The 10 Easiest OOC Schedules

[Conan]

WOW!! Checkout Northwestern!! 3 FBS teams and every one of them is a last place finisher in their own conference!! Pretty trendy, eh? Nice job.

Top 10 softest nonconference schedules
Bruce Feldman
Monday, June 15, 2009

This week's top 10 list: the softest nonconference schedules in the country. I'm using a formula in which I've assigned a value to each opponent based on a 10-point scale, with a 10 going for a team that I expect to be an elite, top-five caliber team this year and with that game being in the powerhouse's home stadium. (It'd be a 9 if that powerhouse is the road team, meaning home-field is worth one point.) I'm also averaging the points out since some teams have three nonleague opponents and some have five.

1. Northwestern (Towson; EMU; at Syracuse; Miami [Ohio]) Quality point average: 2: Wow. The Wildcats face three FBS opponents and all three are projected to finish in the cellar of their respective conferences or at least conference divisions. Plus, that FCS team they've got, Towson, is coming off a 3-9 season. This is about as close to four sure wins as anyone is going to get.
2. Penn State (Akron; Syracuse; Temple; Eastern Illinois) Quality point average: 2.5: Yes, this is the same exact rating as Ole Miss. PSU wins (or is it loses?) the tiebreaker because the Nittany Lions didn't even schedule a road game and because Ole Miss at least faces someone who went to a bowl game in the past three seasons. PSU has six of its first seven games at home, and the closest thing to a formidable nonleague opponent is Temple, which is 3-34-1 against the Lions and hasn't knocked off Penn State since 1941. Akron also is an OK opponent, but is still coming off a 5-7 season. It's worth noting that this is only the third time in 16 years since PSU arrived in the Big Ten that the Nittany Lions have scheduled an FCS opponent.
3. Ole Miss (At Memphis; Southeastern Louisiana; UAB; Northern Arizona) Quality point average 2.5: The Rebels' schedule can't get any easier than this season. The in-conference slate breaks incredibly well, but we're focusing just on the out-of-league schedule, and let's be honest: No one should be scheduling two FCS opponents, but that's what the Rebels have got with home games against Southeastern Louisiana and Northern Arizona. (The Rebels have beaten their past 10 opponents from what is now the FCS level by an average of 29 ppg.) Hosting a UAB team has won six games in the past two seasons doesn't figure to be that much tougher. The Rebels do begin the season on the road against a decent Memphis team, although it's still just a little more than an hour drive and these are the same Tigers whom Ole Miss has beaten five straight times.
T4. Kansas State (UMass; at Louisiana; at UCLA; Tennessee Tech) Quality point average: 2.75: Bill Snyder's back, so get ready for the pastries to start rolling. On the positive side, UMass is a pretty good FCS team, but they're still FCS. Also, a road trip to an improving UCLA team will not be easy. The rest is just too soft.
T4. NC State (South Carolina; Murray State; Gardner-Webb; Pitt) Quality point average: 2.75: The Pack have eight home games, with all four of their out-of-league games in Raleigh. Opening against a solid South Carolina team won't be easy and Pitt also figures to be a challenge. The other two are FCS opponents. It's hardly brutal, although last season the Gamecocks did thump State, 34-0.
6. Rutgers (Howard; FIU; at Maryland; Texas Southern; at Army) Quality point average: 2.8: Like Ole Miss, NCSU and KSU, the Scarlet Knights have two FCS opponents. They also have a short road trip to Army and get a visit from an improving FIU program coached by Mario Cristobal, one of Greg Schiano's former top assistants. The main reason they're not up there with Northwestern and Ole Miss is because of a road trip to face a solid Maryland team, which is 24-2 against nonleague foes at home.
T7. Kentucky (Miami [Ohio] in Cincy; Louisville; ULM; EKU) Quality point average: 2.88: This is pretty dismal for an SEC squad. Not one of the Wildcats' opponents went to a bowl game last season, although at least they are playing someone from a BCS conference. Playing Miami (Ohio) in Cincinnati got them a half-point credit for a road game. Eastern Kentucky is an FCS team, but at least the Colonels won their league title. Still, because they're an FCS opponent, they warrant only one point.
T7. Arkansas (Missouri State; Texas A&M in Arlington; EMU; Troy) Quality point average: 2.88: There are two respectable games here: facing an Aggies program still trying to find its way in the state of Texas and against a Troy team that usually goes bowling. Neither of these games should scare an elite program, but they're still more than cakewalks.
To see the final two teams on Bruce's list -- one regular Big Ten power among them -- and read the rest of his blog, including the role of media at college sports camps, how Washington can keep getting better at recruiting and why you should know the name Andrew Datko, you must be an ESPN Insider.

9. Idaho (at Washington; San Diego State; at NIU; CSU) Quality point average: 3. If you've won only three games in the past two seasons, it's probably not a bad idea to go easy on the schedule. And the Vandals have done that. They play at winless Washington and then host a SDSU team that just went 2-10. They later visit a decent MAC team in Northern Illinois and then host Colorado State.
10. Wisconsin (NIU; Fresno State; Wofford; at Hawaii) Quality point average: 3.25: The Badgers should be sizeable favorites in all four games, with the toughest being the road trip to Hawaii. The Badgers are 10-1 against Northern Illinois and then face a Fresno team that is 1-5 against the Big Ten and will be travelling East with a brand-new QB. Wofford is a very good FCS team FWIW.

 

[SpartyCj]

awesome write up, this will help alot when I consider doing some TeamTotal bets

 

[goblue12]

Ole Miss should be #1 with 2 FCS teams and 2 teams from C-USA.

 

[sdf]

Ole Miss should be #1 with 2 FCS teams and 2 teams from C-USA.

at least Miss is bothering to travel OOC to a, um, decent Memphis team. PSU doesnt travel at all for OOC and they face Syracuse who is pretty much an FCS team right now.

i would have put miss and psu ahead of nwestern though

 

[BigdaddyQH]

Notice that 3 out of the 10 teams are from the Big 10. I do not know how Michigan missed that list, unless you consider Notre Dame that strong of a team. Indiana also plays basically nobody, unless you consider Virginia an ACC powerhouse. Let's not forget Wisconsin, who'se toughest opponent cones from the WAC (Fresno or Hawaii). The Big 10 is famous for this. Play 3 or 4 non-con softies so you get a minor bowl game bid. This is why the Big 10 went 1-6 in their bowl games last season, and has not won a BCS game since 2005. (0-6 in that span)

 

[UoweDucks]

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Notice that 3 out of the 10 teams are from the Big 10. I do not know how Michigan missed that list, unless you consider Notre Dame that strong of a team. Indiana also plays basically nobody, unless you consider Virginia an ACC powerhouse. Let's not forget Wisconsin, who'se toughest opponent cones from the WAC (Fresno or Hawaii). The Big 10 is famous for this. Play 3 or 4 non-con softies so you get a minor bowl game bid. This is why the Big 10 went 1-6 in their bowl games last season, and has not won a BCS game since 2005. (0-6 in that span)

I would put Texas on here before Michigan, they don't play one BCS team, much less a team that could be considered better than Notre Dame. Aside from that, I don't think this list holds much weight and it's all speculation on how well a team is "supposed" to do when you don't really know.

Not to back up Michigan but I remember them being knocked last year about their OCC schedule and Utah ended up being the #2 team in the country.

I honestly think NCST has a decent OCC schedule with South Carolina and Pitt so that is strange to me. Sure they aren't supposed to be in the top of their conferences but I wouldn't be completely surprised if Pitt and USC fileded respectable teams this year.

Now teams like Penn St., Ole Miss, ect... they know what they are doing with their weak schedule.

 

[Flsunman]

WOW!! Checkout Northwestern!! 3 FBS teams and every one of them is a last place finisher in their own conference!! Pretty trendy, eh? Nice job.

Top 10 softest nonconference schedules
Bruce Feldman
Monday, June 15, 2009

This week's top 10 list: the softest nonconference schedules in the country. I'm using a formula in which I've assigned a value to each opponent based on a 10-point scale, with a 10 going for a team that I expect to be an elite, top-five caliber team this year and with that game being in the powerhouse's home stadium. (It'd be a 9 if that powerhouse is the road team, meaning home-field is worth one point.) I'm also averaging the points out since some teams have three nonleague opponents and some have five.

1. Northwestern (Towson; EMU; at Syracuse; Miami [Ohio]) Quality point average: 2: Wow. The Wildcats face three FBS opponents and all three are projected to finish in the cellar of their respective conferences or at least conference divisions. Plus, that FCS team they've got, Towson, is coming off a 3-9 season. This is about as close to four sure wins as anyone is going to get.
2. Penn State (Akron; Syracuse; Temple; Eastern Illinois) Quality point average: 2.5: Yes, this is the same exact rating as Ole Miss. PSU wins (or is it loses?) the tiebreaker because the Nittany Lions didn't even schedule a road game and because Ole Miss at least faces someone who went to a bowl game in the past three seasons. PSU has six of its first seven games at home, and the closest thing to a formidable nonleague opponent is Temple, which is 3-34-1 against the Lions and hasn't knocked off Penn State since 1941. Akron also is an OK opponent, but is still coming off a 5-7 season. It's worth noting that this is only the third time in 16 years since PSU arrived in the Big Ten that the Nittany Lions have scheduled an FCS opponent.
3. Ole Miss (At Memphis; Southeastern Louisiana; UAB; Northern Arizona) Quality point average 2.5: The Rebels' schedule can't get any easier than this season. The in-conference slate breaks incredibly well, but we're focusing just on the out-of-league schedule, and let's be honest: No one should be scheduling two FCS opponents, but that's what the Rebels have got with home games against Southeastern Louisiana and Northern Arizona. (The Rebels have beaten their past 10 opponents from what is now the FCS level by an average of 29 ppg.) Hosting a UAB team has won six games in the past two seasons doesn't figure to be that much tougher. The Rebels do begin the season on the road against a decent Memphis team, although it's still just a little more than an hour drive and these are the same Tigers whom Ole Miss has beaten five straight times.
T4. Kansas State (UMass; at Louisiana; at UCLA; Tennessee Tech) Quality point average: 2.75: Bill Snyder's back, so get ready for the pastries to start rolling. On the positive side, UMass is a pretty good FCS team, but they're still FCS. Also, a road trip to an improving UCLA team will not be easy. The rest is just too soft.
T4. NC State (South Carolina; Murray State; Gardner-Webb; Pitt) Quality point average: 2.75: The Pack have eight home games, with all four of their out-of-league games in Raleigh. Opening against a solid South Carolina team won't be easy and Pitt also figures to be a challenge. The other two are FCS opponents. It's hardly brutal, although last season the Gamecocks did thump State, 34-0.
6. Rutgers (Howard; FIU; at Maryland; Texas Southern; at Army) Quality point average: 2.8: Like Ole Miss, NCSU and KSU, the Scarlet Knights have two FCS opponents. They also have a short road trip to Army and get a visit from an improving FIU program coached by Mario Cristobal, one of Greg Schiano's former top assistants. The main reason they're not up there with Northwestern and Ole Miss is because of a road trip to face a solid Maryland team, which is 24-2 against nonleague foes at home.
T7. Kentucky (Miami [Ohio] in Cincy; Louisville; ULM; EKU) Quality point average: 2.88: This is pretty dismal for an SEC squad. Not one of the Wildcats' opponents went to a bowl game last season, although at least they are playing someone from a BCS conference. Playing Miami (Ohio) in Cincinnati got them a half-point credit for a road game. Eastern Kentucky is an FCS team, but at least the Colonels won their league title. Still, because they're an FCS opponent, they warrant only one point.
T7. Arkansas (Missouri State; Texas A&M in Arlington; EMU; Troy) Quality point average: 2.88: There are two respectable games here: facing an Aggies program still trying to find its way in the state of Texas and against a Troy team that usually goes bowling. Neither of these games should scare an elite program, but they're still more than cakewalks.
To see the final two teams on Bruce's list -- one regular Big Ten power among them -- and read the rest of his blog, including the role of media at college sports camps, how Washington can keep getting better at recruiting and why you should know the name Andrew Datko, you must be an ESPN Insider.

9. Idaho (at Washington; San Diego State; at NIU; CSU) Quality point average: 3. If you've won only three games in the past two seasons, it's probably not a bad idea to go easy on the schedule. And the Vandals have done that. They play at winless Washington and then host a SDSU team that just went 2-10. They later visit a decent MAC team in Northern Illinois and then host Colorado State.
10. Wisconsin (NIU; Fresno State; Wofford; at Hawaii) Quality point average: 3.25: The Badgers should be sizeable favorites in all four games, with the toughest being the road trip to Hawaii. The Badgers are 10-1 against Northern Illinois and then face a Fresno team that is 1-5 against the Big Ten and will be travelling East with a brand-new QB. Wofford is a very good FCS team FWIW.

Why in god's name would they even include Idaho? All those teams OOC teams they play are better than them in the first place.

 

[goblue12]

at least Miss is bothering to travel OOC to a, um, decent Memphis team. PSU doesnt travel at all for OOC and they face Syracuse who is pretty much an FCS team right now.

i would have put miss and psu ahead of nwestern though

Can't really blame PSU / NW for the Syracuse debacle. No one expected them to be this bad. They were a borderline Top-25 program under Paul Pasqualoni. Plus, they went to the Carrier Dome last year.

I wish they would regulate OOC schedules (BCS teams have to schedule 2 BCS teams a year, only 1 FBS team, and 1 FCS team) but would probably qualify as restraint of trade.

Really grinds my gears when I buy Michigan FB tickets to see Delaware State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Purdue, and Indiana on there. I don't even want to go to half of those games.

 

[8ate]

yeah; Wolverine fans need to see the Buckeyes play; just to remember the glory years of little Woody (aka Bo)..

lol

gl

~~:<<:howdy:

 

[cocktailsnlongshots+]

rutgers should be embarrassed.....how much $ is howard getting 4 that visit to piscataway?

 

[EveryGamblersDream]

Be careful with UMASS as they had a down year last year. Normally they would beat a bunch of FBS programs as they play great defense. They won't be intimidated playing in Manhattan considering they played in Lubbock last year.

 

[ElTaino]

kinda funny that the big bad SEC has 3 teams on that list. do you think when the bottom teams in your conference can win only 2 conf games to be .500 it helps teams like, uh, florida and bama reach prominent bowl games with losses while teams other one loss teams (and an undefeated) get hosed? can you smell what the SEC is cookin?

 

[BigdaddyQH]

This is going to only get worse, because of the rediculous number of Bowl Games. The Pac 10 currently has 6 Bowl Game slots and is looking for a 7th to tie in. They lost their 7th tie in, becuase only 5 teams from the Pac 10 qualified for bowl games last year. Look for the Pac 10 to quietly ease up on their non-con games. The Pac 10 and the Big East are the only conferences that play Round Robin schedules, but there are only 8 teams in the Big East. USC has eased up on their scheduling, with the likes of Syracuse, Boston College, and Minnesota being featured in home/home series instead of teams like Ohio State. They will still play Notre Dame, but that is about it. Stanford will also play Notre Dame every year. (Notre Dame goes to USC on even numbered years, and to Stanford on Odd numbered years). Stanford also plays San Jose State at home every year. The rest of the Pac 10 looks like they have schedule one good team, and two easy games per year except for Washington, who still plays BYU several times and also plays teams like Nebraska during the same year.

Other conferences have been doing this for quite a while now. Most conferences play 4 non-con games, and most of thise teams play at least 3 games against Non-BCS teams. Many play FCS teams, and some, like Rutgers and South Florida, play 2 FCS teams. How poor is that? You guys can break it all down, but the fact is that most teams in BCS Conferences play soft non-con schedules to try and get into bowl games with the least number of conference wins they can manage.

 

[straightcashhomie]

Lol, gotta be Ole Miss!

Nice Thread.

- SCH

 

[Conan]

This is going to only get worse, because of the rediculous number of Bowl Games. The Pac 10 currently has 6 Bowl Game slots and is looking for a 7th to tie in. They lost their 7th tie in, becuase only 5 teams from the Pac 10 qualified for bowl games last year. Look for the Pac 10 to quietly ease up on their non-con games. The Pac 10 and the Big East are the only conferences that play Round Robin schedules, but there are only 8 teams in the Big East. USC has eased up on their scheduling, with the likes of Syracuse, Boston College, and Minnesota being featured in home/home series instead of teams like Ohio State. They will still play Notre Dame, but that is about it. Stanford will also play Notre Dame every year. (Notre Dame goes to USC on even numbered years, and to Stanford on Odd numbered years). Stanford also plays San Jose State at home every year. The rest of the Pac 10 looks like they have schedule one good team, and two easy games per year except for Washington, who still plays BYU several times and also plays teams like Nebraska during the same year.

Other conferences have been doing this for quite a while now. Most conferences play 4 non-con games, and most of thise teams play at least 3 games against Non-BCS teams. Many play FCS teams, and some, like Rutgers and South Florida, play 2 FCS teams. How poor is that? You guys can break it all down, but the fact is that most teams in BCS Conferences play soft non-con schedules to try and get into bowl games with the least number of conference wins they can manage.

What's the use of calling anyone a "National Champion" when they play almost no one on the national stage except perhaps one bowl game? They may as well just name the team that wins the BCS CG the "CFB poll winner by default" because they won the game between the #1 and #2 ranked in the polls teams.

WC teams have always been at a big disadvantage, such as USC last year when the common "perception" was that the Pac-10 was down and therefor USC's wins were not convincing. Even though the Pac-10 turned out to be the only undefeated conference in the bowls, it was too late to do anything about it. Most of the poll votes come from the east and most of those voters are in bed when the Pac-10 plays many of its games. I'm not even sure they'd bother watching the games during the day anyway. How do teams that a lot of people don't know anything about hope to get a fair shake? There must be a system of making schedules with minimal requirements that all teams in the hunt must fulfill and a fair playoff system or CFB has no real national champion.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Just remember, when it comes to playing for a BCS title, strength of schedule will make or break a team. Texas would have had a better shot last year to go to the Big12 Title Game and eventually the BCS title game but Oklahoma played a better OOC schedule and that boosted their BCS ranking.

That's why this year if it comes down to USC, Penn St., or Texas all with one loss, USC will get the nod because they play a much better OOC schedule. Granted you can look at the flip side and say "I'll go with the easier schedule and take my chances we go undefeated" but your not going to control your own destiny that way and one slip up, puts you out of the discussion.

I don't really care about the mediocre teams scheduling cupcakes trying to go to a bowl game. They get exposed eventually and their fans have to suffer through a boring season.

Aside from that, it appears the winner of the SEC is just about a lock to play for the title now a days. I can't say it's wrong for the simple fact that they have taken care of business but it's something to keep an eye on going forward.

 

[guitarjosh]

That's not really true, as conference SOS will be factored in as well as OOC SOS. OU and UT play in the same conference so it was a wash last year. When The Pac-10 has multiple losses from an extra conference game and a tough OOC schedule, it will get the shaft as usual.

 

[GoSooners]

Something to remember about Texas trying to go undefeated this season. The only time I can remember them going undefeated in modern times was their national championship run in 2005. But in my opinion that was a more dominant team on both sides of the ball than the 2009 version. Also, in 2005 OU was in a rebuilding mode and lost 4 games that year. And Texas toughest road games in conference were against 4-7 OSU, 6-5 Missouri and 5-6 Texas A&M. It will be a much different story this season playing as many as 4 Big 12 bowl teams on the road. Plus it isn't exactly going to be easy facing Colorado, OU, Missouri and OSU all in a row without a break. They could end up finding themselves in the same situation as last season where they had to play 4 tough games in a row again without a break. And guess who that 4th game is against; OSU in Stillwater. It could be Texas Tech all over again if the Horns get that far undefeated. One loss and it will more than likely be like last season and they'll be out of it.

 

[Conan]

OK... speaking of OOC schedules, here's a huge breakdown by one writer who thinks the SEC are a bunch of cowards and the Pac-10 AD's are a bunch of idiots. I tend to agree.

Another year, same result: SEC/Big-12 OOC scheduling cowards, Pac-10 AD's are idiots

by anh_sc79 on Jun 24, 2009 7:49 AM PDT

1 comment
Re-Bumped. anh_79 rewrote this excellent post...P
We looked at OOC scheduling philosophy and how it impacts voters perception last year before the season kicked off. At the end of the regular season, our predictions pretty much came true. Not only that, we were able to explain why computers loved ACC, even though ACC didn't really stand out as a premier conference.
Well, now that 2009 OOC schedule is finalized, it's time to look at the OOC scheduling philosophy and how it impacts the average W/L record, bowl eligibility, voter perception. Our analysis produced the following expected average W/L record for a team in the conference, overall winning % (including conference games) for the conference and OOC winning %.

The following conclusions from last year, remain true in 2009 as well
- SEC/Big-12 teams schedule OOC games like cowards and inflate their records by pathetic OOC scheduling. Out of 4 conferences (B12, BT, ACC, SEC) that have 4 OOC games and out of 3 conferences that have 12 teams, SEC/Big-12 have with easiest OOC schedules which subsequently inflates their overall W/L record
- Because of the above, SEC/Big-12 teams manage to have more bowl eligibile teams than other conferences creating appearance of a strong league (which is partially justified (in case of SEC) and partially illusion (in case of Big Ten and Big-12))
- ACC teams do schedule relatively tough OOC games, but they suffer from numerous cases of double-Div-IAA scheduling
- While Big East does schedule relatively tough OOC games, the toughness of OOC games is diluted by the fact that they have to play 5 OOC games.
- Pac-10 AD's just don't get it. They try to do the right thing when everyone does the wrong thing. But if they were familiar with Prisoner's Dillemma concept, they'd know that doing the right thing when everyone cheats will hurt you a lot. Pac-10 teams hurt themselves on 2 ends: one one hand by scheduling 3 OOC games as opposed to 4, they guarantee 5 losses for Pac-10 teams and in addition, scheduling tough OOC opponents results in lower expected winning % in OOC games. As a result, an average Pac-10 team is expected to have 1 less win and 1 more loss than an average SEC/Big-12. That really hurts the conference when it comes to bowl eligibility and top-25 voting.
I hope voters consider this analysis before they rush to declare Big-12/SEC as kings and ACC/Pac-10 as peasants of CFB in 2009. Just because every SEC/Big-12 team starts 4-0 in OOC, doesn't mean that the league is strong.
More on methodology as well as individual conference analysis after the jump.

Ok, what's the methodology? Similar to last years, but I made few changes following some feedback to incorporate neutral site games, championship game in 12 team conferences as well as adjust weights for home/away games so that the result adds up to 100%.
Every game is assigned a probability of winning - from 100% for a home game against a cupcake to 35% for an away game against BCS conference team (including ND). Now a cupcake is defined as an FCS school or non-elite mid-major. There is little bit of subjectivity involved when I defined what is an elite mid-major. For argument's sake I picked 10 most respected non-BCS teams coming into this season. They are:

This list is bit subjective: I didn't include any Sun Belt teams, it could be argued that Air Force, Colorado State, Southern Miss or Rice belong there, but the end result is not strongly impacted if you amend the list. Anyway, I included teams that in my opinion are significantly better than a bottom tier BCS school (like Duke, Wazzu, Indiana, Miss State etc).
The expected likelihood of winning is as below:

I believe those numbers are reasonable and make sense. They could be twisted a bit, but I don't think changing numbers will alter the results and conclusions that much.
So here are the results by each conference:
SEC

As expected, the coward conference (I am sorry, I mean essseeeseee, the Gods gift to CFB) comes out on top of expected wins per team ranking, with only Georgia having a very difficult OOC schedule. SEC teams are expected to win nearly 84% of their OOC games and it's not because the league is strong (for example, LSU has only 35% chance of beating UW in Seattle in this calculation), but because of its scheduling philosophy. Most of the OOC schedules are laughable (hello Ole Miss). Personally, I really don't understand why pay $100 to see your team trounce Jackson State or Western Carolina, but that's just me.
Big-12


Usual offenders - Texas schools. Only Oklahoma is expected to win less than 75% of its OOC games in this analysis. Looks like Big-12 North teams continue to follow Bill Snyder's philosophy of scheduling cupcakes and getting to bowl games.
ACC


The bigest problem with ACC scheduling is abundance of FCS schools. What's with the State of North Carolina? NC State, Duke, and North Carolina are playing 2 FCS schools each!!! On the other hand, there are plenty of interesting OOC games. GA Tech (toughest schedule among ACC schools) plays 3 teams from the SEC.

Big East

Big East plays 5 OOC games and it's not easy to say how it impacts the W/L record. On one hand, the conference members could schedule 5 OOC games against cupcakes and just need 1 conference win to be bowl eligible. On the other hand, the conference suffers from not being taken seriously. Wise OOC scheduling could really improve Big East's reputation and as far as I can see, the conference members are trying to schedule decent OOC games. Some teams need to cut down on FCS schools (yes Rutgers, you).
Big Ten

The laughing stock among BCS conferences never learns. Big Ten keeps scheduling cupcakes (82% expected winning % in OOC schedules) and continues to get destroyed in the bowl season. At least the AD's know the rules of the game. Schedule as much cupcakes as possible, win 2 conference games and get bowl eligible. Doesn't matter if Big Ten goes 1-6 in the bowl games. They still send 7 teams bowling. Big Ten needs to add some meaningful OOC games (and win them!) to be taken seriously. Man up and play some SEC schools!

Pac-10

Oh yeah, the Pac-10, the real men of genius. The conference of masochist AD's, the conference previously led by the biggest tool in BCS world - Tom Hansen, the conference of self-proclaimed righteous heros, the conference of "we do things right, but no one notices" fans (INCLUDING MYSELF!!!). Hey AD's, lets keep scheduling 3 OOC games when no one else does. Never mind that 9th conference game guarantees 5 additional losses for the conference, thus diminishing any chances of having 6 or 7 bowl eligible teams or getting that second damn team to a BCS game. Never mind that since inception of 9th conference game, Pac-10 hasn't had 2 BCS teams, while Big Ten (while being a joke of a conference) regularly gets 2 teams in BCS almost every year. Lets keep scheduling tough OOC games and then wonder why we only have 5 teams in the post-season. If only Pac-10 AD's sat down and went through the numbers... Oh well, that's a wishful thinking