From 16th in the nation to

[JackShephard]

only a 16 1/2 point favorite over these losers - UAB is 0-4, including a 39 point loss to freaking Tulane, and has the national stats listed below. I never thought we'd see a collapse like this under a Mullen coached team.

</p><h3>2011 OVERALL FBS RANKINGS (UAB)</h3><div class="span-1"><div class="mod-header"><h4>PASSING YARDS</h4></div><div class="mod-content"><span class="stat">191.3 </span>94th Overall</div></div><div class="span-1"><div class="mod-header"><h4>RUSHING YARDS</h4></div><div class="mod-content"><span class="stat">99.0 </span>107th Overall</div></div><div class="span-1"><div class="mod-header"><h4>POINTS FOR</h4></div><div class="mod-content"><span class="stat">14.0 </span>116th Overall</div></div><div class="span-1 last"><div class="mod-header"><h4>POINTS AGAINST</h4></div><div class="mod-content"><span class="stat">35.0 </span>108th Overall</div></div>

 

[mstatefan88]

nm

 

[RebelBruiser]

That looks pathetic.

 

[GloryDawg]

Our production will pick up a bunch after playing UAB, Ole Miss, KY and Tenn Martin. They suck way more then we do.</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

Just amazed at how bad those stats were for UAB. They looked Memphis-esque.

Our OOC schedule this year is fine with me. I wish we'd do it more often, and I wish we'd drop Texas, Boise, and Clemson from our schedules over the next 5 years. Stricklin won't play anyone like that in the regular season, because he's smart enough to see that it's not worth it.

 

[patdog]

Sometime in the next 5 or so years, scheduling Texas, GA Tech, Clemson, Boise, is going to cost you a bowl bid. Just like scheduling GA Tech cost us one in 2009. </p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

Fans seem to like those games, but I think fans like bowl games more.

If nothing else, I can guarantee you that sometime in those 5 years, a loss to one of those teams will knock us down a few spots in the bowl pecking order, if it doesn't make the difference between a 5-7 and a 6-6 season.

By the way, we postponed the Georgia Tech series until like 2019/2020 or something like that, so we don't have them. We were supposed to pick them up in 2010 and 2011.

All that said, favorable OOC scheduling doesn't do you any good if you lose to Jacksonville State or a bad BYU team. These past two years we've had schedules that should've given us a fairly easy 4-0 OOC, and we went 3-1 last year, and we're sitting at 2-1 this year so far.

ETA: For the record, we have Texas in 2012 and 2013, Boise in 2014, and Clemson in 2015 and 2016. It's a safe bet that we lose more of those than we win, and if we do, it'll cost us in some capacity. I like Stricklin's statement where he says he does plan to play a team like that every year, but he expects to play them in a bowl game.

 

[patdog]

If nothing else, I can guarantee you that sometime in those 5 years, a loss to one of those teams will knock us down a few spots in the bowl pecking order, if it doesn't make the difference between a 5-7 and a 6-6 season.

If we'd played someone like an Oregon or an Oklahoma last year, we'd probably have wound up in the Liberty Bowl (or whatever the one in Birmingham is called) instead of the Gator Bowl.

 

[JackShephard]

I'm just making an observation. I'm not railing on the staff, team, or anybody else. I was just surprised to find the line that low, and it marks a meteoric shift from where people thought our team was 4 weeks ago. Personally, I'm shocked that a Dan Mullen coached team has fallen so far, so fast. However, I also think he's good enough to turn it around and I think we go no worse than 6-6, but probably 7-5 (South Carolina). chill man, it wasn't a knock.

 

[Topgundawg]

Looks like you have found a Stone Cold Solid Pipe bet to win on with us....

 

[RebelBruiser]

If I remember correctly, both Bama and Florida went undefeated and both made BCS bowls. LSU went 9-3 and went to the Capital One.

We went 8-4 with a 4-0 OOC slate, which got us in the Cotton. Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Kentucky all went 7-5.

If we had played TCU (which was the deal that fell through prior to the season), instead of having to add Northern Arizona late, we probably would've been in that mix of 7-5 teams, and you know we would've found ourselves in the Liberty Bowl at best.

Going 4-0 against CUSA, Sun Belt, and 1AA schools is better for your bowl standing than going 3-1 with a win over Texas and a loss to West Virginia.

A good example is that 2009 Georgia team. They went 7-5 (4-4). Their OOC schedule included wins over Arizona State and Georgia Tech, but they had a loss to Oklahoma State. We were higher on the bowl pecking order with the same conference record and a cupcake OOC schedule of SELA, UNA, Memphis, and UAB because we were 4-0 and they were 3-1. That Georgia team fell all the way to the Independence Bowl, while we were in Dallas.