Friday, October 13, 2006

Strength of Schedule

Many people are prematurely hailing the Florida schedule as "brutal" and "the toughest in the country." However, Florida's schedule doesn't even hold a candle to Notre Dame's.

Notre Dame Schedule
Georgia Tech: ACC Champion
Penn State:Big Ten
Michigan: Big Ten Champion
Michigan State: Big Ten
Purdue: Big Ten
Stanford: Pac-10
UCLA: Pac-10
Navy: Independent
North Carolina: ACC
Air Force: Mountain West Champion
Army: Independent
Southern California: Pac-10 Champion

Florida's Schedule
Southern Miss: Conference USA
Central Florida: Conference USA
Tennessee: SEC
Kentucky: SEC
Alabama: SEC
LSU: SEC
Auburn: SEC
Georgia: SEC
Vanderbilt: SEC
South Carolina: SEC
West Carolina: I-AA Southern Conference loser
Florida State: ACC basement

So, which is harder, a full slate of conference games (including Vanderbilt and Kentucky), a I-AA nobody, two Conference USA teams, and a Florida State team that could finish last in the ACC Atlantic division?

Or, a schedule against the potential champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-10, and Mountain West, a full slate of BCS teams, and the military academies?

Notre Dame gets a lot of grief from haters about scheduling the academies, but would you rather play Army or West Carolina? Navy or Central Florida? Air Force or Southern Miss? I think I know who I would pick.

Notre Dame plays the toughest schedule year-in, year-out because they play the top teams from the major conferences without often getting an opporunity to feast on the Indianas, Vanderbilts, and Baylors of the world.

The next time that Kirk Herbstreit says that Florida's schedule should be illegal, I think I might vomit. (And Kirk is usually so well-spoken - he must have a man-crush on the entire SEC)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't we play San Diego State in the near future?

Wacko said...

Yes, we4 play San Diego State, but that's an after-effect of Ty's scheduling prowess.

No way Coach Weis moves a game. Ever.

He says: "They schedule 'em, I play 'em."

Besides, I don't care who we play in 2008. I'll take the weak schedule criticism then. I just feel like we aren't getting enough credit for the difficulty of our schedule this year.

Anonymous said...

I am a big ND fan. And ND is the only team I cheer for. But I have to ask you...why do you still watch ESPN? Ever since I stopped watching that channel, I am a lot happier. No more Mark May, no more Kirk H., no more Stuart Scott. I can honestly say that I am a lot happier now that I don't have all that bullshit in my life. Try it out, you might be surprised.

Anonymous said...

Are you really joking. The SEC is the strongest conference in the land. You just can't tab all the tough SEC teams that florida plays as SEC champion because they all play one another in tough conference games. I think you should reevaluate your thinking. Wait until Florida vs. Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

Anonymous said...

back at anonymous from 7:47am Look at the standings right now at the top 10 2 big 10 teams number 1 Ohio State and number 2 Michigan and for that matter there are 2 Big East teams in there before you reach 1 sec team so you may want to rethink about the sec being the best conference.

Wacko said...

My argument was not that the SEC is not the strongest conference (it is, if you look top to bottom). However, Florida's schedule is not nearly as difficult as Notre Dame's. Florida would lose at least three games with the schedule ND has to play.