Look-ahead to 2016 opponents

[Schadenfreude]

A school like BG ideally wants to break down its 4 non-conference games like this: one money game on the road at a P5 school, one road game at another FBS school, one home game vs an FBS school, one home game vs an FCS school.

Agree. Good post.

[hammb]

There is no perfect way of scheduling, but most everyone is trying to juggle what they want to do with what they have to do. But make no mistake about it, it all revolves around money. The difference is are you one of the school dealing it out, or one of the schools collecting it?

Oh I understand all that. I understand it's nothing new. And I certainly agree that there is no perfect way to schedule.

I am merely stating that, IN MY OPINION, BG should NEVER be the school dealing the money to FCS teams. We don't have an excess of it, and the games that we're paying for are just putrid games. Lose and you're vilified, win and who gives a crap. They're boring, and not worth the price of admission, AFAIC. And I'm NOT railing against BG as a program for doing this, I know that damned near everyone in the MAC (and even many P5 schools) do the same thing. I just don't like it.

Personally, I disagree with your statement that the perfect schedule includes a home game against an FCS school. To me the perfect schedule is a home and road game against G5 opponents. A road game at a mega school for the massive payday. And part of a series against a lesser tier P5 school...I'd like to focus most of those on teams willing to give us a home game eventually in a 2-1 type deal.

I fully realize that we'd be playing 7 road games most years in my scenario. I fully realize that we would not get home games from even the Purdue's of the world, so it's quite likely 4-5 years of having more road than home games for every 1 season we land 6 home games. I don't care. Playing the additional road game gets us revenue we'd never get at a home game. And as a casual fan, I'd MUCH rather see us play good teams on the road than the home games against FCS teams.

For me last year's schedule was great. We had several chances at taking down P5 teams (and did). We had a payday game with Tennessee. We had a home game against a quality G5 opponent. That is exactly the type of schedule I want to see BG play every single year.


I just don't see the value of FCS teams. They cost you money and they're bad games. I will never buy a ticket to one of those games, and I don't think I'm alone in that opinion.

[Schadenfreude]

I fully realize that we'd be playing 7 road games most years in my scenario.

That would be tough on our team. That's asking an awful lot.

I don't mind playing playing schools like North Dakota or South Dakota or Rhode Island. These are decent schools. They've decided on FCS rather than FBS, but these are flagships and reputable places that are peer schools to one degree or another.

Other FCS schools aren't as interesting. I'm sure the Virginia Military Institute is a fine institution, but they aren't really a peer. I could name other meh opponents that have appeared on our schedule, but you all get the idea.

[Flipper]

You have an FCS game and two games on a Fri night in November...that has to be a drag on season ticket sales

[It's the Journey...]

I agree a FCS game and the Friday November games may drag season ticket sales, but we only control one of those two things. We get to decide who we play, not when. The MAC has decided empty stadiums during the week late in the season is better for the conference as a whole than a full stadium on a Saturday is for the individual schools. I also don't see that changing any time soon. I don't mind playing the upper level FCS schools, they play for an actual National Championship and not the myth we keep chasing. I guess I don't see the difference between us taking a "money game" from a mid to upper P5 school and an FCS school getting a "money game" from a G5 school. Doing one without the other seems a little hypocritical to me.

[Schadenfreude]

The MAC has decided empty stadiums during the week late in the season is better for the conference as a whole than a full stadium on a Saturday is for the individual schools.

I don't think this fairly states the choice. The choice, really, is this: Since MAC stadiums aren't very full anyway when the weather turns cold, why not play some of these games on weeknights when ESPN will give us a national audience?

Good MAC teams can draw fans in November. Bad ones cannot. The day of the week we play the games doesn't make that much of a difference.

[apollo]

The "national audience" is usually just reserved for two games per week. Not sure what the answer is...MAC teams probably wouldn't draw all that well on Saturday either, but they certainly would draw better than Tues and Wed nights.

I personally think that ESPN shouldn't run our conference for the money we receive from them...but Steinbrecher disagrees. Call me crazy, but I don't think we gain much from TV games in November as individual schools.

[BGSU33]

You have an FCS game and two games on a Fri night in November...that has to be a drag on season ticket sales

Agreed. Plus no home game vs Toledo this year and no "marquee" non-conference home game either. But those two late-season home games during the week are the killers.

[BGSU33]

There is no perfect way of scheduling, but most everyone is trying to juggle what they want to do with what they have to do. But make no mistake about it, it all revolves around money. The difference is are you one of the school dealing it out, or one of the schools collecting it?

Personally, I disagree with your statement that the perfect schedule includes a home game against an FCS school. To me the perfect schedule is a home and road game against G5 opponents. A road game at a mega school for the massive payday. And part of a series against a lesser tier P5 school...I'd like to focus most of those on teams willing to give us a home game eventually in a 2-1 type deal.

Just to be clear, I didn't say the "perfect" schedule for BG would include an FCS school. My original posted stated BG "ideally" wants to schedule one. That was shown and told to me directly from a department member. I only used the word perfect when stating there's no perfect way of scheduling. The fact of the matter is, almost everyone is scheduling FCS teams. Of the 128 FBS teams last year, I believe there was just a few that didn't have an FCS opponent (and BG was one of them). You can thank the expanded regular season schedule going from 11 to 12 for that. I actually agree with you, I'm not a fan of it or in favor of it much either. But objectively, when I take a step back and evaluate it, it does makes perfect sense (both figuratively and literally) for why schools are doing it. It doesn't mean I like it either, but it is what it is.

[Siouxfan512]

So pumped to play you guys, and hopefully with you guys coming off a B1G win. With last year being our first FBS win (albeit against a terrible team), I'm anxious to see how we stack up against some better competition.

UND is on the rise, so I'm hoping to see a very competitive game. I'm sure there will be a lot of adjustments with a new coach, but after seeing the way Georgia Southern ran the ball last year, I'm hoping UND can find some holes with our heavy run game.

Just ready for some football!! Beat the Buckeyes!

[Siouxfan512]

Hey all,

I know Ohio St is #1 on BGSU's plate right now, but if you want to join some conversation over on the UND forum, go to http://siouxsports.com/" target="_blank

We have a lot of folks over there that our pretty anxious about next season, and confidence is pretty high right now that we will be able to stick with BGSU, with a shot of winning. Not saying anything is guaranteed, or that it'll be a blowout by any means; just that based on the direction of the program, we have a very confident bunch.

Good football talk is always welcome

[Falconfreak90]

Hey all,

I know Ohio St is #1 on BGSU's plate right now, but if you want to join some conversation over on the UND forum, go to http://siouxsports.com/" target="_blank

We have a lot of folks over there that our pretty anxious about next season, and confidence is pretty high right now that we will be able to stick with BGSU, with a shot of winning. Not saying anything is guaranteed, or that it'll be a blowout by any means; just that based on the direction of the program, we have a very confident bunch.

Good football talk is always welcome

Siouxfan512,

Thanks for the invite. Just created an account to hit up your forums. Yeah, it's pretty exciting getting a shot at osu and we are now 43 days away. ND certainly has a shot at BG...ANY game can be won or lost and if we don't being our A game every week, we can be beaten just like any other team.

[vannzee]

I made the trip down last year for two games, Memphis and Ohio. There is not a home game on the schedule that I plan on coming down to see.