NFL Scheduling for College
I hate the Maryland and Rutgers weeks. It's like a bye week. Look at the MGoBoard: Softball, Social Media, Quintez Cephus (what a great name!), Haiku. Let's next discuss the best nose hair trimmers ranked in order.
I am sure many fans across the nation feel the same about 65-0 potential beat down matches.
Oh, do you know the Alabama has to play Mercer next week?
The NCAA needs to go immediately to NFL scheduling.
The best teams of last year have to play the best, the worst play the worst.
Alabama should have NOT been allowed to play Fresno, Colorado St, Vanderbilt and Mercer. Rather, OSU, USC, Penn State and Oklahoma.
We should be playing Stanford, LSU, South Florida and Tennesee.
Think of the unmeasurable amount of awesomenimity! Like 4 bowl games each year!
Let teams lock in 5-6 "rivals" and the rest are scheduled by power rankings. Michigan has a problem here because everyone is our "rival".
Let Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Illinois play each other. A least they will have a chance!
November 9th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 6:23 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:54 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 8:46 PM ^
Nothing runs like a Wahllaby.
November 9th, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^
I'd give a lot to do this to you right now.
November 9th, 2017 at 6:23 PM ^
Or make college football like European football. Top X number of teams are league 1. Next X in league 2 and so on. Bottom Y teams in league 1 get demoted to league 2. Similarly the top Y teams from league 2 move up.
Can only play games against teams in your league.
This is what I️ want to see!
November 9th, 2017 at 7:49 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 10:03 PM ^
Would need NCAA to allow another level of conference championship playoffs. (Regular season could be shortened to 11 games if necessary to accomodate).
Divide the B1G into Upper Division (Leaders?) and Lower Division (Legends?). Upper and Lower Divisions play each team in their own division, with 1 or 2 crossover games, depending on rivalries (protected?), last meeting, standings, and team's conference SOS.
Conference Semi-Finals:
A) Lower #1 @ Upper #1
B) Upper #2 vs. Upper #3*
Conference Finals:
Winner of A vs B
Additional (week of Finals or Sem-Finals):
Relegation Games:
[Lower #1 automatically moves up for next season; Upper #7 moves down for next season]**
Lower #2 @ Upper #6
Lower #3 @ Upper #5
Lower #4 @ Upper #4 in game without relegation consequences (but may affect standings, seedings for next year)
* [rematch, so team which was AWAY for earlier game hosts this game]
** [in a more complicated scenario, L#2@U#7; L#3@U#6;L#4@U#5. Upper teams losing relegated to Lower division, replaced by L#1 and L winners of relegation games, depending on spots made available.]
November 10th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
+1. This would make the Big Ten's TV rights the most valuable.
November 9th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 6:31 PM ^
Big schools have too much to lose from not being able to schedule a tomato can for a home game in September. Tomato cans have too much to lose from not being able to go to Alabama or Columbus or Ann Arbor to get pummeled. Alongside TV money, the financials of college football revolve around non-conference scheduling agreements, the big schools tacking on cupcake home games for added gate revenue, and small schools taking their blood money to put a second team on the field. The NFL doesn't have to worry about any of that.
November 9th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 6:56 PM ^
As a fan of big program, I definitely enjoy having 4 or 5 games every year that are safely in the >85% win probability range. Given our division, random conference crossovers, and marquee OOC matchups, we inevitably play 3-5 games in the 40-60% win probability range every year as well. I am perfectly content with 4 guarantees, 4 should-wins, and 4 big games every year.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^
You gonna watch the game Saturday? Did you watch the Minnesota game? The Rutgers game? The Rutgers game last year? The Hawaii game last year? The UNLV game in 2015? The Miami (OH) game in 2004?
November 9th, 2017 at 7:44 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 8:01 PM ^
Because we like watching Michigan football?
November 9th, 2017 at 6:44 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 9:04 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 6:51 PM ^
Let's make college football better by making it more like the NFL is like saying let's make our muscles bigger by lifting weights less.
College football scheduling does not need to be like the NFL. College scheduling may not provide your team with exciting matchups each week, but there are great matchups every week between some teams. There's plenty of good reasons as to why college scheduling is the way it is now. It may not be perfect, but good God, it is better (like all things college football) than the NFL.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:56 PM ^
For us NFL diehards, MGoBlog is a dangerous place when it starts veering into College vs. NFL comparisons. It's best to go with the conventional flow of "NFL sucks, college is amazing" line of thinking rather than be eaten by the masses for thinking differently.
I realize the majority of posters here have been saddled with lifetime fanhoods of either the Lions or the Browns, and - man - that really sucks. I really feel bad for you guys. Additionally, since we are on a sports blog dedicated to college athletics, I realize my "hot take" may not be popular, but I think week-in and week-out the NFL matchups are more captivating than college.
Yes, there are the occasional Jacksonville vs. [insert other team nobody cares about] games that are common; much as there is an Alabama vs. Mercer game next week (x50 because of the number of teams in college football). Nevertheless, every week in the NFL regular season has - at minimum - a handful of marquee matchups. Whereas, there are whole months of college football where I (and I am speaking only for me) can't be bothered with any non-UM game.
Also, again - this probably won't be a popular opinion here - but I find the NFL playoffs to be light years better than anything college football has in place. #hottake
(hits "send" and prepares for the inevitable...)
November 9th, 2017 at 8:14 PM ^
I'm not going to neg you, but I do disagree with you entirely. I have a very hard time being entertained by NFL teams that I don't root for (which is everyone outside of the Patriots). However, with college ball, I can watch any close game between any two teams and be entertained. College football is the single most entertaining thing in the world to me, and the NFL is just a boring, sterilized version of college, in my opinion. NFL playoffs can be fun, but my God, a regular season game between the Cardinals and the Panthers? I'd rather watch HGTV.
My family also doesn't have any strong ties to any NFL franchise, which I know is a big thing for some NFL fans (the family tradition of watching that team). We're from different places so we're not attached to one city's team. My dad grew up a Cowboys fan, as soon as the Pats drafted Brady (who had won my young heart in that 1999 season capped with the Orange Bowl win over Bama) I became a Pats fan. But even as a fan of a successful NFL team, I can't follow it during the week. In between Sundays I don't pay attention to NFL game plans and matchups and injury news and last week's game film like I do for Michigan. I think a lot of people are divided on this issue, but nothing can hold a candle to college ball in my eyes.
November 9th, 2017 at 11:46 PM ^
+1
That's completely fair. I think you hit the head regarding the family ties part (not saying that's the only thing. Rather, it's a contributing factor). Most of my family didn't go to college; and, those that did, did not go far from home. In my case though, I left to go out of state to Michigan (a region of the country the majority of my family probably couldn't locate on a map when I decided to go there!).
Many of my friends at UM were third- or fourth-generation wolverines. It was cool to see and witness! They had annual traditions for tailgating and - specifically - OSU weekend. That was totally foreign to me.
In contrast, my family's traditions revolved around Sundays. NFL - the Niners or Chiefs - were gods in our household. Like UM, some years were awesome, som were not! Nevertheless, I thnk we are on the same page. Just slightly different perspectives when it comes to leagues!
November 9th, 2017 at 8:47 PM ^
Whereas, there are whole months of college football where I (and I am speaking only for me) can't be bothered with any non-UM game....is beyond my comprehension. Last Saturday there were literally about five games on in the 3:30 timeslot that I wanted to watch.
November 10th, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^
The parity in the NFL is what makes this discussion interesting to me. A lot of times the marquee matchups end up being middle of the road games in comparison to the others because there are typically 10-12 games a week that come down to the final plays simply because almost any team can beat any other team. Other than the 2-3 bottom teams (Browns, 49ers, colts) and the 2-3 top teams (Patriots, Chiefs, Eagles), it is incredibly hard to predict what will happen in a game.
You can look at this in multiple ways. Some people love that every game in the NFL seems to come down to the wire and that makes it interesting, others find that if every team is similar and almost perfect in all regards to the point where there is really no advantage either way, it creates a weird sense of boredom. Part of the wonderfulness of college is that you have these loyalties and conversations about which teams are better, and you can actually rely on trends and correlations to back those conversations up, the NFL has very little rhyme or reason to who wins on a week in, week out basis.
For the record, I prefer college because I like the amateurism of it. I like watching the mistakes and the odd results that come from the mistakes. The NFL is often too good at what they do for me to find it as interesting.
November 9th, 2017 at 6:55 PM ^
November 10th, 2017 at 9:02 AM ^
It still kind of does it though. The winner of a division is guaranteed to play the winner of 4 other divisons across the football landscape,creating 12-15 marquee matchups a year. For instance, this year the following teams were playing each other
Cowbys: Packers, Seahawks, Falcons, Chiefs
Patriots: Chiefs, Texans, Steelers, Falcons
Texans: Patriots, Steelers, Chiefs, Seahawks
Etc. This is the case for 8 teams.
November 9th, 2017 at 6:58 PM ^
I'll savor this game cuz we only have 3 regular season games left, but I've never looked forward to playing Wisconsin as much as this year.
I'm ready for a test after our run blocking and run game has improved, Peters and our D is still playing at a high level.
Can't wait for the last 2 games of the season.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:02 PM ^
"every game matters" crowd. no way even the top teams would get through that schedule without 2-3 losses.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:16 PM ^
To me, it cheapens the entire process that certain schools can schedule themselves a better shot at the playoffs. I mean, the Red Wings didn't get to extend their playoff streak by scheduling Colorado 50 times last year.
Michigan should play the toughest schedule they can find -- in JFK's words, "not because [it is] easy, but because [it is] hard." I'd value a 10-2 record with wins over USC and Alabama and losses to Clemson and Miami over a 12-0 record against Wisconsin's schedule.
Also, I firmly believe that playing tough OOC games strengthens your in-conference chances. ("Steel sharpens steel," although I had always heard it rendered as "iron sharpens iron"). I hate the guarantee games; I think Michigan should be above scheduling them.
November 9th, 2017 at 8:19 PM ^
Things would improve in the regard you are talking about if teams weren't penalized in the rankings so severely for losses, especially making little distinction between a three touchdown margin and an overtime win/loss (which in my mind, should count more as a fractional victory/loss).
Also when the system expands to AQ for P5 conference champions, and a non-conference loss won't hurt your chances as much (depending on how many "at-large" teams are in the playoff).
November 9th, 2017 at 9:40 PM ^
We can talk about quality wins until we're blue in the face, but at the end of the season, the team with the fewest losses seems to be rewarded. That's why I favor proposals like this -- if everyone's on an equal footing, it's nore reasonable to use record as a proxy for season quality, which is what happens anyway.
November 10th, 2017 at 11:14 AM ^
sigh. How the mighty have fallen.
the Red Wings didn't get to extend their playoff streak by scheduling Colorado 50 times last year.
You do realize that 10-15 years ago, Colorado wouldn't be considered a tomato can. I miss that 2002 Game 7.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:07 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 8:12 PM ^
I'd rather see more non-cons, not less. I want to see more exposure to more fans and recruits and alumni in more areas of the country, and not just on TV networks.
November 9th, 2017 at 11:17 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
we probably would not get to go bowling!
November 9th, 2017 at 7:22 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:23 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:27 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 7:36 PM ^
I think it depends on which FCS teams you are talking about.
The top FCS teams are probably equivalent to at least middle of the pack Power 5 teams, and it's good to see FCS programs get some revenue. Otherwise they have no choice but push to join the FBS.
In stead of giving out 5-7 FBS teams bowl bids, I think some of those bowl slots should be given to FCS teams as well.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:29 PM ^
MGoHaiku is not the sign of a slow week. Quite the contrary.
November 9th, 2017 at 8:01 PM ^
Especially later in the season, the haiku threads are our chance to not only vent the stress (not that there is too much of that this week, of course) but to express ourselves in a way few other sports blogs too. What I am waiting for is someone to write a similar post for Ohio State week but in a form similar to "Finnegan's Wake" - this IS MGoBlog and someone WILL manage it.
November 9th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
"Alabama should have NOT been allowed to play Fresno, Colorado St, Vanderbilt and Mercer."
The other side of that question is, should those schools be ALLOWED to play Alabama?
For those programs, that chance to upset a team like Alabama, an opportunity to measure themselves- that exposure, that payday, is as important as any bowl game. You and TV networks might not like those games as much as a marquee matchup week after week, but a lot of programs (who have a voting say) would never vote to shut themselves out of those opportunities.
November 9th, 2017 at 7:55 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 8:38 PM ^
November 9th, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^
You are basically talking about doing away with conferences for football, which may make sense until P5 conference champions are guaranteed spots in a slightly expanded playoff and conference champions really mean something again.
A more modest proposal: how about the week of the conference championships (or week before, or after) a sort of Conference Challenge based on standings- B1G East #2 vs. SEC West #2, #3 vs #3, etc.? If not, for the first or second game of the next season. Make it a couple of games- one home, one away, with something like a "no-repeat" rule.
November 9th, 2017 at 8:09 PM ^
Good. Toe meets leather at 1.
-WD