- Western Kentucky
Tulane
UTEP
Northern Illinois
UTEP vs. Bama was Destiny
After a great run of home/away series with UCLA and Oklahoma, the Tide has really hit the skids. They've canceled or move series with Penn State, Georgia Tech, and I think Notre Dame. In favor of four out of five years of non-sense such as:
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
| UTEP | FSU (Jax) | Hawaii | S. Miss | S. Miss |
| N. Illinois | Houston | Duke | MTSU | Utah St. |
| Tulane | UL-M | UL-M | Utah State | W. Carolina |
| WKU | W. Carolina | FIU |
In other 2008 scheduling News:
-- LSU, Auburn and Ole Miss appear to need two more games to round out their schedules. It's unlikely that Auburn will schedule an additional top flight opponent given the WVU series, and Ole Miss already has Memphis and Wake on the books. Expect both of them to book small schools for the final slots.
-- LSU is still looking high and low for its final two slots (Baton Rouge Advocate). They have openings in Weeks 2 and 3. The Advocate also reports that Michigan has openings in Weeks 1 and 4. Missed each other by "that much" I guess. LSU's other non-conference games in 2008 are Troy and Tulane so they need a quality game to fill out their slate. Things are complex in their search because they need all four games to be at home (BTW -- 8 home games is ridiculous).
-- Georgia is also looking for a game in Week 2 of 2008. We're already playing Arizona State and Georgia Tech out of conference. We're rotating into LSU (road) and Bama (home) for the SEC West Games. Combine that with our once every four year match-up with Georgia Southern (season opener), and you can expect the final team to be a directional school or fictitious state.
-- The 2008 season will have two bye-weeks due to scheduling. So technically, Georgia has an opening in Week 2 or 6; however, it's likely the Week 6 slot will stay open as a bye before the UT home game.
-- Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina all lack quality non-traditional non-conference games. However, in UK and SC's defense they do play Louisville and Clemson respectively. That said, if anyone has any news on the NC State vs. SC potential series for '08/'09, let me know.
-- In non-SEC news, Ohio State at Southern Cal looks to be the flagship non-conference game of 2008.
PWD
10 comments:
"you can expect the final team to be a directional school or fictitious state."
Is Rhode Island technically fictitious, or is it just logically absurd? Because that's going to affect my vote to fill that slot.
Isn't Bama playing FSU this year in Jacksonville?
^ Oh, I'm an idiot. I didn't read enough to see 2008. Yea, that's pretty sad for a program like Alabama to be playing that sort of OOC schedule.
You're not an idiot. I thought I had screwed it up, too. Regardless, I went in and added "JAX".
It should be noted that 17 of the 18 games listed in the 5 year period above are home games. No road games and 1 neutral site game.
I realize that UGA hasn't left the southeast in a VERY LONG time. But at least the GT game is home/away. Plus, CU and SC were home/away for decades.
Macondawg's comment made me think of a well-known line from Montgomery Burns: "You mean there's a New Mexico?!"
Every year Alabama and Auburn go to such hysterical lengths to assemble the most embarrassing OOC schedule possible that I think it's just become another part of their storied rivalry. "You scheduled Tulane this year? Well, next year WE'RE going to schedule Tulane and FIU!" I honestly don't know what possessed Alabama to play Florida State in light of all that, but you do notice that they waited until the 'Noles were really in the tank to schedule that game.
Doug -- Brace yourself.
But I honestly think that FSU wins the ACC. They have talent. It's not like they've got assclowns everywhere.
It's just that the offensive coaching (OC, QB and OL in particular) was so obscenely bad that it was masked.
You can't tell me VT, NC State, Clemson or Maryland are going to out talent FSU. Or that Pat Nix is a better OC than Jimbo Fisher. Or that the WVU guy isn't going to upgrade that OL.
I like FSU in the ACC. Orson thinks I'm nuts, but I'm telling ya. Beware the Noles.
The thing about Bama is that in their glory days they used to play BIG TIME games. Penn State, USC, Notre Dame, ect. Even a few years ago they were playing UCLA and Oklahoma.
Now, they're settling for slop.
Bama scheduling has been garbage as of late and we've been taking them to task for it on our blog.
Thankfully, we at least have FSU this year and we kick up with Penn State in '09/'10 and Georgia Tech in '12/'14. We were attempting a series with tOSU, but it went belly up...supposedly from the tOSU end.
The team has obviously been less than stellar since the departure of Stallings and the scheduling reflects the probation, coaching turnover, bad coaching hires, etc.
Hopefully this'll turn around soon.
You know how hard it is for FSU to win the ACC? Its not, they won like 200 in a row until CMR left. The returning champion from last year is Wake Forest, the talent isnt on the same planet. Every year FSU doesnt win 10 games should be a laughing stock of a disappointment. 10 games in the ACC = 7 games in the SEC.
To "Isn't Bama playing FSU this year in Jacksonville?"
Yes, I think so...
Matt, Editor
Gary Carvolth Voice of the Common Man
www.garycarvolth.com
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