2011 schedule = 2010 schedule 2.0?

I wonder if this will become the norm,



@ Ole Miss

@ Texas

Utah

UCF

Utah State



Ole Miss and Texas are two big road games.



Come home to play Utah.



At this point, it would be nice to have a break, but UCF won't be a push over. They are 8-3 this year, most likely will be playing in the C-USA championship game, have the most successfule true freshman quarterback (so he will be back).



Then we get another rivalry game with Utah State. Of course they won't always have the pieces in place to beat us in a down year like they did this year, but I would still prefer to see one of those other WAC teams at this point on the schedule.



This will probably be okay next year since we won't be rebuilding/reloading like this year. In fact, Texas early is probably the best time with the year they have had. They still won't know how much improvements they did or didn't make, so confidence won't be as high as later in the year if they are 7-0, or 6-1.



We better have our ducks in a row or we will be looking at another year like this one.

I agree in the real possibility of an awful start, but I'm just going to hold onto moral victories and it won't seem so bad, I guess I should call it the aggie-ute philosophy.

YBrit wrote:
I agree in the real possibility of an awful start, but I'm just going to hold onto moral victories and it won't seem so bad, I guess I should call it the aggie-ute philosophy.

So Aggie-Ute Philosophy is non-blowout losses against semi-decent teams are wins (Aggie) and wins against BYU worth an entire year of wins (Ute)?

2010 had a new starter at QB not ready to play, WR/TEs that were not ready to play, an offensive coordinator seraching to find an indentity for his unit and a defensive coordinator not getting it done. By 2011, none of those issues will be around. 2011 will not be the same. We may have tough games, but we will be ready to play them.

I agree with Lawboy. If our team in its current state could go back and replay the season, I think we beat Air Force, Nevada, Utah State, and possibly FSU. Remember, we were a couple plays away from being right with AFA. Dropped TD, fumble through the endzone, etc - we have that stuff cleaned up (mostly) know. Plus our run defense is night-and-day better. We were still in the FSU game at halftime even with all the issues we had. And you know the team wouldn't have rolled over and died against USU or Nevada with their current attitude.



2011 schedule may be 2010 schedule 2.0, but I guarantee you we'll have better results. If we want to be taken seriously on a national level - i.e., be respected enough to not get leapfrogged by teams with worse records in the BCS standings - we HAVE to play a schedule like this, or maybe even tougher. Personally, I've found that when I want to be truly good at something, I have to start by competing against (and subsequently getting completely trashed by) the very best at it. With patience and hard work, you learn what it takes to fix your weaknesses, leverage your strengths, exploit their weaknesses, and negate their strengths. That's why I love the independence move so much - the scheduling upgrade and national exposure can only help us. Recruiting will get better. Coaching weaknesses will be exposed and correctly more. Team strengths will be identified earlier and utilized better. And I'll be able to watch it all on national TV. :D

I don't think this schedule is nearly as difficult as our opening schedule was this year.



Ole Miss is going to finish this year at 4-8.....I don't get why anyone is apprehensive about this game. All we have to do is go into Oxford and punch them in the mouth like juggernauts FCS Jacksonville State and 2-9 Vanderbilt did this season. Ole Miss will be about the equivalent of UW this season--a name school that just happens to not be very good.



Texas could be decent, but they likely aren't even going bowling this season.....another paper tiger--school with name and history, but that just isn't good right now.



Utah--is the only one I'm worried about--they have two weeks to prep for us after an FCS opener, but it's a home opener, and Bronco is doing well in those. Plus, at that point we'll be 4-1 against the Utes in the last five years. Call it a toss up.



UCF??? Yeah, they are a scary 8-3....but who did they beat to get there? They were 2-2 OOC, with wins against powerhouses SDSU (that would be SOUTH DAKOTA) and Buffalo. Their OOC losses were to a middling KSU team and a decent NCState. There's also this nugget, and since 2002 (possibly further, but that's as far back as I went) UCF has not won a single OOC game west of the Mississippi. I just think UCF is about as scary at 8-3 as the might 8-3 Ohio Bobcats.



Utah State? Yeah right. Not only have they sucked for vekomaj, but this is a revenge game. It will not be pretty for the Aggs.



I think with our team as improved as they are, this is an awesome opening slate--schools with name recognition, but games that are all very winnable. Undefeated is not an unreal expectation if the team continues to improve and play with the heart we have seen of late.

snoscythe wrote:
Not only have they sucked for vekomaj,

Thank goodness for google - my Slovenian isn't that good... ;)

snoscythe wrote:
I don't think this schedule is nearly as difficult as our opening schedule was this year.



Ole Miss is going to finish this year at 4-8.....I don't get why anyone is apprehensive about this game. All we have to do is go into Oxford and punch them in the mouth like juggernauts FCS Jacksonville State and 2-9 Vanderbilt did this season. Ole Miss will be about the equivalent of UW this season--a name school that just happens to not be very good.



Texas could be decent, but they likely aren't even going bowling this season.....another paper tiger--school with name and history, but that just isn't good right now.



Utah--is the only one I'm worried about--they have two weeks to prep for us after an FCS opener, but it's a home opener, and Bronco is doing well in those. Plus, at that point we'll be 4-1 against the Utes in the last five years. Call it a toss up.



UCF??? Yeah, they are a scary 8-3....but who did they beat to get there? They were 2-2 OOC, with wins against powerhouses SDSU (that would be SOUTH DAKOTA) and Buffalo. Their OOC losses were to a middling KSU team and a decent NCState. There's also this nugget, and since 2002 (possibly further, but that's as far back as I went) UCF has not won a single OOC game west of the Mississippi. I just think UCF is about as scary at 8-3 as the might 8-3 Ohio Bobcats.



Utah State? Yeah right. Not only have they sucked for vekomaj, but this is a revenge game. It will not be pretty for the Aggs.



I think with our team as improved as they are, this is an awesome opening slate--schools with name recognition, but games that are all very winnable. Undefeated is not an unreal expectation if the team continues to improve and play with the heart we have seen of late.

Sno, you must have gone through some serious therapy. I've been doing some therapy of my own.



I remember all to well your thread about how our last 3 opponents weren't going to be "gimmies" and I totally agreed with you. Glad we were both wrong. Hope BYU continues the trend this Saturday.



BYU football has HUGE potential right now. I think that Utah is in trouble next year at LES after Bronco works with this group for an entire year!!!!!!!



Undefeated next year to kick of indy!!



In case no one noticed, I bought another pair of Blue Goggles the other day.

I have posted this before but I think that next years opening sched has the potential to get us off to an 0-3 start. Ole miss is an SEC school and BYU's record against SEC schools is not good. Texas is texas, they are down this year but they are EXTREMELY talented and will probably be better next year, especially after struggling. utah is utah, we never seem to be able to put that team away even when we have a 2006 team that had an average margin of victory of about 30pts per game against MWC schools, it takes a last minute throw to harline to keep from losing to them 5 years in a row. I don't know what to think of UCF, I am not afraid of usu at LES after what happened this year. Having said that, with a Bronco Mendenhall run defense and Heaps having a year under his belt, all those games are also winable. If we come out of that stretch undefeated, we will be the talk of the football world next year, and ESPN will be promoting us at every turn.

frdbtr wrote:
I have posted this before but I think that next years opening sched has the potential to get us off to an 0-3 start. Ole miss is an SEC school and BYU's record against SEC schools is not good. Texas is texas, they are down this year but they are EXTREMELY talented and will probably be better next year, especially after struggling. utah is utah, we never seem to be able to put that team away even when we have a 2006 team that had an average margin of victory of about 30pts per game against MWC schools, it takes a last minute throw to harline to keep from losing to them 5 years in a row. I don't know what to think of UCF, I am not afraid of usu at LES after what happened this year. Having said that, with a Bronco Mendenhall run defense and Heaps having a year under his belt, all those games are also winable. If we come out of that stretch undefeated, we will be the talk of the football world next year, and ESPN will be promoting us at every turn.

Our record against SEC schools may not be good, but we haven't played too many of them, and when we have it's been pretty close:

Alabama - '98 L, 38-31

Arkansas - never played

Auburn - never played

Florida - never played

Georgia - '82 L, 17-14

Kentucky - never played

LSU - never played

Mississippi State - '00 L 44-28, '01 W 41-38

Ole Miss - never played

South Carolina - never played

Tennessee - never played

Vanderbilt - never played



So, we're 1-3, with two of the losses being a one-score loss. Not too bad, if you ask me. Also, one of the things you need to win in the SEC is a strong defense. BYU never used to have that, but with Bronco as DC, I have full confidence in our ability to beat Ole Miss.



I live in Longhorn country, and everyone here is way down on the team. The strength is the defense, though it has its weaknesses (for example, Kansas State managed to score 39 on them despite having only 9 yards passing - probably more a symptom of the offense's turnovers, though). The main ailments seem to be the offense, and there is talk of getting a new offensive coordinator in the off-season, and lack of team leadership. Team leadership can be a hard problem to solve, as we've seen with our team, and likely takes some time. A new offensive coordinator is also something that generally requires a little time before the offense starts clicking. Since we get them early, we may be able to take advantage of those factors and get the win - assuming, of course, that they do replace the OC. If I were Bronco, I'd be very tempted to call a very aggressive game defensively to try and cause confusion and get some early turnovers, because you know the offense is going to be pretty vanilla at that point.



Utah is a rivalry game. Could always go either way. UCF looks to be a run-first offense, which I think will play into our strengths with a more experienced D-line and a freaking AWESOME linebacker corps next season. And USU is going to be dump-trucked in that game.



The schedule is definitely front-loaded like this year, but I think the names on the list are scarier than most of the teams are. I like our chances, especially with what we have coming back and the fact that we can continue to develop it in a bowl game while Ole Miss and UT likely can't. On offense we lose Ashworth, B.J. Peterson, Alletto and Speredon. That's it. We get to add Drew Phillips and Ross Apo. On defense we lose Logan, Rich, and Bradley in the secondary, and we'll replace them with Eason, Buckner, and Everett. We lose Zeke Mendenhall, Van Valkenburg, Atkinson, and Hunter of the LBs. More importantly, though, we will have Pendleton, Kaveinga, Stout, Ogletree, Van Noy, Frazier and others all there. That's disgusting! Would you want to run on that? Or have any part of that blitz you? On the D-line we lose So'oto, which is a big loss. But we've got a lot of talent there, some of which is getting a lot of good practice this year, and they should be great. I love the thought of doing stunts and zone blitzes with guys like Pendleton, Van Noy, and Ezekiel Ansah - those are some fast, big, mean dudes. And on special teams, we will have the return of Justin Sorenson and touchbacks. :) 2011 will be much improved, and should get out of the first part of the schedule with at most one loss.