Playing a real schedule

Discussion in 'On The Field' started by NJlonghorn, Feb 20, 2019.

  1. NJlonghorn

    NJlonghorn 2,500+ Posts

    I was just looking at our 1993 schedule, which started with back-to-back-to-back games against ranked teams out of conference. I wish we could go back to that.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. p_town_horn

    p_town_horn 1,000+ Posts

    We started the season 0-2-1. I do not wish to go back to that.

    I like having all D-I opponents and having one quality non-conference opponent a year. It seems to be a good recipe for success. It gives you a couple games to get your feet under you before conference play, it doesn't allow anyone to dog your schedule, and it gives you one marquee non-conference game in the event the Big 12 has a down year.
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
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  3. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    Yeah we should have 2 Power-5 teams (one of them being good-to-great) and 1 non-Power-5 team but respectably still FBS. We've done a pretty good job of following that format. What the SEC has done since the TV networks forced them to move Bama/Auburn to Thanksgiving week is criminal. No good university should ever be playing an FCS team at any point... leave that to the non-Power-5 schools.
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
  4. PecosBill

    PecosBill 1,000+ Posts

    At a minimum, game 1 should be D1 school that is willing to travel and earn the home money(preferrably a regional Texas/ Oklahoma/ Lousiana Univ) that helps recruiting. Game 2 should be a step up to P5 mid level that is good enough to do home and home with and Game 3 should be a P5 school in the top quarter of their conference rankings for an OOC marquee match up.
    A progression of OOC games to set the bar for the start of B12 play in Oct
     
  5. Ajo Macho

    Ajo Macho 500+ Posts

    With only three OOC games to work with, I like this formula:

    1 weak opponent: Average or worse group of 5 or bottom dweller power 5 (like KU). Basically a team that has no chance of making a bowl game.
    1 average opponent: Strong group of 5 or below-average power 5. A team that'll probably make a bowl, but barely.
    1 strong opponent: Strong power 5. A team that should spend the entire season in the rankings. Since games are often scheduled years in advance, hard to be any more specific than that.

    That gives you one easy tune-up, one "should-win" game that's still watchable, and one marquee game. Seems we've been following this pattern lately, and I like it.

    I've long thought our very first game should be a home game against a northern team with dark jerseys (Michigan, Penn State, Washington), 2:30 PM kickoff, and wear whites at home.
     
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    Last edited: Feb 21, 2019
  6. #2is#1

    #2is#1 1,000+ Posts

    Agree to disagree. One tough game is enough imo.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  7. LonghornMD

    LonghornMD 100+ Posts

    I agree with everything said in principle. The problem is that many of these games with P5 teams are scheduled years in advance, so it’s hard to gauge which programs will be up or down in the year that we play them. I like 1 non-conference marquee match-up. Maryland is traditionally a bottom-dweller in the Big 10 and previously the ACC. Hard to know that they would be decent the years we played them. That being said, we should still have beat them handily both years. But then our program was going through a rough patch.
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
  8. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    Precisely. Also hard to gauge if WE will be down or up...
     
  9. dukesteer

    dukesteer 5,000+ Posts

    I think our recent and future schedules are pretty darn good and doing about what Ajo Macho mentions above. Home and homes with ND, USC, LSU and Bama, etc. It doesn’t get much better than that.
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
  10. X Misn Tx

    X Misn Tx 2,500+ Posts

    I feel like we're talking about 1 game.

    We played New Mexico and NTSU back then also. We'd play one-to-two cool OOC team(s) and one pansy for sure.
     
  11. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

     
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  12. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    We've now added ASU, dropped USF

     
  13. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    I believe that CdC has a different agenda than Deloss did. Deloss was the consummate politician, but used that to the advantage of making Texas the #1 brand and to set new records in fundraising.

    Deloss wanted to schedule one road game every 2-3 years at "a fun place for alums & supporters to visit". (Those are his words, not mine.) Thus, we visited SoCal, Bay Area, Boulder, NYC, Charlottesville. Because we travel so well (maybe the best), and are a major "name", other schools relished the thought.

    Atmosphere in D-1 is now focused on getting into the playoff. Thus, CdC is lining up powers to achieve this.
     
    • Winner Winner x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
  14. Horns11

    Horns11 10,000+ Posts

    Yeah I'm not a huge fan of playing one Power-5 team and then a bunch of CUSA, AAC, MWC, and Sun Belt teams for the rest of the nonconference slate. It should be the other way around (2 Power-5 and one CUSA/AAC/MWC/Sun Belt). But with the way no one pushes back against Alabama for doing it every year, and ESPECIALLY because the SEC teams play FCS teams at least once, then we might as well join those ranks. It's not like our competition level is going to suffer and make us "unaware" of what we're about to face in a good opponent.

    I still think you need to avoid the FCS opponents as long as we have 3 nonconference games. If we ever go back to 8 conference games and divisions and what-not, then maybe we can afford it.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  15. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Realistically, the games against UTEP & UTSA are political within the BoR. Both have athletic departments which are strapped financially. Coming to Austin may well result in a payday larger than all the rest of their schedule combined.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
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  16. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Non Conference 2015-33
    2015 - ND
    2016 - ND
    2017 - USC
    2018 - USC
    2019 - LSU
    2020 - LSU
    2022 - BAMA
    2023 - BAMA
    2024 - MICH
    2025 - tOSU
    2026 - tOSU
    2027 - MICH
    2028 - UGA
    2029 - UGA
    2030 - UF
    2031 - UF
    2032 - ASU
    2033 - ASU
     
  17. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Joe,

    You can remove Arizona State, who has done little or nothing since they left the WAC. Add in that they will probably be on their third or fourth HC after they fire the current temporary occupant.

    Footnote, no school that employed both Dennis Erickson & Todd Graham, and that was rejected by their first dozen choices is likely to be considered formidable.
     
  18. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    Maybe the Mack Brown years rubbed off on me, but I say schedule with an eye to recruiting.

    Every year, have 1 game against a California or Arizona school, 1 game against a Louisiana school, and 1 game against a Florida school. These are proven productive out-of-state recruiting grounds for us.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  19. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Maybe Viper would like it, but I'd get tired of playing SMU, NTSU, Tarrant County CC & El Centro every year.

    :beertoast:
     
  20. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    Ha!

    Then if we'd play Dallas Baptist, it would be DBU vs. DBU.
     
    • Funny Funny x 3
    • Winner Winner x 1
  21. Statalyzer

    Statalyzer 10,000+ Posts

    Just on principle I hate cancelling on teams. Hopefully USF gets some other big-name who travels well to come to their place in our stead.
     
  22. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    In the real world that would create all kinds of transfer pricing issues. Good thing this isn't the real world.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  23. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    A cancellation is usually accompanied with a payoff. There may be underlying issues with the way they hung us out to dry on Strong's contract. I hope CdC gave them an ultimatum about Texas possibly opening a very unpleasant can of worms.

    It would be interesting to see how USF performs in front of more than 50-75 people. (No, there are no zeros behind those numbers.)
     
  24. yelladawgdem

    yelladawgdem 2,500+ Posts

    And except for the flood and the beat down, I enjoyed all of those trips except Charlottesville. While it would do nothing in the way of being a "big game", I was always hopeful that some rotating schedule with the Service Acadamies could be scheduled where every 4th year or so one them came to Austin and two years later, we would go to their place. Of course, I was dreaming of this when we had 4 OOC games annually. September football at the foot of the Rockies, DC, or on the Hudson shore are pretty incredible trips.

    In 2020 OU will be playing Army at West Point. That will be one of the hardest tickets on earth to get. OU travels, especially to NYC and woud take 25,000 up there. The stadium seats 30,000. The leaves will already be changing the third Saturday of September. That would be a heck of a trip. Wish it was us.


    :bevo:
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
  25. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts

    FWIW the Tampa Bay Times says the average home attendance last year was 38,517.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2019
  26. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Kind of like Third Ward attendance counts.

    The clips I’ve seen of their home games, it’s more like 300 counting the band.

    I went with a Tech friend to watch Tech play Third Ward in the Astrodome. We actually passed the time counting the number of people. Total was under 2400. Announced at 38,000
     
  27. IvanDiabloHorn

    IvanDiabloHorn 1,000+ Posts

    We have scheduled LSU, Bama, Georgia and Florida. The two best teams out of the SEC West and SEC East. Pretty sure we scheduled the best 4 SEC programs. I hope there were no hard feelings with the scheduling with other SEC programs.
     
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  28. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    From what I've seen, the UH fan base (if you can call it that) epitomizes fair weather fandom. They've had some great football and BBall teams over the years, yet they only get the butts in the seats when they're doing well.
     
  29. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Why worry about aggy?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  30. X Misn Tx

    X Misn Tx 2,500+ Posts

    Agreed. After our last recruiting cycle and the guys looking at us ASU sure seems like a smart move.

    Aside from Sabre's funny content about El Centro I'd be ok if any Ohio State games were played at Jerry world,instead of a home and home. Give both schools now exposure in DFW.

    aTm and LSU do it
     

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