Top 25 toughest schedules

[peter dragon]

the top toughest schedules should be based on your non conference schedules. not the teams you have to play every year..

(this coming from an OSU team with YSU on the schdule, but you get my drift)

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

SOS "rankings" don't mean jack shite until the season has ended.

Interesting though I don't see Bama on that list, what with all of Sudden Sam's off season key-pounding about how arduous life is for Alabama football in SEC country. Fortunately for RollDoubleWide fan, they're in the one conference that doesn't have to make excuses.

[MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan]

SOS "rankings" don't mean jack shite until the season has ended.

Well if you want to get technical, neither do any other rankings.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Any Big Ten teams facing that many decent/great teams? I think not.

Ummm...

4. Michigan State

Again, where's Alabama?

[SoCalTrjn]

Auburn has 8 home games, any ranking that would put a schedule with 8 homes games in the top 5 of over 100 schedules is a ranking that isnt worth a shit.

Arkansas is not a great team..... name 1 win they had that was worth a shit last year that didnt come vs an SEC team??? Dont worry I'll wait but dont forget that they lost to USC 50-14 in Fayetteville. and did you just say Houston was a decent/great team?

The only way to measure a conferences strength is in games vs other strong conferences, when the SEC is afraid to do that, all their chest beating is laughable.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

How the hell do they rank that schedule so high?!

How?

Well Samster, I know it's tough for a good ol' boy to comprehend, but there are people located in various regions around this country that actually believe good football is played not just in the SEC, but in other major conferences...like the Big Ten for instance.

Shocking revelation, I know.

[SoCalTrjn]

California played @ Tennessee last year (and got stomped)

no 7 home games isnt anything a team should be allowed to do either but its still one less than 8.

To say Houston is better than or equal to 8 Pac 10 teams shows you dont watch any Pac 10 games. there isnt 8 Pac teams that would lose to schools like Southern Miss, Louisiana Lafayette, UTEP, Memphis, SMU.

You know what, you're right , the Pac 10 is complete dog shit and nobody in the conference is worth a fuck. Now lets see the SEC cunts prove it by coming out west and kicking the shit out of Pac teams. Bring Alabama to LA and play at USC, I mean what do they have to lose, a bunch of soft guys like the Trojans, they probably have too much time at the beach working on their tans to play any decent football and sabans team should beat the Trojans at the Coliseum 100-0 right?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

But no one can look at Michigan State's schedule and tell me it's any tougher than Alabama's this coming season. No way.

No way, you say? It seems to me people who GET PAID to do this stuff for a living just did.

How do you respond to that?

[SoCalTrjn]

It is impossible to argue what the quality of SEC teams as a collective are when they do not play other quality conferences home and away collectively.
Someday SEC fans will understand this...
probably right after they understand that there is no sky fairy and having dry counties or not allowing people to drink on sundays is pretty archaic

[SoCalTrjn]

seems that other than the FSU game, all of bamas tough games are at home while 3 of Michigan States 5 "tough" games are on the road

If road games are as easy to win as home games, why dioes the SEC collective only have 9 road OOC games this season and 39 games at home?
plus I would argue that Iowa is at least as tough as Georgia, especially on the road at Iowa vs a home game against Georgia

[SoCalTrjn]

No Auburn at Auburn isnt a tough game, a weak ass pile of pussies team from the pac 10 went to Auburn and the Tigers never crossed the 50 yard line in their own stadium when many in the country thought they were the top team in the nation. Spaghetti Monster!

you could stop showing up at home games vs Citadel, Wofford, La Monroe, Florida International.... the only people that can stomp the collective cunt scheduling of the SEC are the fans of the SEC teams.

[SoCalTrjn]

Auburn has not won a road game OOC since 1997 when they won at Virginia.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Yes, I'd say Houston is at least the equal of 8 of the PAC 10 teams.

I laughed.

Sam, I like you and all, but I think you might need to get out of the sun for awhile.

[Mr T]

ACC? Yeah, right.

ummm...

3. Florida State

at Clemson
vs. UAB
at Colorado
vs. Alabama (Jacksonville, FL)
vs. North Carolina State
at Wake Forest
vs. Miami
vs. Duke
at Boston College
at Virginia Tech
vs. Maryland
at Florida

[Mr T]

Uh...Auburn at Auburn isn't a tough game? Jesus Christ!

If I know bama football history, I am sure they would rather play auburn in auburn then auburn in t-town. So be happy yall are not playing in auburns automatic W city.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Can't fathom their thinking on that one.

I know you can't. That's my point, Sammy boy. The typical local fish hack-worshipping, brainwashed, sheltered SECDork simply will not, and in many cases, CANNOT understand how teams in conferences that aren't the SEC can play tough people. It's like you people genuinely believe blue chip talent can't exist in other regions of the country. It's almost like you believe future football stars in the Midwest, Pacific coast and East coast are passing through their mothers' birth canals with physical deficiencies, rendering them inferior to the mighty SEC football gods of the gridiron, once they reach 18.

Talent's all over the country buddy boy.

And Toejam already hit on this pretty hard, but where you play and not just who you play definitely is a factor, regardless of how much you want to ignore that point. The SI link will even tell you that if you bother to re-read it. Most people wouldn't consider road games @ OSU, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin a walk in the park. You combine that with some decent-to-very-good home games and voila: There's your #4 ranking. And believe me, as much as it sucks to come to grips to, there really is a big difference between playing a MAC school and a D1AA opponent. There really is. The competitive gap between the two is large. I know if you look across the country, you can cherry pick teams out of any conference playing a D1AA team, but the SEC seems to have cornered the market on the idea. But hey, why would you cry about it? You've still got 5 teams in the top 10 on that list. Kudos.

And obviously "timing" is a big factor in this set of rankings in terms of who you've got home/away; Because the following season when MSU is @ Notre Dame, @ Ohio St and @ Wisconsin (assuming they have both on the schedule next year), they probably wouldn't be rated as highly as 4th. But that's unimportant. I'm just trying to help clear up your confusion on this matter when you say things like

Can't fathom their thinking on that one.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

3. Florida State

at Clemson
vs. UAB
at Colorado
vs. Alabama (Jacksonville, FL)
vs. North Carolina State
at Wake Forest
vs. Miami
vs. Duke
at Boston College
at Virginia Tech
vs. Maryland
at Florida

5 home games. Mega props to FSU.

[Blueblood]

"And....who y'all a'callin' unedjakated?

Yes, I'd say Houston is at least the equal of 8 of the PAC 10 teams.

Phil Steele's Top 25 toughest schedules:
1. Washington
2. Southern Cal
3. Washington State
4. Arizona
5. UCLA
6. Stanford
7. Oregon State
8. California
9. Duke
10. Texas A&M
11. Oregon
12. Notre Dame
13. Oklahoma State
14. Florida State
15. Arizona State
16. North Carolina
17. Nebraska
18. Tennessee
19. Miami
20. Michigan State
21. Florida
22. Auburn
23. Georgia
24. Iowa State
25. Utah

[indyfrisco]

West coast bias much there Phil?

[Terry in Crapchester]

Most people wouldn't consider road games @ OSU, Notre Dame, and Wisconsin a walk in the park.

True, but if you look at the recent history in the ND-State series, the home team last won in 2000. If recent history holds serve (note that I'm not saynig it will), State will win the game this year.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Whether they come out with a W or L, I'd still consider that to be a tough game by nature. ND hasn't exactly brought their A game against State recently, but going into South Bend is usually a task for anybody.

It's flat out considered a tough game. For anybody.

Jeebus. I prop your friggin' team for once on this board, and you still can't help but go to the "Ahem, correction..." card.

Go with the flow, dude. There's this thing called the "big picture" you should be focusing on.

[Screw_Michigan]

my pussy is bleeding

hey douche, where the fuck were you when northern illinois beat the living piss out of your boys in your own fucking crib?

THAT'S why the sec sticks to the 1-AA opponents. MAC teams give too much of a game now.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA



my southeastern conference vagina is bleeding.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[SoCalTrjn]

3. Florida State

at Clemson
vs. UAB
at Colorado
vs. Alabama (Jacksonville, FL)
vs. North Carolina State
at Wake Forest
vs. Miami
vs. Duke
at Boston College
at Virginia Tech
vs. Maryland
at Florida

5 home games. Mega props to FSU.

what would you call Jacksonville? A home game for Alabama?

[stuckinia]

Phil Steele's Top 25 toughest schedules:

Only one SEC school in the top 20 (#18)? Uhh, that doesn't seem right, Phil.

Aren't five or six of your most favoritist teams respresented though? I don't see your concern.

[Mr T]

what would you call Jacksonville? A home game for Alabama?

No its a neutral site game. The tickets are split up evenly.

Ill help you out with some geography smick....

Tallahassee on left side of florida

Jax on right side of florida

[Mr T]

3. Florida State

at Clemson
vs. UAB
at Colorado
vs. Alabama (Jacksonville, FL)
vs. North Carolina State
at Wake Forest
vs. Miami
vs. Duke
at Boston College
at Virginia Tech
vs. Maryland
at Florida

5 home games. Mega props to FSU.

Sets the noles up pretty good for a run next year with only four away games.

[SoCalTrjn]

what would you call Jacksonville? A home game for Alabama?

No its a neutral site game. The tickets are split up evenly.

Ill help you out with some geography smick....

Tallahassee on left side of florida

Jax on right side of florida

and a convenient way for Florida State and Alabama to both play an "away" game, much closer to FSUs campus than Alabamas.... Kind of like Arkansas playing games in Little Rock

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

what would you call Jacksonville? A home game for Alabama?

No its a neutral site game. The tickets are split up evenly.

Ill help you out with some geography smick....

Tallahassee on left side of florida

Jax on right side of florida

and a convenient way for Florida State and Alabama to both play an "away" game, much closer to FSUs campus than Alabamas.... Kind of like Arkansas playing games in Little Rock

Except nobody is trying to pass it off as an "away" game. It's a neutral site game. Once again, we have another very basic principle Toejam struggles mightily to understand.

Of all the weak ass schedules around the country, FSU's isn't one I'm willing to pick apart.

[TheChief]

and a convenient way for Florida State and Alabama to both play an "away" game, much closer to FSUs campus than Alabamas.... Kind of like Arkansas playing games in Little Rock

Just fucking stop, before we all pile on your stupid ass...not the T needs any extra help, he's doing a find job himself.

[Mr T]

what would you call Jacksonville? A home game for Alabama?

No its a neutral site game. The tickets are split up evenly.

Ill help you out with some geography smick....

Tallahassee on left side of florida

Jax on right side of florida

and a convenient way for Florida State and Alabama to both play an "away" game, much closer to FSUs campus than Alabamas.... Kind of like Arkansas playing games in Little Rock

Ill help you out. look up and read the bold.

holla back when you see I said it was an away game.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Jeebus. I prop your friggin' team for once on this board, and you still can't help but go to the "Ahem, correction..." card.

Actually, what I was doing was lamenting the recent trend in the series.

From 1969-1994, ND was 23-3 vs. Michigan State. For me personally, that would have been an extremely significant time period, as it pretty much encompassed the period of time from when I first actually became cognizant of the sports world, until the time I was about ten years out of ND (not quite ten years out in '94, but after that the series went on hiatus for two years, which took me to the ten-year mark). Since '97, we're 3-7 vs. Michigan State, including 0-5 vs. Bob Davie (fuck you very much). By contrast, the earlier period even encompassed the Faust years.

The series has gone from ND fan looking at the game as almost a guaranteed W, to a tossup game (at best). Suffice it to say that ND fan isn't exactly thrilled about that change. :brad:

[PSUFAN]

One thing's for sure, PSU is nowhere in this discussion.

PSU's gutless AD is hell-bent on scheduling as many home cupcake opponents as possible. When you can get the revenue of 106k at home, you can make a lot of money.

The NCAA basically advocated this approach when they "allowed" for 12 games in a season. They didn't do that for fans, they did it so that teams could make more money.

PSU has 8 conference games a year. Joe Paterno has said that they "need" 7 home games a year. His lackey AD is going to try for more than that, if possible - and it's very possible indeed. My dad is a HS buddy of Temple's AD, and last year that AD walked away from University Park with a 600k paycheck. He said that his friend was as giddy as a schoolgirl. There will never be a lack of cupcakes that want or need that paycheck.

That's not great news for fans, because we're going to see at least 3 home cupcake opponents, if not 4 when teams back out of games like Alabama did a few years ago. I happen to think that PSU should never schedule teams from lower divisions, and they didn't for a long time...but last year, Youngstown State was invited to come and take a beating for a big payout. It boils down to a simple reality - the PSU AD will try to take every chance he can to get a home game, no matter the quality of the opposition, the wekaer the better in his view. To me, that's a problem because it really seems to declaw the team.

There will come a day where it's not so easy to fill a stadium with 110k for any old opponent. Increasingly, that day is upon us, because rarely does PSU fill the stadium for these cupcakes. Why bother driving across the state to see PSU shellac (or lately, bungle their way through) opponents like Temple, Florida International, or 1-AA squads?

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I think I saw somewhere PSU has got ND this year. Is that a home and home deal?

[Terry in Crapchester]

Yes. Last year was at ND, this year is at PSU.

Unfortunately, this is just a 2-and-done deal. I wish Penn State would return to our schedule on a regular basis.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Oops, forgot about last year's game.

I see on the front page of PSU Sports the football section, they're hyping a home and home with Virginia in 2012-2013. That's got to be a strong indicator things aren't where fans would like them to be schedule wise.

[Screw_Michigan]

The series has gone from ND fan looking at the game as almost a guaranteed W, to a tossup game (at best). Suffice it to say that ND fan isn't exactly thrilled about that change. :brad:

northwestern and indiana are available. it's only been since, what, 95 that ND's been ducking NW?

[Terry in Crapchester]

it's only been since, what, 95 that ND's been ducking NW?

Maybe if the Big Ten would be willing to play ND after the month of September, we might be able to squeeze Northwestern into the schedule. Otherwise, I don't think Northwestern wants to be our opening game, which is about the only other slot available.

[PSUFAN]

mgo,

It appears that the strategy is to schedule home and home matchups with intersectional teams such as UVA.

PSU played and split a recent home and home with UVA. If the game gets the assistants into the living rooms of VA talent, that's a good thing...but I'd rather see a first tier team (a subjective matter, I know).

It ends up that the PSU AD will schedule one "competitive" OOC game a year, and load up the cupcakes otherwise.

Myself, if I take Joe Paterno at his word, we need 7 home games in order to get the money we need. So, now that the NCAA allows for 12 games a year, I think they could schedule 2 cupcakes and 1 intersectional series and a permanent home and home with Pitt. However, I see the 3 cupcake approach settling in - and in years that a competitive opponent "can't be found" or backs out (sorry, Sam), we'll see 4. Whoopifucking-do

[buckeye_in_sc]

I still love when SEC fan thinks tOSU is complete dogshit because they lost one fucking game...

until the NCAA mandates that teams play strong intersectional games (say top 40 ranked teams) who gives a fuck...I have posted this many times but future for tOSU

08/09 Southern Cal
10/11 Miami of FLA
12/13 Kal
14/15 Va Tech
16/17 Oklahoma...

at least in 1 conference game instance they aren't fucking ducking anyone (well I personally would like to see them play an SEC or Big East team as well) but that trend started when they were playing Washington, WSU, and the like when they were deece...I mean they bitchslapped WSU in 2002 when WSU had Gessar and Darling and what not...plus the two year run with Texas...yeah this years schedule sucks ass one I am not proud of, but hey at least they have the nads to schedule some top flight OOC games in the future...plus you add Iowa, Sconsin, PSU, UM, etc and that makes for a pretty deece schedule...

[stuckinia]

It ends up that the PSU AD will schedule one "competitive" OOC game a year, and load up the cupcakes otherwise.

As a Hokie fan, I am estatic if we even get that one competitive OOC game a year, this year being @ LSU. I would be happy if the rest could even reach cupcake status. Ohio, East Carolina, and William Fucking Mary. Ohio and ECU are not horrible, but not only is W&M Division IAA, it is bad IAA. Just scheduling that game should automatically count as a loss.