10 best & 10 worst AQ non-conference schedules
Strength of Schedule - 2014
10 best AQ non-conference schedules
Texas: North Texas, BYU, UCLA
Iowa State: North Dakota State, at Iowa, Toledo
West Virginia: Alabama, Towson, at Maryland
USC: Fresno State, at Boston College, Notre Dame
Missouri: South Dakota State, at Toledo, UCF, Indiana
Oklahoma State: Florida State, Missouri State, UTSA
Florida State: Oklahoma State, The Citadel, Notre Dame, Florida
North Carolina: Liberty, San Diego State, at East Carolina, at Notre Dame
Minnesota: Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee, at TCU, San Jose State
Ohio State: Navy, Virginia Tech, Kent State, Cincinnati
10 worst AQ non-conference schedules
NC State: Old Dominion, Georgia Southern, USF, Presbyterian
Vanderbilt: Temple, UMass, Charleston Southern, Old Dominion
Mississippi State: Southern Miss, UAB, at South Alabama, UT-Martin
Alabama: West Virginia, Florida Atlantic, Southern Miss, Western Carolina
Florida: Idaho, Eastern Michigan, Eastern Kentucky, at Florida State
Arizona State: Weber State, at New Mexico, Notre Dame
Duke: Elon, at Troy, Kansas, Tulane
Pittsburgh: Delaware, at Florida International, Iowa, Akron
Texas Tech: Central Arkansas, at UTEP, Arkansas
Colorado: Colorado State, at UMass, Hawaii
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/2/26/5401692/2014-college…
February 27th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
Ok. State
Notre Dame
Florida
Clemson
ACC Championship game.
February 27th, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^
At Miami too.
February 27th, 2014 at 7:30 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^
Yeah, I'm confused. Is this really one of the best 10 schedules? If so, this non-conference season will be awful.
Missouri: South Dakota State, at Toledo, UCF, Indiana
Edit: Or this, for that matter...
Minnesota: Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee, at TCU, San Jose State
February 28th, 2014 at 7:13 AM ^
I thought the exact same thing. For a minute there, I assumed that I was just reading the list wrong. If these are the best OOC schedules, the OOC slate has got to be pretty awful across the board.
February 27th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^
Wow. I'm dumb.
Read this as basketball related; it's almost trippy as you wondering WTF you're reading.
February 27th, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
Did the same thing.
February 27th, 2014 at 8:46 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 10:00 PM ^
February 27th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^
February 28th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^
Was confused until I saw that the sbnation URL referenced CFB. Then I was all like, "I'm not dumb, the OP just stinks at titling threads!" :P
February 27th, 2014 at 7:57 PM ^
Duke also scheduled UCLA. So there's that. Hell, they played Michigan and Arizona also.
February 27th, 2014 at 8:19 PM ^
Read the two comments above. You be doing what we did!
February 27th, 2014 at 8:32 PM ^
The full table at the end is worth a look actually - the vast spread with the Sagarin numbers is interesting really . I see that Marshall went bold there with Miami (OH), Rhode Island, Ohio (NTO) and Akron, and Southern Methodist gets a rather rough run through Texas with Baylor, North Texas, Texas A&M and then TCU - the Mustangs will have fun that first month, I am sure.
February 27th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
I know NDSU is an up-and-comer, but is Iowa St.'s schedule really that impressive because they play a cross-state rival and a decent MAC team?
February 27th, 2014 at 10:37 PM ^
It even points out its own major flaws. Basing 2014 SOS on 2013 computer rankings (and Sagarin at that) is absurd.
February 28th, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^
Wow. Those are some crap schedules. One of the big issues is that non conference slates are filling up years ahead of time. When OSU scheduled Cal, I'm sure they expected Cal to at least be decent. But alot can happen in 6-8 years. We have Virginia Tech on a future schedule. They are mediocre right now. They could be awful when we play them. They could be elite. Or they could still be mediocre. And because schedules fill up so fast, even if a team wanted a quality nonconference opponent, there's not a great chance that the open weeks of the team you want to schedule matches up with yours.
The other problem is college football is such a big money business and the huge bump in all areas that comes from getting to BCS games is very beneficial. Why should you give up a home games vs Kent St and Troy in back to back years when you sell out, or close to it, in favor of a home and home vs Georgia or UCLA? And nobody is rewarded for a good nonconference schedule. Most SEC teams play crap OOC schedules. They get a bump because their conference is perceived as tough and thus, their conference schedule is "difficult" (alot of variation in the conference though because there's 14 teams and you can't play them all. We'll have this problem too w/in the conference). Why bother scheduling tough OOC games?
I'm becoming more and more in favor of an expanded playoff just because you'll see better schedules as a result IMO. A team with a tough schedule could qualify for a 16 team playoff if they finish 9-3. But they can't qualify for a BCS bowl if they don't win their conference. So they'll schedule 4 cupcakes to get to 10-2 or 11-1 and be able to secure an at large bid.