2015 Football Schedule

[Schadenfreude]

Not sure what it has been the last few years but from 2003-2012 The Mid-Am-Conference was 4-36 against the Big Ten.

Are you sure about this? if memory serves, during this window, Bowling Green alone beat Purdue, Northwestern, and Minnesota.

[rc_ziggy84]

Not sure what it has been the last few years but from 2003-2012 The Mid-Am-Conference was 4-36 against the Big Ten.

Are you sure about this? if memory serves, during this window, Bowling Green alone beat Purdue, Northwestern, and Minnesota.

Add to those, this incomplete list:

2011
Ball St beat IU

2010
Turdledo beat Purdue
NIU beat Minnesota

2009
NIU beat Purdue

2008
Ball St beat IU
Turdledo beat UM

My stat checking showed a few other really close games too.. EMU came close to squeaking out a B1G win a couple times

[zete]

Couldn't find the site where the "bad" info came from. It may have been referring to MSU vs. MAC schools as their record is 34-6, overall. Here are the Big Ten's all-time records against the current MAC members as of July 2014. Again, it may not be totally accurate but fairly close.

Nebraska 5-0

Michigan 30-1

Ohio State 28-1

Wisconsin 30-2

Penn State 19-2

Iowa 18-2

Michigan State 34-6

Indiana 34-7-1

Minnesota 26-4-1

Purdue 39-9-1

Illinois 13-4

Northwestern 16-9-1

Total 292-47-4

[Falcon137]

Who was the last MAC school to beat an SEC team? NIU over Alabama?

[MarkL]

Who was the last MAC school to beat an SEC team? NIU over Alabama?

Without looking it up I think that would be correct, but at the same time there are not too many MAC-SEC games. We played Miss State in 2013 and Florida in 2012, Kent played Kentucky in 2012 and Alabama in 2011, UT played Mizzou twice and Florida once recently and I'm sure there are a few more. But it's not like MAC-B1G where every MAC team plays one or more B1G teams practically every year.

[Flipper]

We have our 1985 win over UK...I think we should count our wins against Mizzou as SEC wins. History is written by the conquerors!!

[BGSU33]

Who was the last MAC school to beat an SEC team? NIU over Alabama?

Ohio beat Kentucky in 2004. I believe that was the last time.

[mscarn]

A poster from days past (BGSU1987) said that a fair OOC schedule is a game you should be favored to win (FCS), two games where the talent is fairly even and one money game where you're the underdog.

Substitute South Carolina State for Tennessee, and that's the schedule we would be looking at, Memphis and Purdue are pretty even match ups in my mind; the Falcons are 3-0 against these schools.

Normally, we schedule as BGSU1987 suggests. This year, the South Carolina State fell through and BGSU adjusted. I'm okay with it so long as it doesn't become a theme, and I've seen nothing to suggest that it will be.

I agree that we should have a better than average chance against Purdue this year and am hoping for a "Chuck to Chuck" redux (although it doesn't have to be that close, of course.)

When it comes to scheduling, it's still a road game against a Big 10 team that has triple our resources for nearly everything: recruiting budgets, coaching salaries, operating budgets and the like. We're still at a tremendous disadvantage. Play one of those a year if you must but not two and never, ever three unless you've established yourself as a national program and are pining for a challenge.

The best option would have been to find another I-AA to balance out two Big 10 roads games and a top 25 team. Instead, we've adjusted ourselves into a schedule that threatens to ruin any chance at positive momentum before the MAC slate even starts and deprives the fans of a home game to boot.

Kingston has been dogged in his efforts to build and expand the fan base. Why put the marquee program in such a difficult position and risk demoralizing the very same group you've worked so hard to win over?

[footballguy51]

A poster from days past (BGSU1987) said that a fair OOC schedule is a game you should be favored to win (FCS), two games where the talent is fairly even and one money game where you're the underdog.

Substitute South Carolina State for Tennessee, and that's the schedule we would be looking at, Memphis and Purdue are pretty even match ups in my mind; the Falcons are 3-0 against these schools.

Normally, we schedule as BGSU1987 suggests. This year, the South Carolina State fell through and BGSU adjusted. I'm okay with it so long as it doesn't become a theme, and I've seen nothing to suggest that it will be.

I agree that we should have a better than average chance against Purdue this year and am hoping for a "Chuck to Chuck" redux (although it doesn't have to be that close, of course.)

When it comes to scheduling, it's still a road game against a Big 10 team that has triple our resources for nearly everything: recruiting budgets, coaching salaries, operating budgets and the like. We're still at a tremendous disadvantage. Play one of those a year if you must but not two and never, ever three unless you've established yourself as a national program and are pining for a challenge.

The best option would have been to find another I-AA to balance out two Big 10 roads games and a top 25 team. Instead, we've adjusted ourselves into a schedule that threatens to ruin any chance at positive momentum before the MAC slate even starts and deprives the fans of a home game to boot.

Kingston has been dogged in his efforts to build and expand the fan base. Why put the marquee program in such a difficult position and risk demoralizing the very same group you've worked so hard to win over?

Great question. My guess is playing an FCS opponent at home isn't exactly a crowd pleaser and doesn't exactly attract the fans. However, if we go 2-2 or better with the out-of-conference slate we have, that brings headlines and the casual fan. Not because we went 2-2, but because of the teams we beat to get there. That means we had to beat name schools like Maryland, Purdue, or Tennessee. I didn't list Memphis because most people don't see that as a name, even though they're good. Purdue sucks, but they have the name because they're Big 10. If you want to bring in the fans to BGSU, then you have to play schools like Purdue and beat them. If we played Morehead St. instead of Tennessee, and we went 2-2 OOC by beating Morehead and Memphis, nobody would care.

Put simply, going 0-4 in the OOC may be heartbreaking to us, but to the fan base we are attempting to attract, it may only sting slightly. If we only beat Memphis, we'll see it as a good win, but that target fan base will remain neutral. A win against any of the other three will attract the target fan base because of the name and the conference that team plays in. If the goal is to attract fans, we're doing the right thing. If the goal is to make money, we're doing the right thing. I'm excited because we are playing some big teams and can get our name out there. This is where we need to be.

[zete]

Going o -4 in preseason and then winning the MAC is not a good thing.

[kdog27]

If we start 0-4, we are not going to win the MAC. Tough schedule or not, a good MAC team wins one or two of those first 4 games.

[MarkL]

If we start 0-4, we are not going to win the MAC. Tough schedule or not, a good MAC team wins one or two of those first 4 games.

As much as I agree with the notion, history actually has spoken otherwise.
In 2006, champs CMU lost a tight one to Boston College, then were hammered by Michigan (great Michigan team), and lost by two possessions to Kentucky (won a bowl game but still not a good team). Their only non conference win was over Temple, and then they beat MTSU in a bowl game.
In 2007, champs CMU were completely demolished (40+ point loss) by a very good Kansas team, lost to Purdue by a few possessions, lost by thirty to North Dakota State, and again lost to Purdue in a bowl game. They beat an awful Army team along the way.
In 2013, we won the MAC. We destroyed a Tulsa team that didn't end up being as good as we all thought they would be, then were destroyed by IU and then lost a close one to Mississippi State.
In each of those years, other MAC teams had wins over big opponents.
Point is, the conference champion sometimes is an OOC embarrassment. No example greater than CMU in 2007. The only games that matter to conference championships are conference games.

[Falcon137]

If we start 0-4, we are not going to win the MAC. Tough schedule or not, a good MAC team wins one or two of those first 4 games.

I'm starting to come around a little on the schedule.

0-4 depending on how it plays out doesn't necessarily doom the MAC season, especially in the East. If it's 0-4 and there are 4 blowouts and keys guys are hurt, then there may be trouble. 0-4 in competitive games and coming out healthy is ok.

[kdog27]

I said the MAC not the east. Big difference

Let's just not start 0-4. I don't see a full recovery from that. They need to win the home game and it would be nice to win at least 1 out of the other 3. If we can't beat Memphis at our place I place little hope in us beating Toledo or any whoever else from the west.

[mscarn]

Put simply, going 0-4 in the OOC may be heartbreaking to us, but to the fan base we are attempting to attract, it may only sting slightly. If we only beat Memphis, we'll see it as a good win, but that target fan base will remain neutral. A win against any of the other three will attract the target fan base because of the name and the conference that team plays in. If the goal is to attract fans, we're doing the right thing. If the goal is to make money, we're doing the right thing. I'm excited because we are playing some big teams and can get our name out there. This is where we need to be.

You make some strong points. At the end of the day I just want to win; 15,000 people will have a blast at the games and the rest can go screw themselves as far as I'm concerned. A bigger issue than the morale of the fans should be the morale of the players. There is more than enough talent to win the league but an 0-4 start would be devastating. You shouldn't go into every single OOC game you play as the underdog. I'm sure it won't be a trend, but potentially ruining an entire year because of overscheduling shouldn't ever happen because scheduling is within your control. Another I-AA should have been found (or at minimum searched for diligently) to drop their opening week opponent just like SCSU dropped us. Tennessee was an option; lets hope it doesn't turn out to be the nuclear option.