Auburn Future Power Five Non-Conference Opponent(s) in 2018 & 2019

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

If it was up to Jacobs and Jacobs alone, he'd make deals with Tulane, Southern Miss., La. Tech, La Monroe, Clemson, Arkansas State and some I-AA teams.

That's completely ridiculous, just like 99.9% of your posts.

Only 99.9%? Reckon he must have made some improvement.

[augolf1716 21,101]

This year we play (IAA) Jacksonville Sate. Next year 'we'll (IAA) Alabama A&M for the second time since we beat them 51-7 for Homecoming in 2012.

I see your working on your post count again a4e

[Auburn06 76]

This year we play (IAA) Jacksonville Sate. Next year 'we'll (IAA) Alabama A&M for the second time since we beat them 51-7 for Homecoming in 2012.

I may be a little biased(graduated from JSU) but I like that Jacksonville State is on the schedule

[auburn4ever 1,266]

We should forget about scheduling Michigan and Notre Dame. Both have said they would us play in home/home series but only if we agree to play our home game in Atlanta or in Arlington.

[HarpyTrain 1]

Michigan is going to be a damn good team in the very near future. Both Big Sparty and the Suckeyes have much to worry about in the coming years. I would say adding Jim Harbaugh as head coach is going to have the exact same - if not better - outcome as the 'turds hiring Saban. So for us to play them in the future I think would be cool.

My top 5 teams from P5 conferences that I would like to see us play in the very near future are (in no particular order):

• Texas Longhorns: I think Charlie Strong will get this ship pointed in the right direction. He really lifted Louisville past Petrino-levels of good; once he gets a QB that's half decent the 'horns will be in the mix for Big12 titles.
  
• TCU Horned Frogs: Gary Patterson is a defensive mastermind and the Frogs are no joke. They've been a much better team than they've been given credit for many times over the past 5 years and they won't be falling off the map anytime soon.
  

Now of COURSE I want to see Auburn play one of these two teams as a home and home since I live in Austin :)/>

• Washington Huskies: I think Chris Peterson will have the huskies competing for Pac12 titles soon and he will outperform Sarkisian at USC.
  
• Ohio State: Hate em and I think we would pound them.
  
• Michigan State: Had friends that went :)/> Dantonio fields a top-notch defense and running game every year. When he has a seasoned QB at his disposal they are tough.
  

On a side note: It looks like despite a new head coach Boise State is still going to field a top quality team. With a new staff in place in their first game together they played Ole Miss pretty tough until the 4thQ this past year. I think it would be a great "non-pwer 5 :-\/> " matchup for us. If we scheduled Boise and Texas or OSU in the same season and happen to win the SEC despite a loss, I don't think we would be left out of a playoff.

If we play Boise it would be a neutral site game. I personally wouldn't mind going out there. It is beautiful country but I can't see Auburn doing that.

Still wouldn't mind it either way. But your absolutely right. Jay Jacobs SUCKS at scheduling quality non-conference matchups; though I will give him some props on the Cal series and the Louisville matchups. But Clemson AGAIN is idiotic and boring and he KNOWS the fans are annoyed with it. As well, I just don't buy into the whole "we're in the toughest division" crap. That may be the case now or every couple of years or so; but that's not going to be the case EVERY year and we all know it. Not to mention last year's bowl season exposed the SEC west as overrated so it ain't all that right now. Tough yes - but looking at schedules, other SEC teams do much better scheduling than we do; LSU has persistently played top-notch non-conference games and has scheduled TWO P5 games out of conference on more than one occasion over the past few seasons. South Carolina and UGA have that same situation happening in the coming years. I can't even remember the last time Auburn scheduled 2 P5 non-conference games. And more often than not we have three crap OOC games to compliment our ONE decent matchup. You keep doing that then have a season where Arkansas, A&M and the Mississippi schools revert to their normal mediocre-at-best selves and we could win the conference and find ourselves in TCU's position. But JJ looks like he just isn't going to figure it out anytime soon. :-\/>

Well scheduling also involves the coach. Gus has a hand in that as well. We don't know who they're talking to about those two years. Boise isn't in a power 5 conference so that kind of puts a crimp in that for a home and home plus their stadium is rather small. It honestly doesn't make sense to do that.

Re-read my original post: I KNOW Boise isn't a P5 team; all the more reason to schedule them with a one-off at a neutral site or invite them to Jordan-Hare (it's not like they have a habit of turning down big games). The whole point of scheduling them along with a good P5 team is because it will boost our schedule strength along with giving us another attractive game that would likely draw national media interest; at least way more than we would get by scheduling Jacksonville St, Citadel or even the "lesser" La schools.

[cooltigger21 0]

Michigan is going to be a damn good team in the very near future. Both Big Sparty and the Suckeyes have much to worry about in the coming years. I would say adding Jim Harbaugh as head coach is going to have the exact same - if not better - outcome as the 'turds hiring Saban. So for us to play them in the future I think would be cool.

My top 5 teams from P5 conferences that I would like to see us play in the very near future are (in no particular order):

• Texas Longhorns: I think Charlie Strong will get this ship pointed in the right direction. He really lifted Louisville past Petrino-levels of good; once he gets a QB that's half decent the 'horns will be in the mix for Big12 titles.
  
• TCU Horned Frogs: Gary Patterson is a defensive mastermind and the Frogs are no joke. They've been a much better team than they've been given credit for many times over the past 5 years and they won't be falling off the map anytime soon.
  

Now of COURSE I want to see Auburn play one of these two teams as a home and home since I live in Austin :)/>

• Washington Huskies: I think Chris Peterson will have the huskies competing for Pac12 titles soon and he will outperform Sarkisian at USC.
  
• Ohio State: Hate em and I think we would pound them.
  
• Michigan State: Had friends that went :)/> Dantonio fields a top-notch defense and running game every year. When he has a seasoned QB at his disposal they are tough.
  

On a side note: It looks like despite a new head coach Boise State is still going to field a top quality team. With a new staff in place in their first game together they played Ole Miss pretty tough until the 4thQ this past year. I think it would be a great "non-pwer 5 :-\/> " matchup for us. If we scheduled Boise and Texas or OSU in the same season and happen to win the SEC despite a loss, I don't think we would be left out of a playoff.

If we play Boise it would be a neutral site game. I personally wouldn't mind going out there. It is beautiful country but I can't see Auburn doing that.

Still wouldn't mind it either way. But your absolutely right. Jay Jacobs SUCKS at scheduling quality non-conference matchups; though I will give him some props on the Cal series and the Louisville matchups. But Clemson AGAIN is idiotic and boring and he KNOWS the fans are annoyed with it. As well, I just don't buy into the whole "we're in the toughest division" crap. That may be the case now or every couple of years or so; but that's not going to be the case EVERY year and we all know it. Not to mention last year's bowl season exposed the SEC west as overrated so it ain't all that right now. Tough yes - but looking at schedules, other SEC teams do much better scheduling than we do; LSU has persistently played top-notch non-conference games and has scheduled TWO P5 games out of conference on more than one occasion over the past few seasons. South Carolina and UGA have that same situation happening in the coming years. I can't even remember the last time Auburn scheduled 2 P5 non-conference games. And more often than not we have three crap OOC games to compliment our ONE decent matchup. You keep doing that then have a season where Arkansas, A&M and the Mississippi schools revert to their normal mediocre-at-best selves and we could win the conference and find ourselves in TCU's position. But JJ looks like he just isn't going to figure it out anytime soon. :-\/>

Well scheduling also involves the coach. Gus has a hand in that as well. We don't know who they're talking to about those two years. Boise isn't in a power 5 conference so that kind of puts a crimp in that for a home and home plus their stadium is rather small. It honestly doesn't make sense to do that.

Re-read my original post: I KNOW Boise isn't a P5 team; all the more reason to schedule them with a one-off at a neutral site or invite them to Jordan-Hare (it's not like they have a habit of turning down big games). The whole point of scheduling them along with a good P5 team is because it will boost our schedule strength along with giving us another attractive game that would likely draw national media interest; at least way more than we would get by scheduling Jacksonville St, Citadel or even the "lesser" La schools.

If you want to schedule a one off with them or go to Dallas or Atlanta and play them that's fine. I've got no problem with that whatsoever. I was thinking you were equating them to a Power 5 team and just schedule them not wanting to play them along with a power 5 team. My bad for misunderstanding you.

[AU-HANDLEY-TIGER 205]

Having watched Auburn football for sometime now I have lived to enjoy wins over the who's who of college football: USC, Texas, Penn State, Nebraska, Michigan, and Ohio State, the ones missing from that resume are Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

[Eisenhower_1952 87]

I would like to play USC again. Nebraska, Texas, Penn St., and Florida St. How about Northwestern, Pitt, BYU, Nevada???

[Dom1ni0n 51]

I think Michigan offered a two for one deal a few years ago, man they still think they are relevant.

On a few occasions they've pitched that ridiculous arrangement when AU has approached them for future dates, which of course AU obviously turned down. Instead, they have scheduled a home and home against Arkansas in 2018 & 2019.

Nothing like conveniently picking and choosing battles.

[HarpyTrain 1]

Michigan is going to be a damn good team in the very near future. Both Big Sparty and the Suckeyes have much to worry about in the coming years. I would say adding Jim Harbaugh as head coach is going to have the exact same - if not better - outcome as the 'turds hiring Saban. So for us to play them in the future I think would be cool.

My top 5 teams from P5 conferences that I would like to see us play in the very near future are (in no particular order):

• Texas Longhorns: I think Charlie Strong will get this ship pointed in the right direction. He really lifted Louisville past Petrino-levels of good; once he gets a QB that's half decent the 'horns will be in the mix for Big12 titles.
  
• TCU Horned Frogs: Gary Patterson is a defensive mastermind and the Frogs are no joke. They've been a much better team than they've been given credit for many times over the past 5 years and they won't be falling off the map anytime soon.
  

Now of COURSE I want to see Auburn play one of these two teams as a home and home since I live in Austin :)/>

• Washington Huskies: I think Chris Peterson will have the huskies competing for Pac12 titles soon and he will outperform Sarkisian at USC.
  
• Ohio State: Hate em and I think we would pound them.
  
• Michigan State: Had friends that went :)/> Dantonio fields a top-notch defense and running game every year. When he has a seasoned QB at his disposal they are tough.
  

On a side note: It looks like despite a new head coach Boise State is still going to field a top quality team. With a new staff in place in their first game together they played Ole Miss pretty tough until the 4thQ this past year. I think it would be a great "non-pwer 5 :-\/> " matchup for us. If we scheduled Boise and Texas or OSU in the same season and happen to win the SEC despite a loss, I don't think we would be left out of a playoff.

If we play Boise it would be a neutral site game. I personally wouldn't mind going out there. It is beautiful country but I can't see Auburn doing that.

Still wouldn't mind it either way. But your absolutely right. Jay Jacobs SUCKS at scheduling quality non-conference matchups; though I will give him some props on the Cal series and the Louisville matchups. But Clemson AGAIN is idiotic and boring and he KNOWS the fans are annoyed with it. As well, I just don't buy into the whole "we're in the toughest division" crap. That may be the case now or every couple of years or so; but that's not going to be the case EVERY year and we all know it. Not to mention last year's bowl season exposed the SEC west as overrated so it ain't all that right now. Tough yes - but looking at schedules, other SEC teams do much better scheduling than we do; LSU has persistently played top-notch non-conference games and has scheduled TWO P5 games out of conference on more than one occasion over the past few seasons. South Carolina and UGA have that same situation happening in the coming years. I can't even remember the last time Auburn scheduled 2 P5 non-conference games. And more often than not we have three crap OOC games to compliment our ONE decent matchup. You keep doing that then have a season where Arkansas, A&M and the Mississippi schools revert to their normal mediocre-at-best selves and we could win the conference and find ourselves in TCU's position. But JJ looks like he just isn't going to figure it out anytime soon. :-\/>

Well scheduling also involves the coach. Gus has a hand in that as well. We don't know who they're talking to about those two years. Boise isn't in a power 5 conference so that kind of puts a crimp in that for a home and home plus their stadium is rather small. It honestly doesn't make sense to do that.

Re-read my original post: I KNOW Boise isn't a P5 team; all the more reason to schedule them with a one-off at a neutral site or invite them to Jordan-Hare (it's not like they have a habit of turning down big games). The whole point of scheduling them along with a good P5 team is because it will boost our schedule strength along with giving us another attractive game that would likely draw national media interest; at least way more than we would get by scheduling Jacksonville St, Citadel or even the "lesser" La schools.

If you want to schedule a one off with them or go to Dallas or Atlanta and play them that's fine. I've got no problem with that whatsoever. I was thinking you were equating them to a Power 5 team and just schedule them not wanting to play them along with a power 5 team. My bad for misunderstanding you.

No worries. But yeah that's my point. JJ is a crappy scheduler and I get tired of basically 3 really soft teams + 1 or 2 teams from our conference that are inevitably having a bad season + a mid level P5 team = we have a perpetual national perception issue. At the very LEAST we should be scheduling 1 top flight OOC game from a P5 and 1 or (gasp) 2 even, high profile "group of 5" teams and NO D1-AA. Some of the non P5 teams I think we should try and schedule are teams like Boise, Fresno St, Cinci, Air Force, Houston or heck even East Carolina or Marshall. Furthermore, I don't see a problem with scheduling 1 P5 OOC game with a regional team (Ga Tech, FSU, or Clemson) as long as we supplement it with a game against a team decidedly out of our region (PSU, Arizona State, Oregon, Texas) every year. Good competition will only make us better - not playing 3-4 patsies every year.

[cooltigger21 0]

Michigan is going to be a damn good team in the very near future. Both Big Sparty and the Suckeyes have much to worry about in the coming years. I would say adding Jim Harbaugh as head coach is going to have the exact same - if not better - outcome as the 'turds hiring Saban. So for us to play them in the future I think would be cool.

My top 5 teams from P5 conferences that I would like to see us play in the very near future are (in no particular order):

• Texas Longhorns: I think Charlie Strong will get this ship pointed in the right direction. He really lifted Louisville past Petrino-levels of good; once he gets a QB that's half decent the 'horns will be in the mix for Big12 titles.
  
• TCU Horned Frogs: Gary Patterson is a defensive mastermind and the Frogs are no joke. They've been a much better team than they've been given credit for many times over the past 5 years and they won't be falling off the map anytime soon.
  

Now of COURSE I want to see Auburn play one of these two teams as a home and home since I live in Austin :)/>

• Washington Huskies: I think Chris Peterson will have the huskies competing for Pac12 titles soon and he will outperform Sarkisian at USC.
  
• Ohio State: Hate em and I think we would pound them.
  
• Michigan State: Had friends that went :)/> Dantonio fields a top-notch defense and running game every year. When he has a seasoned QB at his disposal they are tough.
  

On a side note: It looks like despite a new head coach Boise State is still going to field a top quality team. With a new staff in place in their first game together they played Ole Miss pretty tough until the 4thQ this past year. I think it would be a great "non-pwer 5 :-\/> " matchup for us. If we scheduled Boise and Texas or OSU in the same season and happen to win the SEC despite a loss, I don't think we would be left out of a playoff.

If we play Boise it would be a neutral site game. I personally wouldn't mind going out there. It is beautiful country but I can't see Auburn doing that.

Still wouldn't mind it either way. But your absolutely right. Jay Jacobs SUCKS at scheduling quality non-conference matchups; though I will give him some props on the Cal series and the Louisville matchups. But Clemson AGAIN is idiotic and boring and he KNOWS the fans are annoyed with it. As well, I just don't buy into the whole "we're in the toughest division" crap. That may be the case now or every couple of years or so; but that's not going to be the case EVERY year and we all know it. Not to mention last year's bowl season exposed the SEC west as overrated so it ain't all that right now. Tough yes - but looking at schedules, other SEC teams do much better scheduling than we do; LSU has persistently played top-notch non-conference games and has scheduled TWO P5 games out of conference on more than one occasion over the past few seasons. South Carolina and UGA have that same situation happening in the coming years. I can't even remember the last time Auburn scheduled 2 P5 non-conference games. And more often than not we have three crap OOC games to compliment our ONE decent matchup. You keep doing that then have a season where Arkansas, A&M and the Mississippi schools revert to their normal mediocre-at-best selves and we could win the conference and find ourselves in TCU's position. But JJ looks like he just isn't going to figure it out anytime soon. :-\/>

Well scheduling also involves the coach. Gus has a hand in that as well. We don't know who they're talking to about those two years. Boise isn't in a power 5 conference so that kind of puts a crimp in that for a home and home plus their stadium is rather small. It honestly doesn't make sense to do that.

Re-read my original post: I KNOW Boise isn't a P5 team; all the more reason to schedule them with a one-off at a neutral site or invite them to Jordan-Hare (it's not like they have a habit of turning down big games). The whole point of scheduling them along with a good P5 team is because it will boost our schedule strength along with giving us another attractive game that would likely draw national media interest; at least way more than we would get by scheduling Jacksonville St, Citadel or even the "lesser" La schools.

If you want to schedule a one off with them or go to Dallas or Atlanta and play them that's fine. I've got no problem with that whatsoever. I was thinking you were equating them to a Power 5 team and just schedule them not wanting to play them along with a power 5 team. My bad for misunderstanding you.

No worries. But yeah that's my point. JJ is a crappy scheduler and I get tired of basically 3 really soft teams + 1 or 2 teams from our conference that are inevitably having a bad season + a mid level P5 team = we have a perpetual national perception issue. At the very LEAST we should be scheduling 1 top flight OOC game from a P5 and 1 or (gasp) 2 even, high profile "group of 5" teams and NO D1-AA. Some of the non P5 teams I think we should try and schedule are teams like Boise, Fresno St, Cinci, Air Force, Houston or heck even East Carolina or Marshall. Furthermore, I don't see a problem with scheduling 1 P5 OOC game with a regional team (Ga Tech, FSU, or Clemson) as long as we supplement it with a game against a team decidedly out of our region (PSU, Arizona State, Oregon, Texas) every year. Good competition will only make us better - not playing 3-4 patsies every year.

The scheduling is done in concert with the head coach. Gus has a say in that.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Before JJ became AD, we'd play series with Nebraska, Texas, FSU and Georgia Tech just to name a few.

[AU64 10,122]

Michigan is going to be a damn good team in the very near future. Both Big Sparty and the Suckeyes have much to worry about in the coming years. I would say adding Jim Harbaugh as head coach is going to have the exact same - if not better - outcome as the 'turds hiring Saban. So for us to play them in the future I think would be cool.

My top 5 teams from P5 conferences that I would like to see us play in the very near future are (in no particular order):

• Texas Longhorns: I think Charlie Strong will get this ship pointed in the right direction. He really lifted Louisville past Petrino-levels of good; once he gets a QB that's half decent the 'horns will be in the mix for Big12 titles.
  
• TCU Horned Frogs: Gary Patterson is a defensive mastermind and the Frogs are no joke. They've been a much better team than they've been given credit for many times over the past 5 years and they won't be falling off the map anytime soon.
  

Now of COURSE I want to see Auburn play one of these two teams as a home and home since I live in Austin :)/>

• Washington Huskies: I think Chris Peterson will have the huskies competing for Pac12 titles soon and he will outperform Sarkisian at USC.
  
• Ohio State: Hate em and I think we would pound them.
  
• Michigan State: Had friends that went :)/> Dantonio fields a top-notch defense and running game every year. When he has a seasoned QB at his disposal they are tough.
  

On a side note: It looks like despite a new head coach Boise State is still going to field a top quality team. With a new staff in place in their first game together they played Ole Miss pretty tough until the 4thQ this past year. I think it would be a great "non-pwer 5 :-\/> " matchup for us. If we scheduled Boise and Texas or OSU in the same season and happen to win the SEC despite a loss, I don't think we would be left out of a playoff.

If we play Boise it would be a neutral site game. I personally wouldn't mind going out there. It is beautiful country but I can't see Auburn doing that.

Still wouldn't mind it either way. But your absolutely right. Jay Jacobs SUCKS at scheduling quality non-conference matchups; though I will give him some props on the Cal series and the Louisville matchups. But Clemson AGAIN is idiotic and boring and he KNOWS the fans are annoyed with it. As well, I just don't buy into the whole "we're in the toughest division" crap. That may be the case now or every couple of years or so; but that's not going to be the case EVERY year and we all know it. Not to mention last year's bowl season exposed the SEC west as overrated so it ain't all that right now. Tough yes - but looking at schedules, other SEC teams do much better scheduling than we do; LSU has persistently played top-notch non-conference games and has scheduled TWO P5 games out of conference on more than one occasion over the past few seasons. South Carolina and UGA have that same situation happening in the coming years. I can't even remember the last time Auburn scheduled 2 P5 non-conference games. And more often than not we have three crap OOC games to compliment our ONE decent matchup. You keep doing that then have a season where Arkansas, A&M and the Mississippi schools revert to their normal mediocre-at-best selves and we could win the conference and find ourselves in TCU's position. But JJ looks like he just isn't going to figure it out anytime soon. :-\/>

Well scheduling also involves the coach. Gus has a hand in that as well. We don't know who they're talking to about those two years. Boise isn't in a power 5 conference so that kind of puts a crimp in that for a home and home plus their stadium is rather small. It honestly doesn't make sense to do that.

Re-read my original post: I KNOW Boise isn't a P5 team; all the more reason to schedule them with a one-off at a neutral site or invite them to Jordan-Hare (it's not like they have a habit of turning down big games). The whole point of scheduling them along with a good P5 team is because it will boost our schedule strength along with giving us another attractive game that would likely draw national media interest; at least way more than we would get by scheduling Jacksonville St, Citadel or even the "lesser" La schools.

If you want to schedule a one off with them or go to Dallas or Atlanta and play them that's fine. I've got no problem with that whatsoever. I was thinking you were equating them to a Power 5 team and just schedule them not wanting to play them along with a power 5 team. My bad for misunderstanding you.

No worries. But yeah that's my point. JJ is a crappy scheduler and I get tired of basically 3 really soft teams + 1 or 2 teams from our conference that are inevitably having a bad season + a mid level P5 team = we have a perpetual national perception issue. At the very LEAST we should be scheduling 1 top flight OOC game from a P5 and 1 or (gasp) 2 even, high profile "group of 5" teams and NO D1-AA. Some of the non P5 teams I think we should try and schedule are teams like Boise, Fresno St, Cinci, Air Force, Houston or heck even East Carolina or Marshall. Furthermore, I don't see a problem with scheduling 1 P5 OOC game with a regional team (Ga Tech, FSU, or Clemson) as long as we supplement it with a game against a team decidedly out of our region (PSU, Arizona State, Oregon, Texas) every year. Good competition will only make us better - not playing 3-4 patsies every year.

The scheduling is done in concert with the head coach. Gus has a say in that.

Shhh....people don't want to hear that.....it's more fun to blame JJ than to consider that maybe Gus or some previous HCs figured the SEC was tough enough without making more trips to Southern Cal or Texas.

[PatBoCamRob 30]

Oregon. We could charge ESPN like a bajillion dollars to air that one. Plus, I really want to travel there. Their stadium looks like a sombrero.

[gAUlf 1]

Why are people still crying about Clemson. Yall do realize they're gonna be a top 10 team most likely right? And we do recruit against them quite a bit. They'll travel much better than Cal or any team out west, and personally I'm looking forward to getting a little pay back.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

What's wrong with Auburn going out to play Cal or having come to AU? I remember UT and UCLA playing each other a lot in the 70s and 80s. It turned out to be a very good series for both teams. The same can be said for another good series with Penn State and UAT.

[cooltigger21 0]

Why are people still crying about Clemson. Yall do realize they're gonna be a top 10 team most likely right? And we do recruit against them quite a bit. They'll travel much better than Cal or any team out west, and personally I'm looking forward to getting a little pay back.

I don't mind every so often but not all the time.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

We've played Clemson 4, 5 or 6 times in the pat few years. I'd uch rather see us play Cal for 2 games then keep Clemson every other year.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

Why are people still crying about Clemson. Yall do realize they're gonna be a top 10 team most likely right? And we do recruit against them quite a bit. They'll travel much better than Cal or any team out west, and personally I'm looking forward to getting a little pay back.

Variety is all.

[msza 228]

Can someone illuminate why UM and ND are so reluctant to come to Jordan-Hare? Are they saying they have more clout than us or is it an issue with facilities/accoutrements?

[Tiger 8,818]

I find it asinine that UM or ND would refuse to come to AU seeing as AU has been the better program than both of those schools over the last 5 years.

[AURex 1,992]

There's more to it than that. For people coming from a long distance, it's hard to get to Auburn. You can't just fly in. You have to fly to B'ham or Atlanta, rent a car and drive a long way, lodging is limited and there's no real reason to stay for any length of time. If Auburn plays Cal, it's easy to fly into SF or Oakland, and make a holiday of it, spend some time in SF or wine country.

[msza 228]

Interesting -- that makes a lot of sense.

That kinda makes me wonder what sort of hurdle that would be to AU moving up into the top tier of the sport. Seems like most metrics have us placed around 15th, give or take a few spots, in the 'greatest programs' debate. I wonder if there are any teams ahead of us that face similar geographic challenges. I'd bet not many, as the ease in which other top programs can visit may actually be a pretty crucial part of sealing that elite status. UA is really the only one I can think of that may be an exception, and they are, what, an hour from Birmingham?

[gAUlf 1]

Interesting -- that makes a lot of sense.

That kinda makes me wonder what sort of hurdle that would be to AU moving up into the top tier of the sport. Seems like most metrics have us placed around 15th, give or take a few spots, in the 'greatest programs' debate. I wonder if there are any teams ahead of us that face similar geographic challenges. I'd bet not many, as the ease in which other top programs can visit may actually be a pretty crucial part of sealing that elite status. UA is really the only one I can think of that may be an exception, and they are, what, an hour from Birmingham?

It depends on who your top 10 list consist of. South Bend is about the same time driving distance to Chicago as Auburn is to Atlanta. Norman, Oklahoma is just south of Oklahoma City but it's not like that is a prefered travel destination for many vacationers. Notre Dame has not had a problem playing there in the past though. Not much around Ann Arbor, Michigan either. Unless you want to take the kids to Detroit to look at all the plight..."Roll em up!". You already mentioned nothing around Tuscaloosa. State College, PA is as about as remote as Starkville is. Most teams that play Auburn either fly into Montgomery or Columbus, both of which are about 40 minute drives. That can't be much more of a challenge than any other school I would imagine. Really Texas and USC would be the only consensus "top 10" school that I would consider and easy place to travel for teams and have some extra entertainment for the traveling fan base. But I recall having friends telling me it took forever to get from LAX to their hotel when we played in LA due to the insane traffic.

[cooltigger21 0]

I think a lot of it is perception. Also I think ND and Michigan consider going to play Auburn in Auburn about like Auburn considers going to a place like LA Tech. Maybe that's a bit extreme but they don't consider Auburn a worthy place to go and play. They'll give us a neutral site game but they are too good to come here. It's rather funny considering how mediocre and even pitiful UM and ND have been in the past 20 years or so. I think the fans would like it. Heck ND fans will go anywhere to watch the Irish play. The fan base actually was in favor of a matchup between AU and ND in the Music City Bowl. Granted that's not the same as going to Auburn but I still think it's more of an inflated ego thing with the administration at both schools.