For as much as people complain about our OOC scheduling... | Syracusefan.com

For as much as people complain about our OOC scheduling...

Scooch

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...it is a cakewalk compared to how we used to schedule out of conference.

I was just looking up our 2001 season. This was our OOC slate: Georgia Tech (at the Meadowlands on 8/26), at Tennessee, vs UCF, vs Auburn, vs East Carolina. I mean, that is friggin' bonkers. Not only did we purposefully schedule 2 SEC teams, but we then added an ACC team in the Kickoff Classic!

And that wasn't an aberration, that lunacy was the norm. Consider...

1996: vs UNC, at Minnesota, at Tulane, vs Army
1997: Wisconsin (Meadowlands), vs NC State, at Oklahoma, vs Tulane, vs. East Carolina
1998: vs Tennessee, at Michigan, at NC State, vs Cincy

1999 and 2000 were sane

2002: at BYU, vs UNC, vs URI, at Auburn, at UCF
2003: at UNC, vs Louisville, vs UCF, vs Toledo, vs Notre Dame
2004: at Purdue, at Buffalo, vs Cincy, at Virginia, vs Florida State

Season after season of crazy town. And this was all done long after we were firmly in a Big East that featured Miami, VaTech and WVU.

This is why I'm not entirely sympathetic when people are kvetching about how this year's schedule cost us a bowl. Colgate, USF, UConn and ND is not in the same stratosphere as what we put ourselves through once upon a time. And Central Connecticut, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, LSU next year is about as poised for 3 wins as we can get. At the very least, it could be much, much, much, much worse.
 
...it is a cakewalk compared to how we used to schedule out of conference.

I was just looking up our 2001 season. This was our OOC slate: Georgia Tech (at the Meadowlands on 8/26), at Tennessee, vs UCF, vs Auburn, vs East Carolina. I mean, that is friggin' bonkers. Not only did we purposefully schedule 2 SEC teams, but we then added an ACC team in the Kickoff Classic!

And that wasn't an aberration, that lunacy was the norm. Consider...

1996: vs UNC, at Minnesota, at Tulane, vs Army
1997: Wisconsin (Meadowlands), vs NC State, at Oklahoma, vs Tulane, vs. East Carolina
1998: vs Tennessee, at Michigan, at NC State, vs Cincy

1999 and 2000 were sane

2002: at BYU, vs UNC, vs URI, at Auburn, at UCF
2003: at UNC, vs Louisville, vs UCF, vs Toledo, vs Notre Dame
2004: at Purdue, at Buffalo, vs Cincy, at Virginia, vs Florida State

Season after season of crazy town. And this was all done long after we were firmly in a Big East that featured Miami, VaTech and WVU.

This is why I'm not entirely sympathetic when people are kvetching about how this year's schedule cost us a bowl. Colgate, USF, UConn and ND is not in the same stratosphere as what we put ourselves through once upon a time. And Central Connecticut, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, LSU next year is about as poised for 3 wins as we can get. At the very least, it could be much, much, much, much worse.

And yet P sucked.
 
At that time SU was a powerhouse perception wise so we played a lot of big games.

Now the program is wounded and needs to be nursed back to health. A soft schedule to gain bowl eligibility and confidence is what they need.
 
At that time SU was a powerhouse perception wise so we played a lot of big games.

Now the program is wounded and needs to be nursed back to health. A soft schedule to gain bowl eligibility and confidence is what they need.
i don't know why this is so hard for people to grasp. We suck and need wins for a variety of momentum building reasons (recruiting, fan base, donations). Not saying you play the soft schedule in perpetuity, but if we don't step off the stupid treadmill for a period of time the program will die.
 
At that time SU was a powerhouse perception wise so we played a lot of big games.

Now the program is wounded and needs to be nursed back to health. A soft schedule to gain bowl eligibility and confidence is what they need.

i don't know why this is so hard for people to grasp. We suck and need wins for a variety of momentum building reasons (recruiting, fan base, donations). Not saying you play the soft schedule in perpetuity, but if we don't step off the stupid treadmill for a period of time the program will die.

So you guys are saying CCSU, MTSU and CMU aren't soft enough? An FCS, a lower tier MAC team and a mid-tier CUSA team?
 
We were a perennial top 25 team when we scheduled those games for the mid 90's - 2004. We have been a perennial bottom 25 team the last 15 years yet we still schedule like a top team. Not the best move in my opinion.
 
No one should ever have claimed that he "sucked". Jake C certainly did him no favors.

No kidding, not that people wanted to hear it.
 
So you guys are saying CCSU, MTSU and CMU aren't soft enough? An FCS, a lower tier MAC team and a mid-tier CUSA team?

I'm pretty happy with the OOC for 2017. In a dream world we'd be play Vandy or Kentucky instead of LSU if we had to book an SEC team.

The future looks ok. Away at ND in 2018, at Maryland 2019 and at Wisky in 2020. Seems reasonable as long as the other 3 games are the MAC, Sun Belt, type teams.
 
...it is a cakewalk compared to how we used to schedule out of conference.

I was just looking up our 2001 season. This was our OOC slate: Georgia Tech (at the Meadowlands on 8/26), at Tennessee, vs UCF, vs Auburn, vs East Carolina. I mean, that is friggin' bonkers. Not only did we purposefully schedule 2 SEC teams, but we then added an ACC team in the Kickoff Classic!

And that wasn't an aberration, that lunacy was the norm. Consider...

1996: vs UNC, at Minnesota, at Tulane, vs Army
1997: Wisconsin (Meadowlands), vs NC State, at Oklahoma, vs Tulane, vs. East Carolina
1998: vs Tennessee, at Michigan, at NC State, vs Cincy

1999 and 2000 were sane

2002: at BYU, vs UNC, vs URI, at Auburn, at UCF
2003: at UNC, vs Louisville, vs UCF, vs Toledo, vs Notre Dame
2004: at Purdue, at Buffalo, vs Cincy, at Virginia, vs Florida State

Season after season of crazy town. And this was all done long after we were firmly in a Big East that featured Miami, VaTech and WVU.

This is why I'm not entirely sympathetic when people are kvetching about how this year's schedule cost us a bowl. Colgate, USF, UConn and ND is not in the same stratosphere as what we put ourselves through once upon a time. And Central Connecticut, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, LSU next year is about as poised for 3 wins as we can get. At the very least, it could be much, much, much, much worse.

Once upon a time, our old conference (when we were even in one) was very weak.

People only looking at the OOC schedule are conveniently ignoring that we now have a VERY challenging IN conference schedule, and will in perpetuity in the ACC.

We get Clemson, FSU, and Llvll EVERY YEAR.
And Pitt - who have been to like what, 10 straight bowls?

Syracuse has exactly ZERO NEED to increase the level of difficult in the OOC, until we start winning and bowling consistently for several years.
 
...it is a cakewalk compared to how we used to schedule out of conference.

I was just looking up our 2001 season. This was our OOC slate: Georgia Tech (at the Meadowlands on 8/26), at Tennessee, vs UCF, vs Auburn, vs East Carolina. I mean, that is friggin' bonkers. Not only did we purposefully schedule 2 SEC teams, but we then added an ACC team in the Kickoff Classic!

And that wasn't an aberration, that lunacy was the norm. Consider...

1996: vs UNC, at Minnesota, at Tulane, vs Army
1997: Wisconsin (Meadowlands), vs NC State, at Oklahoma, vs Tulane, vs. East Carolina
1998: vs Tennessee, at Michigan, at NC State, vs Cincy

1999 and 2000 were sane

2002: at BYU, vs UNC, vs URI, at Auburn, at UCF
2003: at UNC, vs Louisville, vs UCF, vs Toledo, vs Notre Dame
2004: at Purdue, at Buffalo, vs Cincy, at Virginia, vs Florida State

Season after season of crazy town. And this was all done long after we were firmly in a Big East that featured Miami, VaTech and WVU.

This is why I'm not entirely sympathetic when people are kvetching about how this year's schedule cost us a bowl. Colgate, USF, UConn and ND is not in the same stratosphere as what we put ourselves through once upon a time. And Central Connecticut, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, LSU next year is about as poised for 3 wins as we can get. At the very least, it could be much, much, much, much worse.

Difference is we had a healthy football program back then and we were consistently ranked year in and year out. So, we could play that type of OOC schedule. These days we are at the bottom of the college football world and have to be smart about it.

When/IF we get to the point of being ranked year in and year out nobody is saying we can't go back to those days of playing a challenging OOC schedule. We just can't do it now
 
Difference is we had a healthy football program back then and we were consistently ranked year in and year out. So, we could play that type of OOC schedule. These days we are at the bottom of the college football world and have to be smart about it.

When/IF we get to the point of being ranked year in and year out nobody is saying we can't go back to those days of playing a challenging OOC schedule. We just can't do it now

We played Ga Tech, Tennessee AND Auburn in 2001. We played Tennessee, Michigan AND NC State in 1998. Those schedules were insane, given that we had Miami, VaTech and WVU in conference.

Our OOC schedules the last few years have not been anywhere close to that level of difficulty, and that's a good thing.

Plus, people need to keep in mind that our 2016 OOC schedule, for example, was constructed when we thought last year would either be Marrone's 8th season or Shafer's 4th. I've read here that SU was just "2 years away from contending again"pretty much every year since 2002. So a schedule with an FCS, two AACs and ND should not have been considered a Herculean task when it was made.

I get that some people want to schedule two FCS, Buffalo and Army ever year in perpetuity, but at some point we need to actually be semi-decent too. 2017 OOC is fine, we should be 3-1. If we can't go 3-5 in conference we're simply not progressing.
 
If I'm not being clear... we didn't fail to reach a bowl game this year solely because of our OOC schedule. That's something I've seen a few people suggest.

Yes, BC's OOC schedule was Charmin soft. But they also beat Wake and NC State, teams we lost to. Wake's OOC wasn't terribly challenging, but they did beat Indiana on the road, and they beat us (I know, monsoon). Etc.

ND stunk this year and we lost to them.

USF trucked us and we barely got by UConn. Swap USF for some MAC team and it's a guaranteed win? I'm not so sure.

Looking forward I can't see how it's our OOC schedule holding us back. It's us that's holding us back.
 
If I'm not being clear... we didn't fail to reach a bowl game this year solely because of our OOC schedule. That's something I've seen a few people suggest.

Yes, BC's OOC schedule was Charmin soft. But they also beat Wake and NC State, teams we lost to. .

Huh? So what? We beat them. And we beat VT who was better than any of them. BC had the same conference record as us, and went bowling. How is that not solely on the OOC scheduling?
 
Huh? So what? We beat them. And we beat VT who was better than any of them. BC had the same conference record as us, and went bowling. How is that not solely on the OOC scheduling?

You're assuming we'd beat anyone else we could have put on the schedule. I mean, swap USF for a win and we're still not bowl
eligible.

ND stunk and we still lost.

Anyone expecting a bowl in Babers first year was delusional, IMHO.

Next year there are 3 OOC wins.
 
You're assuming we'd beat anyone else we could have put on the schedule. I mean, swap USF for a win and we're still not bowl
eligible.

You are mistaken. We could have qualified for a bowl at 5-7, based on APR.

Also-
IF we played ND later in the season, we likely would have had a much better chance to win.

Lastly-
IF we didn't play Wake in a hurricane, we might have won that game too.
 
You are mistaken. We could have qualified for a bowl at 5-7, based on APR.

Also-
IF we played ND later in the season, we likely would have had a much better chance to win.

Lastly-
IF we didn't play Wake in a hurricane, we might have won that game too.

What bowl was taking us at 5-7? A program that doesn't travel.

The other IFs are irrrelevant. It rained, Wake played in it too, they won. ND was 1-3 when we played them and had just lost to Duke the week prior. They stunk all year long.
 
Plus, people need to keep in mind that our 2016 OOC schedule, for example, was constructed when we thought last year would either be Marrone's 8th season or Shafer's 4th. I've read here that SU was just "2 years away from contending again"pretty much every year since 2002. So a schedule with an FCS, two AACs and ND should not have been considered a Herculean task when it was made.

Thank you for being a voice of reason.
 
Thank you for being a voice of reason.

Thanks.

If I'm not mistaken USF was coming off a 2-10 season when we scheduled them for a home-and-home. That they got better much more quickly than us is not a failure of scheduling.
 
Back then the Big East didn't get respect so we had to schedule tough.
Those seasons are why VPI built themselves up. Miami was about to become 80s Miami but the BE was a joke.
It was VPI/SU/BC/Miami.WVU/Pitt and two dregs. Miami became Miami again in 2000 thru 2003.
We also had the talent to compete back then.
Our talent started to crater in 2002.
We had a depth issue from 2003 onward.
GRob was given a 5 or 6 win team and only won 2 games. That killed us till 2010-2012 and then we hired Shafer and cratered again.
 
Back then the Big East didn't get respect so we had to schedule tough.
Those seasons are why VPI built themselves up. Miami was about to become 80s Miami but the BE was a joke.
It was VPI/SU/BC/Miami.WVU/Pitt and two dregs. Miami became Miami again in 2000 thru 2003.
We also had the talent to compete back then.
Our talent started to crater in 2002.
We had a depth issue from 2003 onward.
GRob was given a 5 or 6 win team and only won 2 games. That killed us till 2010-2012 and then we hired Shafer and cratered again.

Like I said, there's scheduling tough and there's scheduling like a crazy person. Michigan, Tennessee AND NC State in 1998 was ridiculous. But I mention all of that just to point out that we know what a tough OOC schedule looks like. What we saw in 2016 and will see in 2017 is not that. It's reasonable, maybe a shade towards challenging. But it's nothing that should totally derail a team, even one on the rebound.

There is going to be 9 months of hysterical "why did we schedule LSU?!?!" ignoring that the other 3 OOC games should all be winnable for any moderately competent P5 team.
 
Like I said, there's scheduling tough and there's scheduling like a crazy person. Michigan, Tennessee AND NC State in 1998 was ridiculous. But I mention all of that just to point out that we know what a tough OOC schedule looks like. What we saw in 2016 and will see in 2017 is not that. It's reasonable, maybe a shade towards challenging. But it's nothing that should totally derail a team, even one on the rebound.

There is going to be 9 months of hysterical "why did we schedule LSU?!?!" ignoring that the other 3 OOC games should all be winnable for any moderately competent P5 team.
Next year's schedule is almost perfect. We should be scheduling to go 3-1 in the nonconference next year does that.

Playing LSU is fine when you have 3 non P5 games.
 
What bowl was taking us at 5-7? A program that doesn't travel.

The other IFs are irrrelevant. It rained, Wake played in it too, they won. ND was 1-3 when we played them and had just lost to Duke the week prior. They stunk all year long.

It's not dependent on how we travel at 5-7. It's APR dependent. And we'd have gone bowling if we'd won 1 more game. It's not a what if at all.

ND didn't stink, they just didn't live up to the preseason hype.
 
...it is a cakewalk compared to how we used to schedule out of conference.

I was just looking up our 2001 season. This was our OOC slate: Georgia Tech (at the Meadowlands on 8/26), at Tennessee, vs UCF, vs Auburn, vs East Carolina. I mean, that is friggin' bonkers. Not only did we purposefully schedule 2 SEC teams, but we then added an ACC team in the Kickoff Classic!

And that wasn't an aberration, that lunacy was the norm. Consider...

1996: vs UNC, at Minnesota, at Tulane, vs Army
1997: Wisconsin (Meadowlands), vs NC State, at Oklahoma, vs Tulane, vs. East Carolina
1998: vs Tennessee, at Michigan, at NC State, vs Cincy

1999 and 2000 were sane

2002: at BYU, vs UNC, vs URI, at Auburn, at UCF
2003: at UNC, vs Louisville, vs UCF, vs Toledo, vs Notre Dame
2004: at Purdue, at Buffalo, vs Cincy, at Virginia, vs Florida State

Season after season of crazy town. And this was all done long after we were firmly in a Big East that featured Miami, VaTech and WVU.

This is why I'm not entirely sympathetic when people are kvetching about how this year's schedule cost us a bowl. Colgate, USF, UConn and ND is not in the same stratosphere as what we put ourselves through once upon a time. And Central Connecticut, Middle Tennessee State, Central Michigan, LSU next year is about as poised for 3 wins as we can get. At the very least, it could be much, much, much, much worse.


I agree.
 

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