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Out of Conference Schedule


Randman5000

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It was only 10 years ago that playing teams like Mercer cost a shot at the championship.

I don't recall that ever happening.

We played Citadel that year and beat them 33 to 3. The thinking was playing a Division I-AA school like that hurt our ratings and knocked us out of the BCS championship.

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It was only 10 years ago that playing teams like Mercer cost a shot at the championship.

I don't recall that ever happening.

We played Citadel that year and beat them 33 to 3. The thinking was playing a Division I-AA school like that hurt our ratings and knocked us out of the BCS championship.

I know we played The Citadel that year. No it wasn't "the thinking was". It was the ONLY talking point the media could use to justify us not jumping over the other two teams. Even with the Citadel on the schedule Auburn's schedule was light years tougher than the other two programs. Playing the Citadel had NOTHING to do with us not playing for a title. The fact that the Pre-season Ranked #1 and #2 teams NEVER LOST is why we didn't play for a title. Remember 2008? Florida won the National Title and they played The Citadel.

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I think that after watching what happened to us in 2004 and what happened to Baylor/TCU this year that it is ABSOLUTELY STUPID to schedule Mercer. WE are NOT considered a "traditional power" by the biased media types, period; end of story, get over it. As such, we NEED to think a lot more critically about NOT EVER scheduling a I-AA school of any kind ever. Furthermore, because of our stature we SHOULD NOT be content with scheduling ONLY 1 P5 OOC game. Hanging our hats on the "we play in the toughest division in college football" is both short-sighted and HIGHLY debatable - particularly by the talking heads. Furthermore, this idiotic scheduling of adding a I-AA school completely negates the addition of a P5. I can guarantee, with the Pac12, B1G AND Big12 ALL playing 9 conference games AND scheduling a P5 OOC game, WE WILL get screwed over one of these times because of it. I can also guarantee that 'Bama, thUGA, LSU, or Florida DO NOT have to worry about that because of their cachet. But WE need to think about it. I also firmly believe that it toughens the team up to play tough games. These cupcake schedules do nothing for our young guys that they couldn't get out of a good scrimmage. If we want to sell to top recruits, then we need to tell them they are not only playing in a tough conference, but they are also going to get to play NAME BRAND teams OUT of conference as well. I applaud the decision to play Louisville next year; but the rest of the OOC games are garbage and not worth our time. I see no reason why we couldn't follow the Longhorns example in 2015: they went out and scheduled Notre Dame AND Cal along with their 9 game conference schedule. And I don't wanna hear the "we play in a better conf" crap. Aside from the top 4 teams in the SEC this year the rest were lowsy-mediocre. The Big 12 was not far off in quality of play this year. So for Texas to schedule those two teams is very admirable for a team that has traditionally been pretty soft about their OOC games. It would be nice for us to do the same - its something we could actually be proud of as fans.

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Doubt we'll have a problem in the SEC with needing OOC boosts, but Mercer? Do they even play football?

Admittedly, I had to re-read the OP because I thought this was an OOC game for men's hoops.

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I would prefer to see a cellar dwellar power 5 team here, or at least a perennial bowl team from C-USA or the MAC.

outside of Boise St, I don't think a perennial bowl team from the group of 5 exists

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I think that after watching what happened to us in 2004 and what happened to Baylor/TCU this year that it is ABSOLUTELY STUPID to schedule Mercer. WE are NOT considered a "traditional power" by the biased media types, period; end of story, get over it. As such, we NEED to think a lot more critically about NOT EVER scheduling a I-AA school of any kind ever. Furthermore, because of our stature we SHOULD NOT be content with scheduling ONLY 1 P5 OOC game. Hanging our hats on the "we play in the toughest division in college football" is both short-sighted and HIGHLY debatable - particularly by the talking heads. Furthermore, this idiotic scheduling of adding a I-AA school completely negates the addition of a P5. I can guarantee, with the Pac12, B1G AND Big12 ALL playing 9 conference games AND scheduling a P5 OOC game, WE WILL get screwed over one of these times because of it. I can also guarantee that 'Bama, thUGA, LSU, or Florida DO NOT have to worry about that because of their cachet. But WE need to think about it. I also firmly believe that it toughens the team up to play tough games. These cupcake schedules do nothing for our young guys that they couldn't get out of a good scrimmage. If we want to sell to top recruits, then we need to tell them they are not only playing in a tough conference, but they are also going to get to play NAME BRAND teams OUT of conference as well. I applaud the decision to play Louisville next year; but the rest of the OOC games are garbage and not worth our time. I see no reason why we couldn't follow the Longhorns example in 2015: they went out and scheduled Notre Dame AND Cal along with their 9 game conference schedule. And I don't wanna hear the "we play in a better conf" crap. Aside from the top 4 teams in the SEC this year the rest were lowsy-mediocre. The Big 12 was not far off in quality of play this year. So for Texas to schedule those two teams is very admirable for a team that has traditionally been pretty soft about their OOC games. It would be nice for us to do the same - its something we could actually be proud of as fans.

???"Something to be proud of"??? Few questions...

We have a spot between Louisville and LSU next year. Which team would you like to see replace Jacksonville State?

Same for the spot (homecoming) between Georgia and Alabama. Take Idaho out and pick the level of competition needed in your eyes?

Just looking at the top 10 teams in the final playoff poll you will see Ohio State is the only team to not schedule outside of FBS. The other argument is most of the FCS schools would have beaten Ohio States opponent which was Kent State. (Mercer is FCS)

List of opponents played by the top 10 starting with Alabama and working down.

Western Carolina ***see note below about being a good luck charm***

South Dakota

Citadel

Kent State (FBS)

Northwestern State

Samford

UT Martin

Jacksonville State

Presbyterian

UTSA

If anyone believes in good luck charms (which I do not), it would seem that scheduling Western Carolina or Chattanooga gives you a leg up into the National Title picture. These two teams have been scheduled 6 of the last 8 years by at least one of the two Title game participants. (maybe 7 out of 9 after this year)

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I would prefer to see a cellar dwellar power 5 team here, or at least a perennial bowl team from C-USA or the MAC.

outside of Boise St, I don't think a perennial bowl team from the group of 5 exists

northern illinois has 7 or 8 bowls in a row. They would be the only other maybe respected non P5 team, not counting byu obviously.
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History of FBS vs FCS http://www.footballgeography.com/history-of-fbs-i-a-vs-fcs-i-aa/

Just for giggles on upsets since 2000

2000 Appalachian St. (NC) at Wake Forest (NC) ACC W 20-16

2002 Villanova (PA) at Rutgers (NJ) Big East W 37-19

2003 Villanova (PA) at Temple (PA) Big East W 23-20

2004 Maine at Mississippi St. SEC W 9-7

2004 New Hampshire at Rutgers (NJ) Big East W 35-24

2005 California-Davis at Stanford (CA) Pac-12 W 20-17

2006 Montana St. at Colorado Big 12 W 19-10

2006 New Hampshire at Northwestern (IL) Big Ten W 34-17

2006 Richmond (VA) at Duke (NC) ACC W 13-0

2006 Southern Illinois at Indiana Big Ten W 35-28

2007 Appalachian St. (NC) at Michigan (AP# 5) Big Ten W 34-32

2007 North Dakota St. at Minnesota Big Ten W 27-21

2007 Northern Iowa at Iowa St. Big 12 W 24-13

2009 Richmond (VA) at Duke (NC) ACC W 24-16

2009 William & Mary (VA) at Virginia ACC W 26-14

2010 Jacksonville St. (AL) at Mississippi SEC W 49-48

2010 James Madison (VA) at Virginia Tech (AP# 13) ACC W 21-16

2010 North Dakota St. at Kansas Big 12 W 6-3

2010 South Dakota at Minnesota Big Ten W 41-38

2011 Cal St.-Sacramento at Oregon St. Pac-12 W 29-28

2011 North Dakota St. at Minnesota Big Ten W 37-24

2011 Richmond (VA) at Duke (NC) ACC W 23-21

2012 Cal St.-Sacramento at Colorado Pac-12 W 30-28

2012 Youngstown St. (OH) at Pittsburgh Big East W 31-17

2013 Eastern Washington at Oregon St. (AP# 25) Pac-12 W 49-46

2013 Fordham (NY) at Temple (PA) AAC W 30-29

2013 Georgia Southern at Florida SEC W 26-20

2013 McNeese St. (LA) at South Florida AAC W 53-21

2013 North Dakota St. at Kansas St. Big 12 W 24-21

2013 Northern Iowa at Iowa St. Big 12 W 28-20

2013 Towson (MD) at Connecticut AAC W 33-18

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I think that after watching what happened to us in 2004 and what happened to Baylor/TCU this year that it is ABSOLUTELY STUPID to schedule Mercer. WE are NOT considered a "traditional power" by the biased media types, period; end of story, get over it. As such, we NEED to think a lot more critically about NOT EVER scheduling a I-AA school of any kind ever. Furthermore, because of our stature we SHOULD NOT be content with scheduling ONLY 1 P5 OOC game. Hanging our hats on the "we play in the toughest division in college football" is both short-sighted and HIGHLY debatable - particularly by the talking heads. Furthermore, this idiotic scheduling of adding a I-AA school completely negates the addition of a P5. I can guarantee, with the Pac12, B1G AND Big12 ALL playing 9 conference games AND scheduling a P5 OOC game, WE WILL get screwed over one of these times because of it. I can also guarantee that 'Bama, thUGA, LSU, or Florida DO NOT have to worry about that because of their cachet. But WE need to think about it. I also firmly believe that it toughens the team up to play tough games. These cupcake schedules do nothing for our young guys that they couldn't get out of a good scrimmage. If we want to sell to top recruits, then we need to tell them they are not only playing in a tough conference, but they are also going to get to play NAME BRAND teams OUT of conference as well. I applaud the decision to play Louisville next year; but the rest of the OOC games are garbage and not worth our time. I see no reason why we couldn't follow the Longhorns example in 2015: they went out and scheduled Notre Dame AND Cal along with their 9 game conference schedule. And I don't wanna hear the "we play in a better conf" crap. Aside from the top 4 teams in the SEC this year the rest were lowsy-mediocre. The Big 12 was not far off in quality of play this year. So for Texas to schedule those two teams is very admirable for a team that has traditionally been pretty soft about their OOC games. It would be nice for us to do the same - its something we could actually be proud of as fans.

I can nod to most of this here. Except, don't completely abandon the I-AA teams. They will never thrive without the FBS green handshakes. If FCS teams are to be scheduled, at then I would prefer one the caliber of Appy State or NDSU, or either an in-state opponent more often than not.

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I would prefer to see a cellar dwellar power 5 team here, or at least a perennial bowl team from C-USA or the MAC.

outside of Boise St, I don't think a perennial bowl team from the group of 5 exists

Before Ellis' eggshell in '12, USM had a winning season going back to the mid 90's. Went bowling in 14 out of 15 of those seasons against schedules that typically alternated between 6 and 7 road games every other season.

This is a solid team that can dot the schedule every 5 to 7 seasons.

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I think that after watching what happened to us in 2004 and what happened to Baylor/TCU this year that it is ABSOLUTELY STUPID to schedule Mercer. WE are NOT considered a "traditional power" by the biased media types, period; end of story, get over it. As such, we NEED to think a lot more critically about NOT EVER scheduling a I-AA school of any kind ever. Furthermore, because of our stature we SHOULD NOT be content with scheduling ONLY 1 P5 OOC game. Hanging our hats on the "we play in the toughest division in college football" is both short-sighted and HIGHLY debatable - particularly by the talking heads. Furthermore, this idiotic scheduling of adding a I-AA school completely negates the addition of a P5. I can guarantee, with the Pac12, B1G AND Big12 ALL playing 9 conference games AND scheduling a P5 OOC game, WE WILL get screwed over one of these times because of it. I can also guarantee that 'Bama, thUGA, LSU, or Florida DO NOT have to worry about that because of their cachet. But WE need to think about it. I also firmly believe that it toughens the team up to play tough games. These cupcake schedules do nothing for our young guys that they couldn't get out of a good scrimmage. If we want to sell to top recruits, then we need to tell them they are not only playing in a tough conference, but they are also going to get to play NAME BRAND teams OUT of conference as well. I applaud the decision to play Louisville next year; but the rest of the OOC games are garbage and not worth our time. I see no reason why we couldn't follow the Longhorns example in 2015: they went out and scheduled Notre Dame AND Cal along with their 9 game conference schedule. And I don't wanna hear the "we play in a better conf" crap. Aside from the top 4 teams in the SEC this year the rest were lowsy-mediocre. The Big 12 was not far off in quality of play this year. So for Texas to schedule those two teams is very admirable for a team that has traditionally been pretty soft about their OOC games. It would be nice for us to do the same - its something we could actually be proud of as fans.

Auburn = SOS #1 in 2014, and played Samford (which is in the same conference as Mercer and only won by 3 pts at home so that is my friends a wash). As for playing Mercer well I guess it is a shame to help out the little guys from time to time. Who knows what the conversations were like with other schools

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All top 10 opponents is their first choice. Any other is, at best, settling for second best. If Auburn cannot pull in all top ten opponents, it is a failure. That's how I see it.

Hahaha.

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Why don't we play Memphis or Tulane? We are down in those series. It would be nice to even them up.

Surely you can't be serious. If so, let's not speak of this in hostile circles. Regardless of the strange circumstances, that sounds super embarassing.

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Why don't we play Memphis or Tulane? We are down in those series. It would be nice to even them up.

if we do one, make it Tulane. They were SEC and even won the sec a few times way back in the day.
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WIN the SEC and you are in. Class dismissed

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