BYU should schedule patsies

I know that we all want to play better teams and feel better about utah playing pac10 teams all year but with our espn contract in place I think we should adopt an approach that has served bsu so well the last few years.



I say schedule three good teams. Then the rest should be easy games where we roll the score up and make ourselves look good. We have been in the top 25 for years in a row largely because of our cupcake schedule.



if keep a cupcake schedule we will continue to win and we will be doing it on national television. It will put us in a better position than playing better teams at les but losing. we have to keep winning the next few years. that should be priority number one. not scheduling difficult prestiguous games. we need to have a few marquee games each year of course but as to the rest lets fill the schedule with patsies and rack up the wins.



then if we manage to win those marquee games as well we put ourselves in a very good position, much like bsu is currently in.



i would rather be nationally ranked every year and in the bcs bowl discussion and have to deal with playing wac teams at les than play texas, florida, usc.... and whoever at les but lose.

2011 Schedule



@ Oregon State (good team)

@ Texas (who knows but should be good to great)

Utah (always a good game even when they're not good...)

UCF (decent but not great)

Utah State (not good... mind numbing loss this year but still they're not good)

Insert 7 crap of the WAC here for remainder of schedule.



2012 schedule

Oregon State

Hawaii

@ Utah

@ Boise (gag... hope we're better by then)

@ Georgia Tech (good team, could be great or bad by then, who knows)

@Notre Dame (bark way bigger than bite for sure, not good but there it is again, could be great by then too)

Insert 6 crap of WAC to fill remainder of schedule



How long do you feel is appropriate to play a cupcake schedule? As of right now, I'd just as soon play an easier schedule because I'd like our team to get the taste of being a winning team again before they try to become world beaters... but how long? 5 years? The next 2 years have some marquis games (I'll be in Austin for one of them!!), some good ones and the rest is cupcakes...

I'm good with a few cupcakes, a few moderate to mediocre BCS teams, and a couple Marquee games a year. In short, I agree.

I understand what you're saying. I like scheduling a tougher schedule to keep us on our toes and to get us prepared for the marquee games so we don't fall flat on our face like we have so many times during the past several years against the FSUs, TCUs, etc. Plus I like playing against better competition just for the sake of a good game. I'd take 10-2 or 9-3 versus good competition over 12-0 against 11 patsies and Utah any day of the week.

Scheduling USU worked like a charm.....especially early in the season.



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I would say no sub 100 teams. The MWC has 3 this year. I would take 3 good teams and 9 in the 40-80 range. they would not be gimmes but we should win almost all of those. We would have a very good chance to get 10 wins and the SOS would be as good as anyone else.

scott715 wrote:
I would say no sub 100 teams. The MWC has 3 this year. I would take 3 good teams and 9 in the 40-80 range. they would not be gimmes but we should win almost all of those. We would have a very good chance to get 10 wins and the SOS would be as good as anyone else.

this year sub 100 ranked teams would be just fine. Good thing we had/have a few still left on the schedule.



BUT, in general I agree with your analysis. Get decent not great teams to fill in the voids.

We could follow the Boise St model and schedule 2 top 25 programs each year and 10 of the worst for the rest. Do that for a decade, get some buzz as the winningest program in the last decade, then start complaining when we don't get a national championship invite after two consecutive undefeated seasons...

Instead of 7 Wac teams substitute three crappy teams from BCS conferences. Give us Minnesota, Indiana, and Duke. They suck but they count as BCS wins.

Wickchad84087 wrote:
Instead of 7 Wac teams substitute three crappy teams from BCS conferences. Give us Minnesota, Indiana, and Duke. They suck but they count as BCS wins.

That's the key! There are plenty of crappy BCS schools out there. We could schedule some of those, years down the road and they will still stink by the time we get to them, if needed.



We want BCS wins and not these other "lowly" schools.

I agree with the original poster given the current BCS system. BYU can start whining about going undefeated two years in a row and not getting to play for the NC, sometime after they actually go undefeated once.



We had our shot last year and then got whacked by FSU on our home field and then again by TCU to prove it was no fluke.



We might have had a shot before that but Beck lost a couple of heartbreakers to BC and AZ iirc.



We know what the schedule did to us this year - but in my opinion, last year's team would lose 4 or 5 vs this year's schedule.



TCU on the road, FSU on the road, AFA early on the road, Utah, Nevada, and UW would be potential losses as might also be SDSU and a Bowl opponent. Playing more tough games is more likely to expose depth issues due to injury than to harden the team to earn more wins. We don't lose all of those but more than half.



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Disagree with the premise of this post.



Argument: We should do what BSU does and play a few good teams a year and then have the rest our games be against patsies



My response: Isn't that what we're doing now in the MWC? We usually play 1-2 good BCS teams, and then 1-2 tough teams in conference. In terms of "hitting the big one," it hasn't worked out for us yet.



Go big or go home. Our record may or may not be as pretty against tougher competition, but it will help us bring in recruits and money - and in the long run it can only strengthen our team.

Don't forget that the goal is exposure not just wins. We need to create a buzz. We are trying to expand our brand and establish our future. Future revenue and even better recruits. We need teams wanting to play us instead of trying to get games and giving up 2 for 1's. Think long term.

5* players don't go some place with a ridiculously hard schedule so the ycan lose every other week. They Go to schools like Florida, Albama, and Ohio state who go to great lengths to ensure tha tthe rarely play anyone with a real chance to beat them and ralrely travel farther than 1 state line. ANd don't bring the crap about their mighty conference foes. Their mighty conference foes fatten up on east, west, north, south whatever schools out of conference so they are all 7-5 or 8-4 after gong 4-4 in conference.



The reason that hose schools control the rankings, the bowls, and the money, is that they were smart enough to figur eout how to work the current system.



So if it makes us feel better about the fact that we cannot beat the scheduel we have now that Utah has beaten twice and BSU has beaten thrice, and TCU has beaten once an dsome of them may beat again this year, by playing a tougher schedule so we can ave even more losses but a better excuse for those losses - I guess we will never get a chance to see if we can beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Even UH got a shot at Georgi in the Sugar Bowl.



So if the fact that we have not been able to do that even after all our bravado and smack talk is easier to take - then wish for a schedule like UW plays and wait for a year like this that will easily be 0-12 instead of 5-7, 6-7, or 7-6 depending on how things go the rest of the way.



Minnesota would beat us at their place this year. Duke might. Baylor would. CSU might.



Deal with reality and know your limitations - then you have hope for something better by building on that foundation.

I love our schedules in the coming years. We just need to get some of those match-ups in Provo sooner then later. I really don't mind dropping a game or two, to some of the big name blue bloods in college football. The victories will be worth it. So far BYU has displayed a true "play anyone, anywhere" attitude, and I am excited for the message that, that is sending our coaches and players. BYU football is here to play ball. I can't wait to start knocking some of those teams off. We may not go undefeated, but we are sure going to put up a heck of a fight.

Cougarbib2 wrote:



We know what the schedule did to us this year - but in my opinion, last year's team would lose 4 or 5 vs this year's schedule.



TCU on the road, FSU on the road, AFA early on the road, Utah, Nevada, and UW would be potential losses as might also be SDSU and a Bowl opponent. Playing more tough games is more likely to expose depth issues due to injury than to harden the team to earn more wins. We don't lose all of those but more than half.

What the heck are you smoking? Saying last years team would lose 4 or 5 games with this years schedule!!! How can you make that statement with a straight face? How can you think last year we could have lost to UW and SDSU when this year's team beat both of them? BYU still looses to TCU and FSU because they lost last year but the rest would be wins, especially Nevada and more than likely AFA, the biggest reason, the offense knew how to score and this year they don't. There is a big difference between scoring 35 points a game last year to 16 this year. This isn't even debatable. Last year's team this year would be 5-3 at worst if AFA still beats them, but more than likely 6-2.

I agree so lets schedule some cupcakes like the following:



Duke

Vandy

Clemson

Virginia

Maryland

Washington St

Cal (returning to the Cal of yesteryear)

AZ St

Ks

Ky

Ks St

The enitire Big Least

Minn

Indiana

NorthWestern

Purdue

Wake

BC

Illinois

Tenn

ND (if Navy is any indication of what the new coach will be like).



I think this would be a good start on patsies. :D

scott715 wrote:
Don't forget that the goal is exposure not just wins. We need to create a buzz. We are trying to expand our brand and establish our future. Future revenue and even better recruits. We need teams wanting to play us instead of trying to get games and giving up 2 for 1's. Think long term.

I am and winning and being ranked in the top ten having everybody fight over whether we deserve more or not is better than simply playing good teams but lsoing and never being on the radar. trust me, when we are being talked about on espn every week and our games are show on espn nearly ever week or every other week because we are winning and have an explosive offense, we will get more recruits and recognition than losing to 'prestigious' teams.



if i am a recruit i want to go to a team that has a shot at a bcs bowl and possibly a national title each year. we can't get there losing to 'good' and prestigious teams.



long term its best to win as many games as we can on national television. we need a few marquee games each year to prove that we are good.



and to italics post, we haven't gotten it done in the mwc. exactly my point. so now instead of losing to fsu on versus where nobody saw it we can lose to them on espn where everybody will see it. i don't see the logic here. winning is what builds the program. winning is what gets you recurits. winning is what gets you national attention and exposure. we need to schedule in a way that increases our shot at winning right now.



losing to good teams on national tv in the name of exposure is not going to help our team long term.

imuakahuku wrote:
I agree so lets schedule some cupcakes like the following:



Duke

Vandy

Clemson

Virginia

Maryland

Washington St

Cal (returning to the Cal of yesteryear)

AZ St

Ks

Ky

Ks St

The enitire Big Least

Minn

Indiana

NorthWestern

Purdue

Wake

BC

Illinois

Tenn

ND (if Navy is any indication of what the new coach will be like).



I think this would be a good start on patsies. :D

excellent. I am not discriminating in terms of patsies. wac patsies or any other bcs patsie is just fine with me. in fact if we are winning a lot and on espn a lot these teams will be beggin to play us so that they can be on espn.



cougarbib's comments above make perfect sense (except for the part about last years team losing 4 this year). it is ridiculous to think playing big names but losing will do more for us than playing patsies and winning. you have to realize hwo the system works and then beat it. there is a reason nevada is like perfect against us the past few years. they know how to schedule smart. we need to do that. schedule good teams the year they lose their quarterback. schedule teams like nd where win is a big deal even when they suck. i just don't think it is smart to schedule florida, texas, ohio state..... all just so that we can say that we scheduled these teams. we need to win out and then we will have a shot at beating one of these guys in a bcs bowl.

Last years team would have decimated Nevada. Max Hall would've put up at least 42 points on their defense.