Hanmudog said:
How do you luck into playing 2 non D-1 opponents? You can play those any day of the week. Also, if Ole Miss were truly the number 4 team in America then why the heck would you be glad about playing a weak non conference schedule?
Going back several years, I used to hate playing those type teams during the good Sherrill years. It was boring as hell.
Well, we apparently were trying to find a D-1 team for that 4th and final slot on the schedule, and we couldn't get anyone because we waited to late, so that's why I say we lucked into the easy schedule. It wasn't part of the plan. They tried to get a more difficult 4th opponent, but they couldn't get one late in the game, so we were lucky to end up with the easier schedule.
I'd prefer not to play two 1AA schools most years just because it means you have to win 7 to be bowl eligible. Honestly though if I could change one thing about our schedule, I'd replace Northern Arizona with Western Kentucky (1A cupcake), and I'd have had the game last week instead of November 7. In other words, I'd still want another cupcake, but just give me one that I can count toward bowl eligibility. That's the only difference.
But that's it. How is our schedule hurting us exactly? As of today, if we were to go undefeated, there is only 1 team that's ahead of us in both polls that could also go undefeated. So I don't see how the schedule would keep us out of a national title game, hypothetically of course.
Outside of that, rather than having Houston or Georgia Tech in the middle of our schedule that gives us an extra 2 games to have to be on top of our game, we get a chance to take a little bit of a mental break in the middle of the SEC schedule with UAB and Northern Arizona. If you ask me, that's a plus, not a negative for a team trying to put together a good run in conference play. On top of that, 10-2 with a weak OOC schedule is better for your bowl selection standing than 8-4 or 9-3 with a difficult OOC schedule if you're an SEC team.
I'm assuming we're going to win at least 7 games this year, and if we do that, then that eliminates the possibility of the OOC schedule keeping us from being bowl eligible.
And what does the weak OOC schedule have to do with us being No. 4 in the polls? If we are truly No. 4 in the country, then I'm even happier about the OOC schedule, because it allows us to not have to be at the top of our game every week in trying to maintain that position. Ask USC what it's like to play a tough OOC opponent (OSU) and then have to come back and play a conference opponent. Do you think USC would've lost to Washington if they had played Nevada the week before instead of OSU?
