Interesting scheduling quirks

[Conan]

I just caught this today at Rivals. Maybe a few betting angles will show up in these scheduling oddities?

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://active.macromedia.com/flash2/cabs/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" id="rvflash" height="60" width="620"><embed src="http://vmedia.rivals.com/flash/contentheadlines.swf?h1=Top+programs+like+to+stay+close+to+home+&h2=&lwidth=620&lheight=60&lshadow=1&sFontColor=000000&sLink=" salign="lt" quality="best" scale="noborder" wmode="transparent" id="rvflash" name="rvflash" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" height="60" width="620"></object> <noscript>Top programs like to stay close to home

</noscript> Mike Huguenin
Rivals.com College Football Editor
<script language="javascript"> if ((bIEWindowBrowser) && (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 6.") != -1)) document.write("<div id=outercontainer style='height:220px;'>"); else document.write("<div id=outercontainer>"); document.write("<div id=contentcontainer style='font-size: " + currentsize + "pt;'>");</script> Back in April, we did a three-part series on schedules. Now, a bit more than two months away from the first game of the season, we're going to do some more on schedules - this time on some of the scheduling quirks for this season.
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</td></tr><tr><td align="center">Joe Ganz and Nebraska play five consecutive home games to open the season.</td></tr></tbody></table><!-- End Image--> • Nebraska opens the season with five consecutive home games, the only I-A school that can make that claim. The Huskers' first road game isn't until Oct. 11, at Texas Tech.
• Four other schools open with four consecutive home games: Arizona State, Duke, Indiana and Louisville.
• Three teams end the season with three consecutive home games: Hawaii, Rice and Troy.
• The only "Big Six" team that opens with back-to-back road games is Oregon State. The Beavers are at Stanford on Aug. 28, then play at Penn State on Sept. 6. The other Division I-A schools that open with two consecutive road games are Akron, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Northern Illinois, Ohio University, Toledo, Troy, Tulsa and Utah State.
• Texas plays at UTEP on Sept. 6, the first time the Miners ever have hosted the Longhorns. And Mississippi State plays at Louisiana Tech on Aug. 30, the first time Louisiana Tech ever has hosted an SEC opponent.
• Florida State doesn't play a game outside the state of Florida until Oct. 16 at North Carolina State. The Seminoles open with three consecutive home games, then play Colorado in Jacksonville and at Miami before leaving the Sunshine State. FSU also finishes with three of its final four at home.
• Clemson doesn't play a true road game until Oct. 9 at Wake Forest. The Tigers open in Atlanta against Alabama, then play four in a row at home before heading to Winston-Salem.
• A lot of "Big Six" schools play four times at home before the end of September: Arizona State, Auburn, Clemson, Duke, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, LSU, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State and Syracuse. Wyoming is the only non-"Big Six" school that has four home games before the end of September.
• Florida Atlantic is the only school that has four road games before the end of September.
• Baylor plays five of its first six at home, but finishes up with four of its final six on the road. Georgia has four of its final five away from home. Miami, Michigan and Missouri are among those playing three of their final four away from home.
• Vanderbilt is the only visiting team that will play two games in Oxford this season. The Commodores open the season at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. On Sept. 20, they play at Ole Miss, which is in Oxford, Miss.
• Between Oct. 18 and Nov. 29, Georgia plays no home games. Between Oct. 18 and Nov. 28, LSU plays no road games. Included in that span is Georgia at LSU on Oct. 25.
• USC is the only school whose entire schedule is made up of "Big Six" opponents.
• Pitt opens with three consecutive home games, plays three in a row on the road, then finishes the season by alternating home and road games the rest of the way.

 

[GoSooners]

Conan...Thanks for posting these..Personally, I think scheduling is soooo important to a team's season..I can think of many teams over the years who've scheduled themselves right out of a decent season..San Jose St. was a good example last season...They never gave themselves a chance by playing their first 4 games on the road with 3 of those games against BCS schools..They never really recovered from it. This team has a little better schedule this year with their road games spread out more..They could spring a little surprise in the WAC. I think Kansas was a good example last season of a team who had a perfect schedule..They went to a new offensive system and played some easy early games to give them some legs and the confidence for the rest of the season.

 

[Darwinian]

UT-Bama is on the 4th Saturday in October this year

 

[GoSooners]

Is the Big 12 the only conference willing to play on the road at the smaller schools? OSU played at Troy last season and Mizzou played there a few years ago..Texas Tech played at SMU last season...And Texas played at Central Florida..And then play again this season at UTEP..I would like to see more of this..The fans get sky high for these kinds of OOC games and they usually turn out to be pretty good games.

 

[Conan]

I'd like to see more of the upper echelon schools of the lower divisions play more Div 1-A teams. Maybe there are more than a couple Appys and Troys out there... well not maybe. A couple of them come to mind already. There's more than just the non "Big-6" conferences in Div 1-A that are pretty good.

 

[GoSooners]

I'd like to see more of the upper echelon schools of the lower divisions play more Div 1-A teams. Maybe there are more than a couple Appys and Troys out there... well not maybe. A couple of them come to mind already. There's more than just the non "Big-6" conferences in Div 1-A that are pretty good.

Conan...I wish this wasn't all about money..But for most of these schools that's their excuse for not playing the smaller stadiums..As lame as it is...Texas is the only big time school that I've seen breakout of this and go out of state to play a non-BCS team. I would like to see some of these games played on a Thursday night with a great fan atmosphere. It makes for great television..The Big 12 is only 2-2 the last few years traveling to the small schools..And Texas barely got by Central Florida last season..Now that I think of it I would have to add OU to the list. They did play at Tulsa last season..And Skelly Stadium is very small..But this has always been kind of ongoing in-state series between the two schools. I would like the see a team like Georgia reciprocate their game with Boise at home a few years ago and play them on the road..That could be interesting..It's also going to be interesting seeing Wisconsin playing at Fresno this season..Something tells me the Dawgs are going to make the most of the rare visit.

 

[SoonerBS]

Is the Big 12 the only conference willing to play on the road at the smaller schools? OSU played at Troy last season and Mizzou played there a few years ago..Texas Tech played at SMU last season...And Texas played at Central Florida..And then play again this season at UTEP..I would like to see more of this..The fans get sky high for these kinds of OOC games and they usually turn out to be pretty good games.

Some of these schools probably wish they had never scheduled road games with these teams as they came back home with a loss.

 

[Conan]

The Wisconsin game will put Fresno on the map this year. They'll win it. I'm nearly 100% sure on that one. Should be a good one to watch. Fresno's offense will be under the lights on National TV and they'll make the most of it. Pat Hill lives for this.

 

[SoonerBS]

The Wisconsin game will put Fresno on the map this year. They'll win it. I'm nearly 100% sure on that one. Should be a good one to watch. Fresno's offense will be under the lights on National TV and they'll make the most of it. Pat Hill lives for this.

The only thing that would make this even more sure is if they were playing a Thursday Night ESPN game. Yeah, FSU will be tough at home in this game. Like you said, Pat Hill lives for this kind of game.

 

[MIMS]

The Wisconsin game will put Fresno on the map this year. They'll win it. I'm nearly 100% sure on that one. Should be a good one to watch. Fresno's offense will be under the lights on National TV and they'll make the most of it. Pat Hill lives for this.

100%, eh?

 

[Conan]

100%, eh?

99.05%

But actually I'd sorta like to see them lose.
It's funny when Pat Hill's ears turn red.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Is the Big 12 the only conference willing to play on the road at the smaller schools? OSU played at Troy last season and Mizzou played there a few years ago..Texas Tech played at SMU last season...And Texas played at Central Florida..And then play again this season at UTEP..I would like to see more of this..The fans get sky high for these kinds of OOC games and they usually turn out to be pretty good games.

I know Illinois plays Western Mich at Ford Field in Detroit this year. Everyone knows Wisconsin goes out to Fresno and then finally Minn. goes to Bowling Green. So the Big 10 is def. willing to go on the road to play small schools as well. I agree with you 100% on this though, it really makes these match ups a lot more interesting. I was at the Texas vs. UCF game last year and it was one of the best games I've ever seen live.

 

[GoSooners]

I know Illinois plays Western Mich at Ford Field in Detroit this year. Everyone knows Wisconsin goes out to Fresno and then finally Minn. goes to Bowling Green. So the Big 10 is def. willing to go on the road to play small schools as well. I agree with you 100% on this though, it really makes these match ups a lot more interesting. I was at the Texas vs. UCF game last year and it was one of the best games I've ever seen live.

Most of the teams I was referring to was the upper echelon teams of each perspective conference...The SEC has been the worst about traveling to smaller stadiums to play. If there isn't any money in it for them, they just won't go..I would like to see that change.