Two scheduling fixtures I'd like to see

1) I want to open EVERY year with a FCS opponent at home. It's a (nearly) risk-free warm-up game to fine-tune for the rest of the season. And, it gets us started on the right foot as far as bowl eligibility goes. As long as all the big boys are doing it, so should we.



2) Schedule the following:



Week 4: Saturday Game



Week 5: BYE



Week 6: Thursday game



Week 7: Saturday game



This allows for extra preparation for 2 games. Ideally, the Week 6 and Week 7 games would be the two toughest games of the year. This is under the assumption that ESPN will require us to play at least ONE game on a Thursday night each year. This would simply turn what would ordinarily be a burden into an advantage.



Besides scheduling as many home games as possible, I believe these two moves would ensure a better season. I think #2 gives us the best chance against quality opponents.

We've had the most success playing the big boys on the 1st game of the year. Also it's a lot easier to get hyped up to play Oklahoma or Miami all off season versus Eastern Washington.



Why not play San Jose State, New Mexico, or UNLV in place of an FCS team. You get the same level of competition but you get credit for a D-1 win.

Wickchad84087 wrote:
We've had the most success playing the big boys on the 1st game of the year. Also it's a lot easier to get hyped up to play Oklahoma or Miami all off season versus Eastern Washington.



Why not play San Jose State, New Mexico, or UNLV in place of an FCS team. You get the same level of competition but you get credit for a D-1 win.

Miami and OU are easy to remember because it turned out well for us, but scheduling tough teams for the opening game doesn't always work out.



To your second issue: We schedule these games so many years out that you risk scheduling what you THINK is a bad team, but might end up being a great team.

mcgregor wrote:

We've had the most success playing the big boys on the 1st game of the year. Also it's a lot easier to get hyped up to play Oklahoma or Miami all off season versus Eastern Washington.



Why not play San Jose State, New Mexico, or UNLV in place of an FCS team. You get the same level of competition but you get credit for a D-1 win.

Miami and OU are easy to remember because it turned out well for us, but scheduling tough teams for the opening game doesn't always work out.



To your second issue: We schedule these games so many years out that you risk scheduling what you THINK is a bad team, but might end up being a great team.

BCS schools that we have won the first game of the year since 1990:



Miami

Texas A&M

Washington

Syracuse

Georgia Tech

Notre Dame

Arizona

Oklahoma

Washington





We have lost to:

Alabama

Washington

Boston College

Florida State

Arizona



Seems to be pretty successful to me.

Miami in 1990 was our second game. We started that year with a 30-10 win over UTEP. There was a bench clearing brawl if I remember correctly as well.

mcgregor wrote:
1) I want to open EVERY year with a FCS opponent at home. It's a (nearly) risk-free warm-up game to fine-tune for the rest of the season. And, it gets us started on the right foot as far as bowl eligibility goes. As long as all the big boys are doing it, so should we.



2) Schedule the following:



Week 4: Saturday Game



Week 5: BYE



Week 6: Thursday game



Week 7: Saturday game



This allows for extra preparation for 2 games. Ideally, the Week 6 and Week 7 games would be the two toughest games of the year. This is under the assumption that ESPN will require us to play at least ONE game on a Thursday night each year. This would simply turn what would ordinarily be a burden into an advantage.



Besides scheduling as many home games as possible, I believe these two moves would ensure a better season. I think #2 gives us the best chance against quality opponents.

Great ideas McGregor. As it stands the week 3 game looks like it will be against the pukes for the forseeable future. Also either the fourth or the fifth game each year depending on the calendar will be a Friday night affair against the Aggies. Also, it may be a little difficult to get the toughest games on our schedule to be in weeks 6 and 7 since most BCS teams are in conference by then and want those weeks for bye weeks or games against cream puffs. So it might require a little tweaking but I like the general philosophy behind that kind of scheduling.



I'd like to see them make Hawaii a permanent fixture on the schedule. Not only would it help us strengthen the islands pipeline but it would give us that thirteenth game every other year. And that would be a perfect way to add that FCS game without hurting the SOS much at all for that year. Or you treat Hawaii like a FCS team and schedule them for the first game of the year (I think most years we wouldn't have to worry about them having a very strong team), get there extra early when playing in Honolulu to give the guys plenty of time to adjust to the time difference. It would be great if they could try to coordinate these years when we are going to have a dip in experience at key positions but obviously that would be an extremely hard thing to manage. Still something to keep in mind.



One last thing I'd like to see them try to do is schedule option teams in the same year. In other words, we've got a series against GT coming up... as long as Paul Johnson is still the coach there when we play them it would be great to get games against Air Force, Navy, Army, Nevada, etc. so that weeks spent preparing for those types of opponents wouldn't go to waste the rest of that year. Otherwise, I don't care if we play Air Force again any time soon. I don't dislike the cadets at all but that game always takes a toll on our guys and its just not worth it to schedule them unless there are other option teams on the schedule that same year.

Game 1 has upset potential.. but I have no problem with Game 1s at home against good teams (odds are we're only going to take a beating at home if we're truly the worse team)... I don't like the Game 1s at their place... I don't know how I feel about game 1s on a neutral field.. I dont' like it but I was also there front row for the OU game so...?

My only scheduling fixture I'd like to see is 7 home games and 5 road games.

kitic77 wrote:
Miami in 1990 was our second game. We started that year with a 30-10 win over UTEP. There was a bench clearing brawl if I remember correctly as well.

Yep. But it WAS miami's first game. Advantage: BYU!

I like Hawaii on the road in December as a pre bowl game.

scott715 wrote:
I like Hawaii on the road in December as a pre bowl game.

That has gone badly for us, twice. Very bad

kitic77 wrote:
My only scheduling fixture I'd like to see is 7 home games and 5 road games.

Amen and hallelujah.

I really like the big opening game to the season, whether it be a road game or neutral site.



As much as I think it would be great to play a 1AA team to warm up, the publicity you can get by having a monster opener is huge.



During the offseason, the media rarely covers week 3 or 4 matchups, its all about the opener. (OU last year was a great example)



If we want exposure, that is the way to do it.

mcgregor wrote:
1) I want to open EVERY year with a FCS opponent at home. It's a (nearly) risk-free warm-up game to fine-tune for the rest of the season. And, it gets us started on the right foot as far as bowl eligibility goes. As long as all the big boys are doing it, so should we.



2) Schedule the following:



Week 4: Saturday Game



Week 5: BYE



Week 6: Thursday game



Week 7: Saturday game



This allows for extra preparation for 2 games. Ideally, the Week 6 and Week 7 games would be the two toughest games of the year. This is under the assumption that ESPN will require us to play at least ONE game on a Thursday night each year. This would simply turn what would ordinarily be a burden into an advantage.



Besides scheduling as many home games as possible, I believe these two moves would ensure a better season. I think #2 gives us the best chance against quality opponents.

Totally agree

CaptainCoug wrote:
I really like the big opening game to the season, whether it be a road game or neutral site.



As much as I think it would be great to play a 1AA team to warm up, the publicity you can get by having a monster opener is huge.



During the offseason, the media rarely covers week 3 or 4 matchups, its all about the opener. (OU last year was a great example)



If we want exposure, that is the way to do it.

The exposure issue is covered... ESPNs got our back...



The winning record thing isn't covered and scheduling is a crucial component in that

Wickchad84087 wrote:
We've had the most success playing the big boys on the 1st game of the year. Also it's a lot easier to get hyped up to play Oklahoma or Miami all off season versus Eastern Washington.



Why not play San Jose State, New Mexico, or UNLV in place of an FCS team. You get the same level of competition but you get credit for a D-1 win.

I could buy that too, but occasionally, these teams have an up year and if it matches your down year, you may wish you took Eastern Whatever. But SJSU week 1, or NMSU week 1 at home every year - I would be fine. But you may have a hard time getting them to come to our house every time or even 2 for 1 whereas Eastern Whatever will.



And we have done well as of late with Okie in an off year for them but a Senior QB for us, and UW in another of several off years for them, but you don't need to look too far back to find a time where maybe we played an AZ, BC, or other team too early and worse yet - on the road.



I prefer to play the really big boys n a BCS Bowl when it actually matters towards our legacy.



We beat Oklahoma in a squeaker, after we knocked out their starting QB, when they were breaking in a new center, and it was great for a week. But as Oklahoma faded to mediocrity it became meaningless. Contrast that with Utah kicking Bama's butt in a BCS Bowl. Bama was already proven to be great, Utah beat them - and it could not be denied or explained away. That is what I want for BYU.

Wickchad84087 wrote:

Wickchad84087 wrote:
We've had the most success playing the big boys on the 1st game of the year. Also it's a lot easier to get hyped up to play Oklahoma or Miami all off season versus Eastern Washington.



Why not play San Jose State, New Mexico, or UNLV in place of an FCS team. You get the same level of competition but you get credit for a D-1 win.

Miami and OU are easy to remember because it turned out well for us, but scheduling tough teams for the opening game doesn't always work out.



To your second issue: We schedule these games so many years out that you risk scheduling what you THINK is a bad team, but might end up being a great team.

BCS schools that we have won the first game of the year since 1990:



Miami

Texas A&M

Washington

Syracuse

Georgia Tech

Notre Dame

Arizona

Oklahoma

Washington





We have lost to:

Alabama

Washington

Boston College

Florida State

Arizona



Seems to be pretty successful to me.

Yeah if you want ot be knocked out of BCS contention in week 1 30-40 % of the time.

kitic77 wrote:
My only scheduling fixture I'd like to see is 7 home games and 5 road games.

Totally agree that this should be the top priority. But I like having a warm up game in week 1 and smart used of bye week and Thursday games if we can pull it off.

Whatever you want to say about the Big 10 and the SEC, they know how to schedule and the key to their schedules is to build up in competition and play patsies the 1st few weeks.



We play plenty of tough teams early, but we've also regretted that. The 1996-97 team could have beaten anyone in the country, but we had to play UW early and finished with a loss and out of the NC picture.



The John Beck team that lost 2 games by the slimmest of margins (BC in OT, etc.) was good enough to compete in a BCS bowl, but we lost 2 games early by basically 1-2 plays. Plays we were making by the end of the season.



Our future schedules are plenty tough (texas, oregon state, notre dame, boise state, utah, ucf, georgia tech). I wholeheartedly agree with scheduling a no brainer win for the 1st game and I see much less that we gain, and a lot to lose by constantly scheduling top competition out of the door.



And for goodness sake if anyone approaches us to play Air Force at the beginning of the season, please slap them as hard as possible.

craigoscarson wrote:

I like Hawaii on the road in December as a pre bowl game.

That has gone badly for us, twice. Very bad

I totally agree Craig. I live in Hawaii and wouldlove to get a chance to see the COugs here, but back when they played regularly, BYU was UH's enemy no 1. THere was bad blood. THey practiced for it all year. And when we came to town, hard hitting, injuries aplenty, and UH played over their head. THe 13th game seemed nice because it was an extra game and we all like watching BYU play - and it made money.



Other than that, it was a sucker's bet and a nice way to help UH fill out their schedule, but a near certain way to lose a game you should have won about every 2nd or 3rd time.



UH pounded Detmer on his Heisman Day - separated shoulder - which set up another pounding by A&M in our bowl game.

UH pounded Doman when BYU was 12-0 the week after Staley went down, iirc.

UH came the closest to beating the 1984 NC Cougars of any opponent, and it took a miracle defensive play where the defender timed the snap perfectly and leaped over the center to sack the UH QB as he was backing away from center when UH was on about the 7 yard line in the closing seconds of the game in positoin for the go ahead score.

I remember another year when the game was during the Utah Deer hunt and I had come to Provo for the hunt and was watching the replay of the game in my motel room and UH threw bomb after bomb after bomb and blew us out.



If you want to play UH - have them come to Provo every time and expect them to play over their normal ability.



THere is nothng to gain from a 13th game and everything to lose becasue even if you win 90% of your games, it still becomes an extra 10% chance of losing a game and being out of the BCS.



I do not like the BCS System - but it is a play to win and make sure you don't lose to anyone system.



We should schedule weak BCS teams that have loaded up on 3 or FCS teams and 7 home games so we create the illusion of a quality win like the entire SEC does every year in conference. We shoudl never play teams that look bad due to rolling over for Okie, Tex, and Neb every year but are acutally much beter than their record shows.



And as someone alluded in a prior post - if we can get a warm-up in late August, or schedule a team that has a bye week 1 and go inot their week 1 as our week 2 - do it every time you can pull it off.