# I'm ready for College Football. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938 "2009-07-14T03:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/201 "2009-09-09T15:36:23Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Conference schedule: 3 sub-.500 teams from last year (Illinois, Mich, Indiana). The best teams on their schedule this year are Ohio State (10-2), Northwestern?? (9-3) and Iowa (8-4). Hey, now! You’re forgetting my Michigan State Spartans at 9-4 in 2008! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/202 "2009-09-09T15:45:00Z")
Purely an oversight. Go Sparty. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/203 "2009-09-09T16:02:29Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Purely an oversight. Go Sparty. Thanks. Though one of those losses was in the Bay area last year. A winnable game against a decent Cal team. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/204 "2009-09-09T16:26:00Z")
I was there. You guys never had a prayer. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/205 "2009-09-09T17:03:08Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > OK, here’s what I’m talking about, and then let’s let it go. > > Florida’s 2009 schedule: > > OOC: Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida Int’l, Florida State. That’s 3 cupcakes, and a bran muffin. > > Conference schedule includes 2 teams that were 6-6 last year and 3 teams that were below .500. The “tough games” on their slate are Georgia (9-3) and LSU and So Carolina (both 7-5). > > But so I’m not just picking on the SEC, here’s the same deal with Penn State: > > OOC: Akron, Syracuse, Temple, Eastern Illinois. Give me a break. > > Conference schedule: 3 sub-.500 teams from last year (Illinois, Mich, Indiana). The best teams on their schedule this year are Ohio State (10-2), Northwestern?? (9-3) and Iowa (8-4). Florida is an excellent example from your perspective, to be sure. That being said, they & the SEC in general aren’t scheduling any more cupcakes than any other conference. That is my point - not that their OOC scheduling is tougher. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/206 "2009-09-09T17:08:27Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Every conference has 3 teams that won’t be bowl eligible. If you beat those 3, plus you schedule 3 guaranteed-beatable OOC games…ta da. Instant winning record. That is wrong in three ways. (1) 3 + 3 = 6 and they play 12 games. That is a guaranteed .500 record, but not a winning record. (2) ACC had 10 out of 12 bowl eligible teams last year and would have had 11 if Virginia had beaten Va Tech in the last regular season game. (there was a lot of parity in the ACC last year) (3) And just because there might be 3 non-bowl eligible teams in your conference, does not mean that your team will play them all. The three major 12 team conferences (Big XII, SEC, ACC) all play 8 conference games so there are three teams within the conference that a team will not play. It would be an anomaly in the schedule to play all three teams. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/207 "2009-09-09T17:21:24Z")
You can go to a bowl game with a 6-6 record. And that “anomaly” is exactly what happened to Florida this year. Thanks to the split conference, they get 3 sub-500 teams, and miss Ole Miss and Bama. No wonder they’re a unanimous pick to go to the BCSNCG – their second string could go 11-1. But conference scheduling is what it is; no one can blame a team for how their conference schedule works out (although I will take this opportunity to trumpet the Pac-10’s round robin. Everybody plays everybody, so this conversation does not happen.) But you can fault a team for their OOC schedule. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/208 "2009-09-09T17:59:25Z")
Yes, A 6-6 record is bowl eligible but it is not a winning record. > [@](#): > > and miss Ole Miss and Bama. The SEC Champioship game may take care of that: Chances are if Florida runs the table, they will either play Bama, or Ole Miss in the SEC championship game or play LSU a second time. You need to trumpet the Big East conference as well they play a round robin too. As I indicated in above post, Florida’s OOC is somewhat hampered by the fact they play a home/home series with FSU every year. And they play Miami in a home and home fairly often. Teams that have natural rivalries with in-state OOC opponents do not have as many opportunties to play a national game. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/209 "2009-09-11T02:04:39Z")
OK…here’s Florida’s OOC road games from 1946 - 2004, not counting Miami. The amazing thing is that for most of these years, Florida played 8 or 9 homes games. Note: Georgia Tech was in the SEC from 1933 to 1973, so they don’t count as an OOC road game. 1946: North Carolina 1947: NC State 1948: Furman 1949: Tulsa 1950: none 1951: Loyola-Marymount 1952: none 1953: Rice 1954: Rice 1955: none 1956: none 1957: none 1958: UCLA (whoa!) 1959: Rice 1960: none 1961: Rice 1962: none 1963: none 1964: Florida State 1965: Northwestern 1966: Florida State, NC State 1967: none 1968: Florida State, North Carolina 1969: none 1970: Florida State 1971: none 1972: Florida State 1973: none 1974: Florida State 1975: NC State 1976: Florida State 1977: Rice 1978: Georgia Tech, Florida State 1979: Houston 1980: Georgia Tech, Florida State 1981: none 1982: Tulane 1983: USC (whoa!) 1984: Florida State 1985: none 1986: Florida State 1987: none 1988: Florida State 1989: Memphis 1990: Florida State 1991: Syracuse 1992: Florida State 1993: none 1994: Florida State 1995: none 1996: Florida State 1997: none 1998: Florida State 1999: none 2000: Florida State 2001: none 2002: Florida State 2003: none 2004: Florida State So in 59 years, they’ve ventured out of state 22 times. They’ve ventured out of the South 6 times (and that’s counting Tulsa). ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/210 "2009-09-11T02:31:06Z")
FTR, Ga Tech became Independent in 1964. what happened in years 2005-2008? And why did you leave out Miami? There are 22 road games with Miami. Most of those years they played 8 or 9 home games? Are you counting the neutral field of Jacksonville Gator Bowl (vs UGA) a home game? I can assure you, it is not a home game. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/211 "2009-09-11T02:43:59Z")
Since 1990, UF played at the most 7 games in Gainesville Michigan, on the other hand, has played as many as 8 games in Ann Arbor. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/212 "2009-09-11T03:27:16Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > FTR, Ga Tech became Independent in 1964. > > what happened in years 2005-2008? > > And why did you leave out Miami? There are 22 road games with Miami. > > Most of those years they played 8 or 9 home games? Are you counting the neutral field of Jacksonville Gator Bowl (vs UGA) a home game? I can assure you, it is not a home game. My encyclopedia stops at 2004. I left out Miami because the author of the original article blasting Florida also left out Miami, and came up with 10 road games. I wanted to see if that was right, and it wasn’t. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party may not be a home game for Florida, but it’s not a home game for Georgia, either. And just for comparison purposes: in the same time span Cal went out of state OOC 64 times. (yes, Cal has an additional opportunity because they don’t have a traditional OOC rival. But that’s precisely the point. Florida has wrapped themselves in a very comfortable cocoon of Florida State, Miami, and one visitor.) ---
**Author:** ![ReuvenB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/213 "2009-09-11T04:05:36Z")
This may sound strange, but does anyone have a recording of the Ga Tech - Clemson game? Me and my roommate got hit by the game winning field goal, and I was hoping someone had a screencap, maybe from the ESPN HD coverage. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/214 "2009-09-11T04:30:54Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Since 1990, UF played at the most 7 games in Gainesville > > Michigan, on the other hand, has played as many as 8 games in Ann Arbor. Yeah, and as Michigan fan it makes me sad. Due to the economy the football team has pretty much been told they are going to fund the entire athletic department. They were looking for an opener next year for the stadium grand reopening. The school budget is based on an 8 home game season now. They were trying to find a top opponent who wouldn’t require a return game. They screwed around so long negotiating they ended up with UConn. Technically a big six school, but a weak ass one, and they still have to play the return game. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/215 "2009-09-11T16:04:26Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > My encyclopedia stops at 2004. > > I left out Miami because the author of the original article blasting Florida also left out Miami, and came up with 10 road games. I wanted to see if that was right, and it wasn’t. > > The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party may not be a home game for Florida, but it’s not a home game for Georgia, either. > > And just for comparison purposes: in the same time span Cal went out of state OOC 64 times. (yes, Cal has an additional opportunity because they don’t have a traditional OOC rival. But that’s precisely the point. Florida has wrapped themselves in a very comfortable cocoon of Florida State, Miami, and one visitor.) I think the original article excluded FSU, not Miami. West Coast teams are going to have to go out of their 500 mile radius simply because there are not as many teams out West as there are in the East. There are 11 BCS schools in west of the Kansas/Colorado Border. Colorado + the PAC10. I figure that there are 18 BCS schools within 500 miles of Atlanta (GT, UGA, UF, FSU, Aub, Bama, Miss St, Ole Miss, Vandy, TN, UK, Va Tech, Wake, Duke, UNC, NC State, Clemson, USCarolina. Virginia might be within 500 miles and LSU is definitely within 600 miles. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/216 "2009-09-12T23:41:20Z")
Ohhh yeah, suck it ND bitches The game that wasn’t against USC that you thought you could never lose. 🙂 Go Blue, Haill the the victors baby, I said HAIL! A Little bit drunk, and between parties, I will return with more incredible insights later. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/217 "2009-09-12T23:47:50Z")
Will Charlie Weis get fired before the end of the season? I thought he did a terrible job in this game. Clausen was spot on with passes and Weis keeps calling low percentage bombs down the sidelines. Time management on Notre Dame last possession was terrible (next to last if you want to get technical). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/218 "2009-09-13T00:08:37Z")
Damn. My Spartans will not make the title game this year. They’re from the caste in which they’d have to be 12-0 to get in, and then only if fairer-haired teams have at least 2 losses. At least they lost to an NFL quarterback. Kudos to Michigan for knocking off the Irish. Also to Houston for beating Okie State. Still pulling for Big Ten to go 10-1 again. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/219 "2009-09-13T00:26:14Z")
The ND linebackers were calling UM stupid for starting a freshman QB. Who’s the stupid one now? Forcier had his way with them. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938/220 "2009-09-13T01:16:02Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Yeah, and as Michigan fan it makes me sad. Due to the economy the football team has pretty much been told they are going to fund the entire athletic department. They were looking for an opener next year for the stadium grand reopening. The school budget is based on an 8 home game season now. They were trying to find a top opponent who wouldn’t require a return game. They screwed around so long negotiating they ended up with UConn. Technically a big six school, but a weak ass one, and they still have to play the return game. A lot of the lesser opponents Michigan schedules make more a lot of money playing in the bighouse., more than they would if Mich. played them away. Mussberger is doing the USC v Ohio State game. He could make a meth freak nod off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-ready-for-college-football/502938.md?page=12)