2013 NCAA Football Thread

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Yes, Mizzou's problem has been that they weren't scheduling tough enough.

[Freed Roger]

Yes, Mizzou's problem has been that they weren't scheduling tough enough.

Yes, Mizzou has gotten better by playing saps.

When the QB doesn't see a decent defense until October, that's a major adjustment. Surprise - speed & size. When the receivers are covered, they can't always rely on scramble for a 1st down like they would against Toledo etal. 1st and goal from the 1 and the shotgun/spread suddenly isn't automatic.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Last year Mizzou played 2 BCS conference schools and traveled to a 10 win C-USA team(that just won @Penn State last week) in the non-con, plus Georgia and South Carolina in the conference slate before October.

With the exception of teams that have conference obligations that put a bunch of tough games earlier in the season(like your Georgia example and Mizzou last year), teams generally play 1 BCS conference team, 1-2 mid-level conference teams, and 1 FCS or low-level conference team. That teams would be suddenly shocked by the size and speed of conference opponents is silly at best.

[Freed Roger]

Looking back at the two comments, I don't see much I would equivocate. Mizzou's schedule this year stays too easy for too long. Whether by design or not - all it does is enable meaningless bowl game. It doesn't help the team overall. It is boring. And yes it is an adjustment, even for major college teams, to go from playing weak teams to good ones. Even though they may be fresh and less injured, it doesn't outweigh the game experience for young college players.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

You seem to be under the impression that Mizzou's schedule is an outlier, or even easier than average. You either don't understand how college teams schedule, are pining after an era that has long since past, or some combination of the two.

[Freed Roger]

You seem to be under the impression that Mizzou's schedule is an outlier, or even easier than average. You either don't understand how college teams schedule, are pining after an era that has long since past, or some combination of the two.

Nope. They are definitely not the only ones.

Once again, you strawman it up. I have no idea what impression you are under - blind loyalty/oversensitive to the alma mater perhaps. Mizzou doesn't have any control whatsoever of its non-conference schedule? This series of games against weak teams somehow helps a player get ready to play good/great teams? (I admit, in keeping them fresh and establishing confidence perhaps it does).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

It'd probably be more entertaining if Mizzou played Washington and Texas Tech instead of Murray State and Toledo. It's also wholly unrealistic in today's college football for a number of reasons. Not only have scholarship limits made mid-level and below schools better(making those games a better tune-up for conference play), but the economics are such that BCS teams can't regularly play 1-2 home games in the non-conference schedule, and that's what you'd need to do in order to fill your schedule with teams that don't draw your ire. I mean, if playing a B1G team on the road is still considered a cakewalk because it's not one of the top 4-5 programs in that conference, then you're limiting yourself even further to games that are acceptable for preparing for the "good/great teams" on the conference slate. When you do the math of how many BCS conference teams are out there, and take as a given that BCS teams are not playing multiple road non-conference games(like Mizzou last year) with regularity, plus the added complexity of actually matching open dates years in advance, it's not exactly hard to see why the vast majority of teams play 2-3 bad teams in their non-conference schedule. And of course, there's the sustainability aspect to it, where even if you wanted to break rank and schedule super-aggressively, then you'd take the hit in the win column(in addition to revenue) which leads to a more difficult path in recruiting, which leads to more losses, and so on and so on.

Maybe in a few years you'll see some real separation where the BCS teams break away from their MAC/C-USA/WAC counterparts, and then it would be only reasonable to have the power conference 12 game thunderdome that you're asking for here. In the interim, whining that any individual team is playing a cakewalk schedule(most especially Mizzou considering their current and recent scheduling) is like my ongoing complaint that every MLB lefty balks with every pickoff throw. The rules are the same for everyone, and the result is largely insignificant, so complaining about any singular case is, again, silly at best.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I wouldn't call it a cakewalk. mizzou's only a 3 or 4 point favorite.

[JL21]

If mid-majors are out, and schools like Illinois, Indiana, Syracuse, and Arizona St. are out, the only teams they could schedule would be the top 25.

[Freed Roger]

The rules are the same for everyone, and the result is largely insignificant, so complaining about any singular case is, again, silly at best.

Oh, the Rules. Got it. I was talking about the game of football and competition....and it doesn't really help a team like Mizzou (or Wisconsin -there, you happy ?) to have 5 weak game wins before heading into Georgia etc.