I got ripped at church for this, am I completely off base?

[Shining Beacon]

Explain how this non-conference schedule:
Jacksonville St. (FCS)
La-Lafayette
@ Tulane
Fresno St.

Is much/any different than this non-conference schedule:
Alcorn St. (FCS)
Memphis
UAB
@ Houston

Our permanent rivals our Vanderbilt (OM) and Kentucky (MSU), so that's a wash; we both play the same division schedule and the rest of the SEC schedule rotates through the other teams, so I ask again, how exactly are these two schedules significantly different?

FCS games are meaningless. We both play a road game, ours easier than yours. We play Fresno St. at home who is better than Memphis or UAB and probably on par with Houston, and we play La-Lafayette who is probably on par with Memphis and UAB.

Last year the difference in schedules was HUGE, but this year the schedule is not an excuse for either team.

 

[Hanmudog]

Although playing at Houston is tougher than Fresno State in Oxford. I was mostly referencing last season and how the disparity in quality of OOC opponents made the difference between State and Ole Miss seem greater than it really was. I think State and Ole Miss will finish with very similar records this year.

 

[beachreb61]

Look pretty offensive, though

http://www.gobulldogs.com...m-footbl-sched-2009.html

but this is my guess as to how UM's schedule shakes out next year. Really have no clue about the nonconference teams, but if any of them turn out to be decnet UM could be in trouble.

Teams that Suck
Jacksonville State
Louisiana Lafayette

Bad Teams
Tulane
vanderbilt
Fresno State
UK

Decent Teams
Tenn
MSU
LSU

Good Teams
Alabama
Ark
Au

My guess is UM goes 6-6, beating 5 ****** to bad teams, losing to one bad team,and upsetting one decent team (probably us or LSU).

 

[RebelBruiser]

Hanmu,OM went 9-4 and won the Cotton Bowl. Have a smidgen of objectivity. Nobody's saying OM should've played for the f'in nat'l championship.

What can be more objective than 41-27? Also when was the last time a 4-4 SEC team went to the Cotton Bowl? All I am saying is that the weak schedule that OM played gave the impression that yall were better than you really were. The Egg Bowl showed that to be true. We beat a 9-4 team that racked up most of those wins against bad to mediocre teams. Nothing wrong with that.
I don't want to turn this into EggBowl.com but you do realize that MSU was 6 inches from probably being in that Cotton Bowl instead of Ole Miss?

At 6-6 you would've been in the PapaJohns.com Bowl, even at 4-4 in SEC play. That's just another reason having a weak OOC schedule is 10 times better than playing a tough one. You gain nothing by playing tough teams OOC. Overall record (regardless of who you beat) is much more important for bowl placement.

And you have to look no further than the 2007 season with Arkansas to find the last time a 4-4 SEC team (Arkansas) went to the Cotton Bowl. Just throwing those out there. Similarly, they played 4 cupcakes OOC and went 8-4.

I don't disagree with your premise about last season either. It just sucks for you, because instead of Mullen recruiting with a bowl under his belt, the perception is that his team was 11th in the SEC last year. I said all year last year that the top 2 teams in the SEC were much better than everyone else, and the 12th team was much worse than everyone else. Teams 3-11 in the SEC were a logjam, and the difference between winning and losing in those match ups usually depended on match ups and breaks. Example, we pounded Arkansas pretty good. They handled you without a lot of difficulty, and you ran all over us. Another example, you beat Kentucky. UK beat Auburn. Auburn beat you. It was a cluster from teams 3-11. You can't say any of the teams individually were really better than the others. Each team had strengths and weaknesses, and whoever won head to head was determined on those strengths and weaknesses and their match ups.

 

[Rebels7]

That 3 of your "bad" teams have been to a bowl game since one of your "decent" teams.

 

[Hanmudog]

A win versus LSU would have put us at 4-4 with SEC West wins versus LSU and Ole Miss. By contrast, Ole Miss had SEC West wins versus Arkansas and LSU. By virtue of the head to head, MSU would have finished ahead of Ole Miss if not for 6 inches of grass. It would have been an interesting bowl scenario.

 

[RebelBruiser]

A win versus LSU would have put us at 4-4 with SEC West wins versus LSU and Ole Miss. By contrast, Ole Miss had SEC West wins versus Arkansas and LSU. By virtue of the head to head, MSU would have finished ahead of Ole Miss if not for 6 inches of grass. It would have been an interesting bowl scenario.

Yes, I'm sure. The Cotton would've still taken an 8-4 team over a 6-6 team, because it looks better on paper.

As I said, that's why OOC scheduling is so important. The bowl games don't give a **** who you play OOC.

You'd have likely been in the PapaJohns.com bowl last year if you had beaten LSU. If you had beaten LSU and played UNA and UAB instead of Houston and Georgia Tech, then yes you probably would've gotten the Cotton nod over us. Playing and losing to Georgia Tech and Houston would've kept you in a low tier bowl at 6-6. I'll give you an example. Two other teams finished 4-4 in the SEC last year besides us. They were UGA and UT. They were both 7-5 overall. UGA went to the Independence Bowl and UT went to the Peach. Do you think a 6-6 (4-4) MSU team would've jumped either of them in the bowl pecking order?

The biggest and primary goal with OOC play should be to schedule something to give you the best shot at going 4-0. It doesn't matter how you have to get it done. That should be the goal. The SEC TV deal makes it even less important to schedule good OOC games, because even your ****** ones have a chance to be on national or at least regional TV now. If you want to schedule a team to get exposure in a certain recruiting area, that's one thing, but it should be a secondary goal to creating an easy path to 4-0. The only advantage you gain from having a strong schedule is if you have 0 or 1 loss and are in the BCS title hunt. For schools like Ole Miss and MSU, that's not going to happen barring some super fluke, so your goal should be to schedule as easy of a 4-0 as possible.

 

[jackstefano]

But holy hell you're a fu-kin idiot. A 6-6 MSU team would'v never made it to the Cotton Bowl. I defy anyone to defend your argument here.