"Toughest Schedule in America"

[aubaseball 2,588]

3 minutes ago, AURealist said:

If we're SEC Champ, we're going to the show.  If we don't win the SEC West, we're not going.  Period.  No OOC game affects that.  

To win the west usually requires  no conference or only one conference lose.   Another very good opponent only helps in strengthening rating of the schedule (win or lose).   If Auburn had beaten GA in SECCG two years ago, it would have made the playoffs.   Only time a two lose team would have been in the playoffs 

[Tiger 8,818]

6 minutes ago, AURealist said:

If we're SEC Champ, we're going to the show.  If we don't win the SEC West, we're not going.  Period.  No OOC game affects that.  

Exactly, so why even throw in a potential loss outside of the SEC to potentially muck things up. We could be a 2 loss SEC champ (1 OOC loss and 1 conference loss) and if things break right -- or wrong, in our case -- we could be left out if there are multiple undefeated/1 loss teams. Probably unlikely, but why even invite that possible outcome? I'm not saying schedule school of the blind and deaf but a UNC caliber opponent seems like a smarter bet. Teams in the Pac12, Big12, ACC, and Big 10 need to have these big OOC games to bolster their SOS. We are fortunate that we don't have to do that. I get what you're saying that it doesn't matter if we win the SECCG anyway so why not just put a national brand name in our OOC schedule but to me it doesn't seem necessary.

[bigbird 60,440]

I'd be glad to keep scheduling P5 teams. Give me Syracuse, Duke, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Pitt, Wake Forest, Boston college, Colorado, or Arizona. 

[DAG 33,957]

1 hour ago, AUDevil said:

The difficulty of our SEC schedule means we shouldn't bother scheduling elite power 5 teams.  If we're going to play UGA and another SEC East power like UF, then maybe don't schedule Oregon...maybe schedule Duke instead. 

Well we scheduled Oregon back in 2015 when the sky was the limit. UGA wasn’t perceived as strong. But you get your wish. We have UNC next year. We also scheduled Baylor after that but OOPS look like they are becoming very credible all of a sudden. I am one of the fans that enjoy quality OOC games. Gives me something to look forward to. 

[AURealist 2,185]

I'd still rather play the big names in games even non-fans will watch.  Builds the brand.  

[DAG 33,957]

So it looks like we play Penn state, Cal, Baylor then UCLA. 

[oracle79 3,569]

16 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I'd be glad to keep scheduling P5 teams. Give me Syracuse, Duke, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Pitt, Wake Forest, Boston college, Colorado, or Arizona. 

Exactly. Schedule smarter, not harder.

[DAG 33,957]

7 minutes ago, AURealist said:

I'd still rather play the big names in games even non-fans will watch.  Builds the brand.  

I think that. I also think it gives credibility too. Like if we had played Arizona State this year and beat them , that would’ve almost been a negative to this team’s accomplishment. Nobody would care. People are already diminishing  the aggies defeat. 

[AUApostle 7,651]

13 minutes ago, DAG said:

Well we scheduled Oregon back in 2015 when the sky was the limit. UGA wasn’t perceived as strong. But you get your wish. We have UNC next year. We also scheduled Baylor after that but OOPS look like they are becoming very credible all of a sudden. I am one of the fans that enjoy quality OOC games. Gives me something to look forward to. 

Cool, but we already have 4-5 low win % games to look forward to...more than any other team.  I'd love to play Oklahoma, etc...but lets cut UGA loose or some other SEC power.  We like winning championships more than pumping our chest about who we play, right?

[AUApostle 7,651]

1 hour ago, AURealist said:

Absolutely not.  Playing teams like Oregon give us a wider audience and more credibility as a top-level team.   Watering down the schedule may result in more wins, but who cares about beating Duke?    I say we work on games vs ND, Michigan, USC, OSU..., or any team that will make for a fun game to to watch and an opportunity spread the Auburn gospel into new markets.  As it is, we already play plenty of nothing games against nobodies.  Two Mississippi schools, Arkansas and Samford?  Who watches those outside of the immediate area and who cares?  

You know what gives us a wider market?  Playing against those team in the Playoffs!  Swap our schedule with bama's and there is a real possibility we're looking at 11-1 and a solid chance to make the Playoffs this year.

[AU64 10,122]

24 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I'd be glad to keep scheduling P5 teams. Give me Syracuse, Duke, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Pitt, Wake Forest, Boston college, Colorado, or Arizona. 

Yep.....there are plenty of "good" Power 5 opponents out there to fill in that slot.....until the SEC bows to pressure and requires  9 conference games instead of 8.  

Meanwhile, we've picked up some west coast games that should be interesting and give the national exposure. 

[DAG 33,957]

1 minute ago, AUDevil said:

Cool, but we already have 4-5 low win % games to look forward to...more than any other team.  I'd love to play Oklahoma, etc...but lets cut UGA loose or some other SEC power.  We like winning championships more than pumping our chest about who we play, right?

Your funny. We aren’t winning championships when you can’t do the little things right . And no it’s an utter ridiculous thing to cut a long time rival like UGA. Like I said I don’t know what happen to this fanbase where we are begging to play the Syracuse’s of the world or wanting to run away from UGA. Those our culture games. It is very meaningful. 

[Zeek 16,635]

29 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I'd be glad to keep scheduling P5 teams. Give me Syracuse, Duke, Northwestern, Illinois, Kansas, Pitt, Wake Forest, Boston college, Colorado, or Arizona. 

This. It’s what our peers typically do. Looks good enough on the resume. 

[DAG 33,957]

5 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

You know what gives us a wider market?  Playing against those team in the Playoffs!  Swap our schedule with bama's and there is a real possibility we're looking at 11-1 and a solid chance to make the Playoffs this year.

You think if we lose to LSU we would get the same benefit of a doubt Bama got? Get real. They got that benefit of a doubt because they are Bama. For one thing Bama already started high in the polls. We wouldn’t have been ranked much higher beating Duke. 

[AUApostle 7,651]

Just now, DAG said:

And no it’s an utter ridiculous thing to cut a long time rival like UGA. Like I said I don’t know what happen to this fanbase where we are begging to play the Syracuse’s of the world or wanting to run away from UGA. Those our culture games. It is very meaningful. 

Exactly...so the elite P5 opponent needs to go!  We're doing ourselves no favor.

[AUApostle 7,651]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

You think if we lose to LSU we would get the same benefit of a doubt Bama got? Get real. They got that benefit of a doubt because they are Bama. 

A 1 loss SEC team always has a chance to make the playoffs.

[AURealist 2,185]

5 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

You know what gives us a wider market?  Playing against those team in the Playoffs!  Swap our schedule with bama's and there is a real possibility we're looking at 11-1 and a solid chance to make the Playoffs this year.

We won the one game that applies to this discussion that we could change.  We're going to always play UGA and UF was the luck of the draw.  In reality, we were one pick-six closer to 8-4.  

[DAG 33,957]

2 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

A 1 loss SEC team always has a chance to make the playoffs.

we wouldn't have been a 1 loss SEC team. We loss to LSU and UGA unless you just all of a sudden want to get rid of the Deep South old rivalry? 

So like Alabama, we would've loss to two of the only rank teams we played. The only difference is, we don't get the benefit Alabama gets. Again next year, the schedule is soft. You still going to have to beat LSU, UGA, Bama at the end of the day. 

[AUApostle 7,651]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

we wouldn't have been a 1 loss SEC team. We loss to LSU and UGA unless you just all of a sudden want to get rid of the Deep South old rivalry? 

So like Alabama, we would've loss to two of the only rank teams we played. The only difference is, we don't get the benefit Alabama gets. Again next year, the schedule is soft. You still going to have to beat LSU, UGA, Bama at the end of the day. 

I said if we swapped schedules with bama

[DAG 33,957]

Just now, AUDevil said:

I said if we swapped schedules with bama

Okay but you realize we keep our long time rivals right? So not only are you advocating to schedule a weak power 5 conference foe, but you also want to get rid of playing UGA too. It doesn't work that way. 

[AUApostle 7,651]

6 minutes ago, AURealist said:

We won the one game that applies to this discussion that we could change. 

A disadvantage is that playing elite teams exposes our team's weaknesses earlier in the season and opens us up to more injuries because they're typically more physical games.

[AUApostle 7,651]

2 minutes ago, DAG said:

Okay but you realize we keep our long time rivals right? So not only are you advocating to schedule a weak power 5 conference foe, but you also want to get rid of playing UGA too. It doesn't work that way. 

I'm not advocating that...I'm saying that a weaker schedule means an easier path to the playoffs.  So if we're going to play 3-5 extremely tough conference games, there is absolutely no need to make life harder by playing an elite OOC game...unless its in the playoffs.  Clemson says, "yo what's up"

[AURealist 2,185]

Just now, AUDevil said:

A disadvantage is that playing elite teams exposes our team's weaknesses earlier in the season and opens us up to more injuries because they're typically more physical games.

Ok.  Completely new excuse reason to water down the schedule.  I agree that better teams can be more physical, but injuries can happen any time, anywhere.     

[AURealist 2,185]

2 minutes ago, AUDevil said:

I'm not advocating that...I'm saying that a weaker schedule means an easier path to the playoffs.  So if we're going to play 3-5 extremely tough conference games, there is absolutely no need to make life harder by playing an elite OOC game...unless its in the playoffs.  Clemson says, "yo what's up"

Clemson wins their conference and goes to the show.  If we win ours, we go.     

[DAG 33,957]

Just now, AUDevil said:

I'm not advocating that...I'm saying that a weaker schedule means an easier path to the playoffs.  So if we're going to play 3-5 extremely tough conference games, there is absolutely no need to make life harder by playing an elite OOC game...unless its in the playoffs.  Clemson says, "yo what's up"

So again, even if our OOC schedule looked like Texas A&M, we would still have to beat UGA, LSU, Alabama. PERIOD.  We are not getting to the playoffs until we learn how to handle that. LSU, if they win out, will arguably be considered one of the best teams to do it because they ran the gauntlet. Beat UFA, beat Bama, Beat US, probably will beat UGA. Beat UT (Even though they did not live up to their potential at all). Then they have to win in the playoffs. They aren't complaining over there at tiger droppings about the schedule. 

 

People always point to Clemson, but Clemson finds a way to win BIG games majority of the time. Clemson is 9-1 against the SEC since 2016 I believe.