Overrated Conferences

[10HtownRebs]

ACC is garbage. Smu has beaten nobody and yet is ranked 8th in the nation? Clemson is garbage this year as well. Why these two are so overrated is beyond me.

Clemson bout to get clobbered.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

There is no logical reason to need to schedule OOC games 10 years out. Take it from the schools and have an independent body schedule them at year end. Force all conferences to have a 9 game schedule. Problem solved.

 

[Ron G]

Re-read what you have written! So your team schedules ONE historically strong team every 5 to 8 years? Why not every year?

From 1990 through 2024 (THAT'S 35 YEARS) Wisconsin has played 120 OOC games. Of those 120 games, 4 were against top 5 teams, 7 were against top 10 teams, and 14 were against top 25 teams (final polls). If Wisconsin had scheduled ONE "historically strong team" every year and one of them fell every 5 to 8 years then Wisconsin would have played ranked OOC teams either 4 out of 5 seasons or 7 out of 8 years. That would mean that over 35 years Wisconsin would have played 4/5x35 = 28 ranked teams or 7/8*35= 30.6 or 31 ranked teams.

Including this year (1990-2024, 35 years) Florida has played 121 OOC games. Of those 121 opponents 15 were ranked in the top 5, 20 were ranked in the top 10, and 32 were against top 25 teams. There are 6 teams that have played more top 25 teams OOC than Florida!

ND did not only schedule a historically strong team every 5 to 8 years. They had had at least 3 every year and those were scheduled 5 to 8 years earlier. Frist and foremost, no FCS teams (except in 2023 to their everlasting embarrassment) every year they had two or three Big 10 teams (Michigan and Michigan State often, Ohio State, Wisconsin) Florida State and Miami, Georgia Tech (prior to the truncated ACC schedule now in effect) and recently an SEC team (LSU, Texas A& M and others). In addition, Southern Cal and Standford (Standford down the last 4 years but better than competitive for the 20 years before 2020).
Added is a MAC team and Navy. Except for the MAC team these have all been home and home agreements.
So stop with the one tough team every 5 to8 years.

 

[PIBuckeye]

ND did not only schedule a historically strong team every 5 to 8 years. They had had at least 3 every year and those were scheduled 5 to 8 years earlier. Frist and foremost, no FCS teams (except in 2023 to their everlasting embarrassment) every year they had two or three Big 10 teams (Michigan and Michigan State often, Ohio State, Wisconsin) Florida State and Miami, Georgia Tech (prior to the truncated ACC schedule now in effect) and recently an SEC team (LSU, Texas A& M and others). In addition, Southern Cal and Standford (Standford down the last 4 years but better than competitive for the 20 years before 2020).
Added is a MAC team and Navy. Except for the MAC team these have all been home and home agreements.
So stop with the one tough team every 5 to8 years.

I don’t consider MAC teams cupcakes.
They’ve beaten much bigger programs many times. It’s respectable ooc game.

 

[Ron G]

I don’t consider MAC teams cupcakes.
They’ve beaten much bigger programs many times. It’s respectable ooc game.

I don't consider them cupcakes either. I do however, put FCS teams into that category. Which is always my position (with an ND bias) that SEC team with one loss (and no championship) is not better with an 11 -1 should be rated higher be higher. One of those victories is always against an FCS (Mercer, Charleston Southern, Citadel, etc.).
But head-to-head always trumps SOS when teams have the same won loss records. Except in the Playoffs where head-to-head trumps everything.
If Clemson wins the CPF they are the legitimate champion.

 

[Picklerick 2.0]

No shit? Who has smu beaten btw? They played two ranked teams all year. Lost both.

Shocker shocker. Smu getting bitch slapped again. 0-3 against ranked teams now. Tell me I was wrong about them now.

 

[Picklerick 2.0]

ACC is garbage. Smu has beaten nobody and yet is ranked 8th in the nation? Clemson is garbage this year as well. Why these two are so overrated is beyond me.

Not looking good Awful Crap Conference.

 

[Nat Mann]

I don’t consider MAC teams cupcakes.

I do, at least when they are playing the SEC. Over the last twenty years, there have been 78 SEC - MAC regular season games. The record is SEC 75 - MAC 3.

mcubed.net : NCAA Football : Conference Series Records : SEC vs. MAC

mcubed.net

The MAC is where the SEC goes for cupcakes.

 

[Ron G]

I do, at least when they are playing the SEC. Over the last twenty years, there have been 78 SEC - MAC regular season games. The record is SEC 75 - MAC 3.

mcubed.net : NCAA Football : Conference Series Records : SEC vs. MAC

mcubed.net

The MAC is where the SEC goes for cupcakes.

What do you consider FCS team? I consider them "in season byes" that somehow count as a win.

 

[HuskerOC]

Not looking good Awful Crap Conference.

Garbage conference.

Their champ has now gotten their shit pushed in thrice by a collection of SEC teams.

Expand to 16. SEC/Big 10 get 12 in. Rest can fight over the 4 other bids.

Heck, just make the B10 and SEC the NFC and AFC. Would make things a lot easier.

 

[Nat Mann]

What do you consider FCS team? I consider them "in season byes" that somehow count as a win.

FCS teams are also cupcakes. I've read a lot of outrage that FBS teams are scheduling FCS teams, but after a certain point it doesn't really matter much, the cupcake is going to lose. It's normal for a team in a major conference to schedule two or three of them every year. For example, Alabama played Western Kentucky, USF and Mercer. Ohio State played Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall, and beat them by a combined score of 157-20.

It's all part of the cupcake system that supports most of college football. All the top level teams schedule 2 or 3 games at home against much less powerful teams. The cupcake games are part of the season ticket package, so they always sell out. The top level teams get an easy win and a chance to play the second stringers. Most importantly, the cupcake gets a huge payday. It's usually enough to support football, if not the entire athletic program. If it weren't for the cupcake system, a lot of colleges couldn't offer football.

I read an interview with a player on one of LSU's cupcakes. He said that it removed any delusions he may have had about playing in the NFL when he played against players who were going to play in the NFL. His team took a beating, but the consolation was that one day he could tell his grandchildren about how he tackled Leonard Fournette. By then the part where two of his teammates were already trying to tackle him would have been forgotten.

 

[PIBuckeye]

The

FCS teams are also cupcakes. I've read a lot of outrage that FBS teams are scheduling FCS teams, but after a certain point it doesn't really matter much, the cupcake is going to lose. It's normal for a team in a major conference to schedule two or three of them every year. For example, Alabama played Western Kentucky, USF and Mercer. Ohio State played Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall, and beat them by a combined score of 157-20.

It's all part of the cupcake system that supports most of college football. All the top level teams schedule 2 or 3 games at home against much less powerful teams. The cupcake games are part of the season ticket package, so they always sell out. The top level teams get an easy win and a chance to play the second stringers. Most importantly, the cupcake gets a huge payday. It's usually enough to support football, if not the entire athletic program. If it weren't for the cupcake system, a lot of colleges couldn't offer football.

I read an interview with a player on one of LSU's cupcakes. He said that it removed any delusions he may have had about playing in the NFL when he played against players who were going to play in the NFL. His team took a beating, but the consolation was that one day he could tell his grandchildren about how he tackled Leonard Fournette. By then the part where two of his teammates were already trying to tackle him would have been forgotten.

The B1G doesn’t schedule fcs teams period.

Mac teams are on another level than FCs.

 

[trojanfight]

 

[Nat Mann]

The B1G doesn’t schedule fcs teams period.

Mac teams are on another level than FCs.

I agree that MAC teams are on another level than FCS teams. My point is that compared to SEC teams, both MAC teams and FCS teams are cupcakes. Once there's enough disparity between teams that one team is considered a cupcake, it doesn't make much difference if the disparity between SEC and FCS teams is even greater.

That said, a look at some 2024 B1G schedules shows Indiana playing FCS Western Illinois, Illinois playing FCS Eastern Illinois, Iowa playing FCS Illinois State, etc.

 

[trojanfight]

I agree that MAC teams are on another level than FCS teams. My point is that compared to SEC teams, both MAC teams and FCS teams are cupcakes. Once there's enough disparity between teams that one team is considered a cupcake, it doesn't make much difference if the disparity between SEC and FCS teams is even greater.

That said, a look at some 2024 B1G schedules shows Indiana playing FCS Western Illinois, Illinois playing FCS Eastern Illinois, Iowa playing FCS Illinois State, etc.

I don’t think there would be near the scrutiny of SEC teams playing FCS teams if it wasn’t late in the season used as an extra bye week. No other conference does this and many fans of other teams in other conferences view it as getting over and exploiting the scheduling.

 

[Nat Mann]

I don’t think there would be near the scrutiny of SEC teams playing FCS teams if it wasn’t late in the season used as an extra bye week. No other conference does this and many fans of other teams in other conferences view it as getting over and exploiting the scheduling.

I think many fans of other teams in other conferences are desperate for something to complain about. Would things be better if Alabama had opened the season with FCS Mercer and played FBS Western Kentucky for their tenth game?

 

[Ron G]

The


The B1G doesn’t schedule fcs teams period.

Mac teams are on another level than FCs.

Not totally true. OSU, Michigan, Penn State did not, Minn., Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon did, did not check the rest. However, all have scheduled D1AA or FCS in the past.
As an ND fan I have said that ND should be embarrassed for having scheduled an FCS team in 2023. I think that may have due to a favor to the FCS coach for some past connection to ND. Still, FBS playing FCS is never a good look or a thing to be proud of doing.

 

[dtgold88]

FCS teams are also cupcakes. I've read a lot of outrage that FBS teams are scheduling FCS teams, but after a certain point it doesn't really matter much, the cupcake is going to lose. It's normal for a team in a major conference to schedule two or three of them every year. For example, Alabama played Western Kentucky, USF and Mercer. Ohio State played Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall, and beat them by a combined score of 157-20.

It's all part of the cupcake system that supports most of college football. All the top level teams schedule 2 or 3 games at home against much less powerful teams. The cupcake games are part of the season ticket package, so they always sell out. The top level teams get an easy win and a chance to play the second stringers. Most importantly, the cupcake gets a huge payday. It's usually enough to support football, if not the entire athletic program. If it weren't for the cupcake system, a lot of colleges couldn't offer football.

I read an interview with a player on one of LSU's cupcakes. He said that it removed any delusions he may have had about playing in the NFL when he played against players who were going to play in the NFL. His team took a beating, but the consolation was that one day he could tell his grandchildren about how he tackled Leonard Fournette. By then the part where two of his teammates were already trying to tackle him would have been forgotten.

To be fair OSU scheduled a tougher team in Washington (well, tough when scheduled) but had to cancel since they joined the conference.

What I'd like is one tough P4, another decent one and a MAC school for OSU to schedule.

 

[Nat Mann]

To be fair OSU scheduled a tougher team in Washington (well, tough when scheduled) but had to cancel since they joined the conference.

I wasn't criticizing OSU for having 3 cupcakes, just pointing out that everybody does it.

What I'd like is one tough P4, another decent one and a MAC school for OSU to schedule.

From a fan's perspective I'd like that too, but the cupcake system pays for most of college football. Sure, the top teams like OSU, Alabama, LSU, etc generate huge profits, but that's not true for many schools.

 

[dtgold88]

I wasn't criticizing OSU for having 3 cupcakes, just pointing out that everybody does it.

From a fan's perspective I'd like that too, but the cupcake system pays for most of college football. Sure, the top teams like OSU, Alabama, LSU, etc generate huge profits, but that's not true for many schools.

I'm also hoping what happened this season does not show teams it may not help to schedule tougher comp OOC as seems it's very much about total wins (well, lack of losses) to get in CFP.

Hopong teams don't take this approach as for some it's just don't lose to middling teams and you can get in.