ND & Ark

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Have scheduled a home and home series.

Game 1 will be Sept. 12, 2020 @ Notre Dame
Game 2 will be Oct. 4, 2025 @ Arkansas

Everytime we've tried to schedule ND, they tell they would play us in South Bend and then in either Atlanta or Dallas. Why want ND ever come to Jordan-Hare?

[gr82be 14,423]

I saw the title of the thread and thought Notre Dame was building an Ark. At least they did schedule a pair of games. 

[AUwent 3,748]

Kind of OT but close enough, really wanted to ask this question:

Why couldn't we find an OOC BCS opponent in 2004? I know we were supposed to play Bowling Green (who backed out to play Oklahoma of all teams) but given that '00 and '04 were the only times this century where that happened, I'd have to (and like to) think that we tried but just couldn't find it. Also, SCREW YOU TENNESSEE FOR LOSING TO NOTRE DAME, even if I don't think think either of those things would have mattered.

I sometimes like to think about who would've been in a four team playoff that year with USCw, Okie and us. Assuming the semis were Rose and Sugar, it would've been us vs. Okie in Sugar, but who would USCw have played in Rose? Cal? Texas? Utah?

Sorry for my meditating lol.

[Strychnine 1,802]

On 7/8/2017 at 8:48 PM, AUwent said:

Kind of OT but close enough, really wanted to ask this question:

Why couldn't we find an OOC BCS opponent in 2004? I know we were supposed to play Bowling Green (who backed out to play Oklahoma of all teams) but given that '00 and '04 were the only times this century where that happened, I'd have to (and like to) think that we tried but just couldn't find it. Also, SCREW YOU TENNESSEE FOR LOSING TO NOTRE DAME, even if I don't think think either of those things would have mattered.

I sometimes like to think about who would've been in a four team playoff that year with USCw, Okie and us. Assuming the semis were Rose and Sugar, it would've been us vs. Okie in Sugar, but who would USCw have played in Rose? Cal? Texas? Utah?

Sorry for my meditating lol.

 

Most SEC programs were not regularly scheduling tough OOC opponents at that time.  That was before the SEC ripped off its string of consecutive BCS National Championships, and before the SEC Championship Game winner was all but guaranteed a BCS National Championship Game appearance.  The primary goal was winning your division, and then the conference.  Filling your schedule with cupcakes, and effectively extra bye weeks, was more conducive to that goal than playing tough OOC games for little benefit.

In 2004, Auburn was victimized by the fact that USC and Oklahoma never lost.  Auburn beat three top 10 teams (two of them quite soundly), compared to one each for USC and Oklahoma.  A better OOC opponent would have likely made little difference.  By the time the regular season was over, the die was cast, and the two teams that had been talked about all year were to be the ones playing for it all.  Auburn's more impressive resume was irrelevant.

As for the fourth team in a hypothetical 2004 playoff, Utah was the only other team that I consider to have possessed a record worthy of facing three other undefeated teams.  That said, a case could easily be made for Texas or Louisville.

[AURex 1,994]

On 7/8/2017 at 10:54 AM, auburn4ever said:

Why want ND ever come to Jordan-Hare?

For the same reason other major university football programs outside deep south neighbors want (won't?) come to Auburn. It's not that difficult to figure out. (And no, it's not because Auburn is the stadium of death.)

 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

On 7/10/2017 at 7:24 AM, Strychnine said:

In 2004, Auburn was victimized by the fact that USC and Oklahoma never lost.  Auburn beat three top 10 teams (two of them quite soundly), compared to one each for USC and Oklahoma.  A better OOC opponent would have likely made little difference.  By the time the regular season was over, the die was cast, and the two teams that had been talked about all year were to be the ones playing for it all.  Auburn's more impressive resume was irrelevant.

You hit the nail on the head. When you have two teams that sit at the favorites table, like USC and Oklahoma, with undefeated records, Auburn could have played all of their out of conference games against Power 5 teams and we would still have been on the outside looking in. The schedule was just a convenient excuse for them to use for keeping us out of the championship game.

On 7/10/2017 at 7:24 AM, Strychnine said:

As for the fourth team in a hypothetical 2004 playoff, Utah was the only other team that I consider to have possessed a record worthy of facing three other undefeated teams.  That said, a case could easily be made for Texas or Louisville.

And it would have been Texas jumping Utah, again, because they have a seat at the favorites table and they will always get that edge.

[Strychnine 1,802]

35 minutes ago, lionheartkc said:

You hit the nail on the head. When you have two teams that sit at the favorites table, like USC and Oklahoma, with undefeated records, Auburn could have played all of their out of conference games against Power 5 teams and we would still have been on the outside looking in. The schedule was just a convenient excuse for them to use for keeping us out of the championship game.

And it would have been Texas jumping Utah, again, because they have a seat at the favorites table and they will always get that edge.

 

I still remember the media storm talking up USC vs Oklahoma for the BCS Championship Game at the beginning of that season.  Auburn could have beaten Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, in addition to the regular SEC schedule, defeated Al Qaeda in their spare time, plus cured cancer, and it still would not have mattered.  The College Football Collective wanted USC vs Oklahoma to happen, and it was going to, unless one of them lost.  Of all the people that were a part of that truly special and dominant team, I think I feel the worst for Tuberville.  He makes a statement like that in response to JetGate, has his only legitimate national championship contending team, and they get left out.

I also think you are correct that Texas would have jumped Utah.  "They do not play anybody" was always what was said about Utah and Boise State back then.