no room for error.

[jpfalcon09]

Collecting some paychecks for renovations to the Doyt? All kidding aside, that is brutal, but I think it also shows that the program is a desirable opponent to many P5 schools.

[Schadenfreude]

The BGSU news release indicated that our original plan was to host South Carolina State in the opener, but that they "backed out." So, when Alabama-Birmingham decided to shut down the football program, we jumped at the chance to fill the hole in the Vols schedule, and in ours.

Put another way: We did not have many other options at this point, so we signed up with Tennessee.

I would imagine Babers isn't thrilled about this. Had we stuck with our original plan, our nonconference schedule would have been close to ideal: South Carolina State, at Maryland, Memphis, at Purdue. That's smart scheduling. This is tougher sledding, no doubt.

But it isn't an impossible challenge, either. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Falcons to win any of these games if they play anywhere near to what we know they are capable of. Tennessee is a 6-6 SEC team. Peyton Manning is long gone, fellas.

[transfer2BGSU]

Leave for Nashville on Friday morning. Opry on Friday night and game on Saturday. Return to BG on Sunday.

[factman]

....and still have Labor Day to celebrate!

[AZZZZ]

Yeah...this is a really tough schedule but I'm embracing it. I've been in a bad mood since the Toledo game and in reality there isn't much I can do about it.

We have an opportunity to play in a great city (albeit not Knoxville) against an average SEC team for a nice payday. I'm going to make the most of it.

Also, Matt got off his crutches today and it sounds like he has every intention of battling back and returning next year. And with his targets and backfield, what more motivation can you give a guy? There is no more hype about speed limits, etc. so I'm hoping this team and coaches just get down to business.

Roll along...and beat Dayton tonight!