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

[Chip]

Another important point is that from 2001 to 2013, we had exactly zero easy home openers and only one easy opener overall, 2010 @ Akron. In that 13 year period we had three 1-0 starts. 2 of them required big comebacks and OT. Just never made it easy on ourselves. We've fixed that glitch.

3-0 can be fool's gold as we've learned. But it's always better than not being 3-0. Next year it stares us in the face. Just find 3 more and we're trending upward during the build.

 

[TheCusian]

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.

This. It's not all of our OOC; it's one game. Just swap top of P5 with a mid or bottom and we're good.

 

[Scooch]

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.

There were three seven loss teams that made a bowl this year. North Texas played a bowl in Dallas, Hawaii played a bowl in Hawaii, and Miss State played a bowl in Florida. Who of those three were we jumping?

 

[RF2044]

I agree.

Do you also agree that the BE conference schedule was significantly less difficult than what we currently play, as well?

In this case, both sides seem to be right.

 

[Briancuse]

And yet P sucked.

You don't know what you have till its gone.

 

[Briancuse]

There were three seven loss teams that made a bowl this year. North Texas played a bowl in Dallas, Hawaii played a bowl in Hawaii, and Miss State played a bowl in Florida. Who of those three were we jumping?

North Texas getting a bowl game at 5-7 is an embarrassment, its hard enough watching 6-6 teams, no 5-7 teams should get a bowl game.

 

[BomberOrange]

There were three seven loss teams that made a bowl this year. North Texas played a bowl in Dallas, Hawaii played a bowl in Hawaii, and Miss State played a bowl in Florida. Who of those three were we jumping?

I agree with almost everything you've written in this thread but the 5-7 teams are not selected the same way the others were. It was solely based on APR score and if the 5-7 teams, if we had won one more, we had the best. So we would've jumped all three. That said, it's s moot point at 4-8.

 

[djorange1989]

There were three seven loss teams that made a bowl this year. North Texas played a bowl in Dallas, Hawaii played a bowl in Hawaii, and Miss State played a bowl in Florida. Who of those three were we jumping?

You aren't understanding how it works. We would have taken Miss State's slot. We had a higher APR score than they did. that, and that alone, determines the 5-7 pecking order. AND, the 5-7 teams pick the bowl they want based on what openings are left and they choose in APR order.

 

[Ish88888]

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.

Agree, the OOC next year is perfect and the LSU series is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

[Scooch]

I agree with almost everything you've written in this thread but the 5-7 teams are not selected the same way the others were. It was solely based on APR score and if the 5-7 teams, if we had won one more, we had the best. So we would've jumped all three. That said, it's s moot point at 4-8.

You aren't understanding how it works. We would have taken Miss State's slot. We had a higher APR score than they did. that, and that alone, determines the 5-7 pecking order. AND, the 5-7 teams pick the bowl they want based on what openings are left and they choose in APR order.

My bad.

 

[Scooch]

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.

Please jump in when someone posts that a Middle Tennessee State team that won five games in C-USA is wayyyyy too much of a challenge for the delicate flower that is SU football in 2017.

Also jump in when these same people lose their minds when a writer suggests we'll finish under .500 next season, because we're winning 8, dammit!

 

[Scooch]

This. It's not all of our OOC; it's one game. Just swap top of P5 with a mid or bottom and we're good.

So I guess here's the question... would people rather play in Baton Rouge in September and finish 5-7, or play some C-USA scrub, go 6-6, and play, say Akron in the Detroit bowl in December?

Keep in mind that, as we know from every bowl appearance we've made in the past 18 years, there is no guarantee that a bowl appearance means the next year is going to be an improvement.

My answer: give me the one big P5 OOC opponent each season. To me this is entertainment. Playing in a bowl against another 6 win team in a half empty stadium isn't worth sacrificing the marquee P5 games. I know others disagree.

 

[rocklloyd]

So I guess here's the question... would people rather play in Baton Rouge in September and finish 5-7, or play some C-USA scrub, go 6-6, and play, say Akron in the Detroit bowl in December?

Keep in mind that, as we know from every bowl appearance we've made in the past 18 years, there is no guarantee that a bowl appearance means the next year is going to be an improvement.

My answer: give me the one big P5 OOC opponent each season. To me this is entertainment. Playing in a bowl against another 6 win team in a half empty stadium isn't worth sacrificing the marquee P5 games. I know others disagree.

Answering your question. 6-6 and play in a bowl that we can win. Personally I'm through with 5 wins seasons. I want to be entertained by wins and will sacrifice all entertainment value to pile up wins.

 

[djorange1989]

Answering your question. 6-6 and play in a bowl that we can win. Personally I'm through with 5 wins seasons. I want to be entertained by wins and will sacrifice all entertainment value to pile up wins.

Ditto. Not sure why we should schedule to go 3-1 OOC. Why? 4-0 sounds good to me. When we prove we can win consistently and beat a few elite type teams then schedule a tougher P5 series. LSU was scheduled less than 18 months out so it can be implemented quicker than some think.

 

[Stern]

Ditto. Not sure why we should schedule to go 3-1 OOC. Why? 4-0 sounds good to me. When we prove we can win consistently and beat a few elite type teams then schedule a tougher P5 series. LSU was scheduled less than 18 months out so it can be implemented quicker than some think.

Agree! Most schools have stopped scheduling many years out like the old days. We did with Wisconsin which makes zero sense but whatever we haven't been too bright with our OOC scheduling so it's not shocking. This ain't the 1970's and 1980's any more. The landscape has changed and no school should be scheduling "big OOC" games more than 2 years out.

 

[TheCusian]

There were three seven loss teams that made a bowl this year. North Texas played a bowl in Dallas, Hawaii played a bowl in Hawaii, and Miss State played a bowl in Florida. Who of those three were we jumping?

Don't know - look at the APR, not location and how well they traveled. It's an NCAA thing.

 

[TheCusian]

So I guess here's the question... would people rather play in Baton Rouge in September and finish 5-7, or play some C-USA scrub, go 6-6, and play, say Akron in the Detroit bowl in December?

Keep in mind that, as we know from every bowl appearance we've made in the past 18 years, there is no guarantee that a bowl appearance means the next year is going to be an improvement.

My answer: give me the one big P5 OOC opponent each season. To me this is entertainment. Playing in a bowl against another 6 win team in a half empty stadium isn't worth sacrificing the marquee P5 games. I know others disagree.

I think FSU and Clemson are plenty big.

 

[Chip]

One thing we can all agree on. No more complaining about ND after this year.

All games will either be at the Dome or in South Bend, and the schedule is mandated by the ACC.

I'm sure people will still complain.

 

[MadNY3]

My answer: give me the one big P5 OOC opponent each season. To me this is entertainment. Playing in a bowl against another 6 win team in a half empty stadium isn't worth sacrificing the marquee P5 games. I know others disagree.

Totally agree with this.

LSU is an odd one, but a home-and-home with an easy-travel east coast program (Penn State, West Virginia, South Carolina), a UCLA (big SYR presence in LA), and a Northwestern or Michigan State would be great to go along with three winnables. Army would be a phenomenal team to take on year-in, year out as well.

 

[Bayside44]

Agree with Mad but my heart wants 4 easy wins considering our conference.

 

[Ish88888]

So I guess here's the question... would people rather play in Baton Rouge in September and finish 5-7, or play some C-USA scrub, go 6-6, and play, say Akron in the Detroit bowl in December?

Keep in mind that, as we know from every bowl appearance we've made in the past 18 years, there is no guarantee that a bowl appearance means the next year is going to be an improvement.

My answer: give me the one big P5 OOC opponent each season. To me this is entertainment. Playing in a bowl against another 6 win team in a half empty stadium isn't worth sacrificing the marquee P5 games. I know others disagree.

Thank you! Our OOC lineup is perfect. Don't understand the negativity with it. 3 winnable, 2 potentially entertaining games, and an epic, once in a lifetime road game @LSU. if you are a true fb fan this increases your Heart rate and hopefully makes you think about a roadie to arguably THE best college fb venue in the nation

 

[Stern]

So I guess here's the question... would people rather play in Baton Rouge in September and finish 5-7, or play some C-USA scrub, go 6-6, and play, say Akron in the Detroit bowl in December?

6-6 and the Bowl game. Tired of losing. Win as much as possible and going to a Bowl Game every year (even a crummy bowl game in Detroit that few outside of Onondaga County will watch on TV) I'm all for!!!

 

[OburgOrange]

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.

Boom

 

[OburgOrange]

...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.

How old are you?

 

[baggerbob]

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.

At the time West Virginia was the 5th best team in the conference.