Cougarbib2 wrote:
USC 19 Minn. 17
Ore 27 (late TD) LSU 40
UCLA 34 Houston 38
Colorado 17 Hawaii 34
Let me give a shot with the turd polish. I have long stated how foolish the PAC is regarding scheduling OOC games. The Big 12 and SEC are the smartest. Auburn stinks it up and wins anyway - at home of course Vs a WAC team projected to finish 5th. USU is better than projected, but I can only imagine how happy Auburn was to not be playing Oregon in Corvallis. But they couldn't, because foolish Oregon was playing at LSU in a game neither should have played the way the BCS works. But LSU was at home and it all worked out. Georgia was foolish to play BSU and the Donkeys were more foolish to play at Georgia. Now if the Donkeys go undefeated and do nit get screwed out of the NC game - I guess I may have to admit the gamble paid off.
Back to the PAC. USC survived a gamble it did not need to take. ND, who makes the same scheduling mistakes as the PAC should have played Indiana State.
UW lucked out - but that is a good FCS team. Luckily they were not at Nebraska like they have done in the past.
OSU - ouch. They have no excuse. They should have played Idaho State, though. Maybe that would have made a 2 or 3 point difference.
Utah must be glad they were not at ND, Iowa State, or Pitt this year.
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I think we're starting to create a false impression here with regards to how BCS teams create their non-conference schedules. With a few outliers, most teams will schedule a decent match-up, one or two WAC/MWC/Conf-USA games, and then a FCS/Mac/SunBelt softball. I'll grant you that about half of the SEC teams go the "two-FCS, two-SunBelt" route, but even just yesterday, the SEC played BYU, Boise State, Oregon and a decent-looking ECU team yesterday. Teams like Florida and South Carolina are the big offenders. LSU is daredevil-like in some of the OOC games they schedule.
The Big-12 played TCU this week. Just checking, in the coming weeks:
-Mizzou is playing a supposed-to-be-good-this-year Arizona State
-Kansas is playing NIU and Georgia Tech
-K-State playing Miami
-Oklahoma is playing Florida St. (and you're right, in my opinion that's stupid)
-OK State playing our ol' buddy Robert Anae in Arizona
-A&M playing Arkansas
-Texas plays us & UCLA
Pretty much every team has one good match-up.
Pac-12 is pretty similar:
Oregon played LSU, but now has an FCS team and a depleted Nevada to look foward to
Cal played Fresno (pretty good), now plays Presbyterian
Colorado fits your stereotype: Hawaii and Ohio State. However, they do play CSU.
Stanford: SJSU (gimme), Duke (easy), ND
WSU - ISU, UNLV, SDSU (if SDSU is your highlight, that's pretty easy)
OSU fits as well: Wisconsin and BYU
AZ has the aforementioned OK State game, but also UL-L and N. Arizona
ASU has the aforementioned Mizzou game, but also UC Davis and the Zook version of Illinois
I don't see a huge difference between the Pac-12 and the Big-12. Basically, unless you're Florida or Tennessee, you're gonna have at least one challenge early in the year. Whether or not the risk is worth it is another debate.
