Yet another reason why I think Michigan is a weak Football program.

This is a typical Fielding Yost move.

Go get em Regional State School Football team!

If you can't beat 'em, fight their younger brother!

Woot Woot.
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 6:27 pm | #

Michigan's 1-AA fetish aside, still I vote for JoePa as King Cupcake: in 2007, Penn State plays Buffalo, FIU and Temple. Are you frickin' kidding me??? THOSE THREE TEAMS WERE 3-33 THIS YEAR!!!

That's pathetic.
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 6:38 pm | #

"This is...OUR HOUSE"

Great win over Marquette (nickname: the angry creans). Very pleasing to see the education of a coach in Mike Brey. He has found that he can use his bench and trust freshmen. Harangody and Jackson were superb.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 7:03 pm | #

Andy dead on! It's was awesome to see the gritt and emotion especially from the frosh! When Harangody got shoved at the end it was just the cherry on the sundae, maybe sour grapes. Jackson's put back of his missed FT was the cherry. Great to see the Fight back inthe Fighting Irish!

Not a big surprise with UM If I did't know better I'd thought regional michigans were D-IAA anyway.
Domer Dan | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 7:22 pm | #

I wonder if they will have to designate that particular Saturday as something like "Bo Schembechler Day" (everybody gets a genuine plastic souvenir cup!) in order to not have 35,000 empty seats? If Notre Dame were to ever pull such a stunt, I would hope for 50,000 no-shows.

Unrelated: Watched some of the Combine on the NFL Network today and BQQB showed tremendous strength by benching 225 lbs for 24 reps. The comment of the day goes to NFL Network's Jamie Dukes for saying that a shirtless Brady Quinn didn't just have six-pak abs, but rather a 12-pak. Also, Santucci looked good. Ran the 40 in 5.06 and weighed in at 301.
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 7:40 pm | #

Hey, you didn't mention Application States' one legged kicker, Hop Skipjump.
Schwap | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 7:46 pm | #

or was it Skip Hopjump
Schwap | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 7:47 pm | #

Actually, App State is the TWO-TIME defending 1-AA National Champs and, probably, the best team in North Carolina last year (including the Panthers).

They actually played NC State tough and probably could have won if a break or two went their way.

This isn't an apology for Michigan (I personally can't stand the cupcake rule that Myles Brand put in place for NCAA football) but rather a bit of a trumpet blowing for App State.

It'd be great if they could pull the upset, though.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 8:31 pm | #

Matt, I must retort. Maybe the game was different in person, or live, or whatever, but App State had a grand total of 133 yards against the Wolfpack.

Michigan's going to kill them, and it won't be close. If the 'Eers somehow pull it off, we should all prepare ourselves for the Rapture.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 9:21 pm | #

Isn't our scheduling of SDSU and Nevada-Reno part of the whole "moving the 2004 BYU game" deal?
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 9:24 pm | #

Somebody please take a look at OSU's 2006 schedule...
Sean | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 9:55 pm | #

I have to comment. I'm a life long ND fan - my first live ND game was as a 10yo at the '64 ND-Navy when we kicked the Roger Staubach led Middies' butts 40-0. I'm also an AppState grad.

Disclaimer: Personally I think if a Div I-A team plays a Div I-AA team it should count as an automatic loss. There are enough patsies in Div I-A (or as it is now called - Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I FBS))

However, don't short change the 'neers. This is a team that played LSU much tougher than ND, came within a hair of beating Auburn - all this before they were really good.

I was at the NCState game - it was very hot. The better conditioned team won, but it was obvious that AppState were the better football players and athletes.

I'll be at the Michigan - AppState game and I won't be surprised if we beat Michigan. They start slow and won't be expecting a game.

Having been to many live college games in the VA and NC area, I'd rate SoCon football on par with what the ACC puts on the field.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 10:32 pm | #

OldFan, all due respect to your alma mater -- and I hope to hell they give the skunkbears a game -- but I'm not sure the games you cite are supportive of the idea that App State will be competitive against Michigan. That Auburn score was pretty close (22-15) but that was seven years ago. And the LSU game in '05 wasn't close at all: 24-0. App State also played another BCS team in '05 -- Kansas -- and lost 36-8.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 11:18 pm | #

I love your style Jay.

"...the phenomenon of small division schools offering themselves up to the big boys like tribal sacrifices to Kong in exchange for a ride on the gravy train."

classic.
suave andrew | Email | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 11:32 pm | #

Isn't our scheduling of SDSU and Nevada-Reno part of the whole "moving the 2004 BYU game" deal?

Yes.
DJ | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 12:35 am | #

Well I'm certainly not thrilled about the App State game. I understand why it had to happen, and to me just demonstrates (once again) the hypocrisy of the NCAA. If they're going to authorize a 12 game schedule, then a corresponding ban on 1-AA games should have followed. At least force the 1-A schools to play each other.

I definately won't be going to the opener.
UM96 | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 1:04 am | #

UM96, I don't blame you at all. If it were ND and not Michigan, I sure as hell wouldn't go. Michigan season ticket holders, forced to buy this ticket, are getting bilked.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 1:11 am | #

Wow, your stats are waaaaaaaay off. For a list of I-AA vs. I-A games that is correct see:
http://www.i-aa.org/article.asp? ...articleid=46828

2005 I-AA v. I-A, 52 Games, I-AA record: 2-50
2004 I-AA v. I-A, 55 Games, I-AA record: 6-49
2003 I-AA v. I-A, 64 Games, I-AA record: 10-54
2002 I-AA v. I-A, 59 Games, I-AA record: 7-52
2001 I-AA v. I-A, 52 Games, I-AA record: 7-45
2000 I-AA v. I-A, 45 Games, I-AA record: 13-32
Ralph Wallace | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 5:47 am | #

Ralph, Jay's stats are not off. He was talking about BCS conference teams (BE, B10, SEC, PAC10, B12, ACC) against I-AA teams, not just any I-A team. If we're going to throw the WAC, Mountain West, C-USA and some of the other crappier conferences then the numbers will look better.

The SMU's and Utah State's of the world are going to occasionally drop a game against a I-AA team. Who cares. I think the point is that against the big boys (the Big Six that is), these I-AA schools rarely have a chance. Except against Dan Hawkins and his intrumural team at Colorado. zing.
Schultz | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 7:58 am | #

Way to go, UM. Schembekler lives!
gwzimm | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 9:26 am | #

Say what you want, criticize as you will, my hat is off to the UM football game scheduler.
Eight home games and four away in 2007. Mmmmmmm 110,000 x 8 x $50+ = $$$$
You got to love the non-conference games: Appalachian State, Oregon, Notre Dame Eastern Michigan.

If UM is looking for an additional opponent, why not stay in the Big Eleven? Try and schedule Indiana or Iowa, neither one is on UM's schedule this year.

The Big Eleven has been weighing a championship game, but I think they decided $$$$ did not outweigh knocking off one of their own and possibly missing out of a BCS slot. The SEC nor Big Twelve are done too not happy about eating their own young in a championship game.


The ND football command group (starting in 2009??) is trying to schedule the twelve game in a “neutral” ND friendly city. It is beyond me why. That game means lost $$$ to the bookstore, students selling brats, city restaurants, motels, $20 White lot parking fee, college football hall of fame attendance, etc, etc. I’d rather travel to South Bend than say Orlando.

Just my thoughts.
54 days and counting.
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 10:43 am | #

Subway alumni - one word. Recruiting.
Atlantadomer | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 11:15 am | #

I know you guys are really keyed into the 'cupcake' phenom, but it's really not much of a controversy - it all comes out in the strength of schedule. At the end of the day (ie 2006 season) Greenfields had ND at 45 and UM was 52. Ours was harder, but not by a lot. Also of note, Florida 42, OSU 78.

I just wish people paid more atention to the hard numbers, and less attention to the anecdotal arguments.
irishru2 | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 11:42 am | #

One other point worth mentioning - Giving a coach a game to hang his suspensions on (see Florida). I am almost ready to bet that there will be a couple of players suspended for the first game of the season (for whatever reason). Unlike the hammer that ND wields.....
GRNDFan | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 12:18 pm | #

You'd think Michigan would have learned their lesson after the mighty Ball State Cardinals fell 2 yards short of sending the game to overtime last season.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 12:42 pm | #

irishru2 -
I’m sitting here scratching my head and trying to remember when ‘strength of schedule’ impacted who Notre Dame played in a BCS game or our national ranking. It always seems to boil down to: $$$, win/loss record, which coach is the current darling of the media, $$$, how many media types want to bash someone good, what’s a good matchup and did I mention money?

Let me guess how many media types are going to lament about the first two games played by say, the two teams that played for the national championship this year 2007:

Ohio State: Youngstown State and Akron
Florida: Western Kentucky and Troy

BTW: Notre Dame: Georgia Tech and PSU
If ND defeats GT and PSU, do you honestly think we will be ranked ahead of OSU and UF? Come on.

If Ohio State and Florida are both undefeated they will play for the national championship again and ‘strength of schedule’ will not mean squat. The media will demand it will jump all over a rematch and the $$$ that will follow.

Otherwise, please enlighten me.
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 1:30 pm | #

The blame for cupcake scheduling lies squarely with NCAA, in my opinion. It's their job to protect the game, and they're doing exactly the opposite. If they make a rule that allows an athletic dept. to schedule an automatic win, the schools are going to do it. Period.

As for the potential damage such a game does to strength of schedule, I'm sure Mich's got an actuary or two crunching numbers that show the juice ain't worth the squeeze on scheduling a good opponent as a 12th game. The odds are astronomically against even a great team going 12-0. Every tough game thrown into the mix hurts those chances significantly.

This is the long way of saying that I, for one, don't blame Michigan. The NCAA was clearly encouraging this sort of scheduling when it passed its new rules about this twelfth game.

This is not to say that I think it's cool for powerhouse 1A teams to schedule 1AAs. To the contrary. It's downright unmanly.

It's just one more example of the college game emulating the worst practices of the pros, this time by bilking fans for exhibition games. And this is exactly what the NCAA wants.
Hal | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 1:34 pm | #

Subway Alum-

According to Kevin White, the plan for setting up future schedules is to have 7 true home games, 4 away games, and 1 "home" game at a neutral site.

As Atlantadomer mentioned, the hope is that it will improve recruiting efforts as well as give ND a more favorable schedule.

Imagine the ridicule we'd receive for scheduling an 8th home game instead of having the neutral site game.

On the other side of the coin is Michigan. Not satisfied with having eight games out of twelve being played in Ann Arbor, they also start the season with four home games before their first road game--Northwestern. My guess is the media won't be blasting the Wolverines' schedule as much as they would if the Irish had done the same.

Cries from Ann Arbor about ND's service academy schedule will fall on deaf ears.
kmf | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 1:41 pm | #

kmf -

Good point about recruiting. I guess it would be hit or miss for a region you are trying to penetrate or expand in (Florida – Orlando or Tampa) 2009 is a ways off. Kind of a crap shoot. Then there is the issue of getting beat, not sure that is a positive recruiting tool.

Don’t think we should worry about ridicule, after all the hits we took for scheduling the Pentagon in 2006.

I would like to hear from others about an eighth game at home versus farming it out for recruiting purposes or additional national exposure.
I kind of wish NBC would step in and say, hey we want to broadcast it in South Bend. That would end Kevin’s quest.
Unfortunately still 54 days and counting.
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 2:04 pm | #

An emailer (presumably a UM fan) claims that Appalachian State would beat Navy. Anybody agree?
Jay | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 2:18 pm | #

Jay -
Nope. Won't bite.
Not even sure who Notre Dame is going to beat this year and when pricked, I bleed Blue and Gold.
Subway Alumni | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 2:36 pm | #

Jay - til they play the game hard to say who'd beat whom.

I can tell you this after watching eight live App State games last year: the way AppState played the last 5-6 games of the year - and playoffs really hone the level play (no layoffs or mismatches like bowl games) - AppState could have contended with several of ND opponents - USAF, Army, UNC to name a few. Navy would have been a very tough match-up.

I can confidently say that the AppState v UMass championship game was as high caliber of football as most the early bowl games I watched. If ND had a power runner the caliber of the UMass back (Steve Baylark), we'd all be dancing a jig. Not sure what year Baylark is, but he is pro material.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 2:56 pm | #

Umm, a three things.

1. Because some trash ND fan website condemns Michigan for playing App State they are all of a sudden a worse team?
2. This coming from a team that we completely pissed on at their place?

3. This coming from a team that REGULARLY plays Stanford, Navy, Air Force, and Army?

Gotta love it when ND fans have nothing real to rip on us for so they have to hang their hat on our recent schedule add. We're gonna kick their butts this year just like last year regardless of who we open with.
Go Blue 8 | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 3:26 pm | #

Go Blue 8,

1. This isn't a "trash" site. It's one of the best college football blogs out there. And I don't think anyone said Michigan's a worse team for scheduling App. State. In fact, I think the point here is that a team of Michigan's caliber and class should be above scheduling a 1AA opponent.
2. Yeah, you beat us this year. Congratulations. Not sure what your point is here -- that because you won a game this year there's no one from ND can say boo about anything your team does?
3. In the last decade, ND has lost three times and sweated through at least six close calls to Navy, Stanford, Army and Air Force. Now, after you've made your snot-nosed comment about this being a function of how bad ND sucks, answer this: Do you think Michigan would EVER lose to a 1AA team? Would ND for that matter?

True the academies and Stanford should be W's for the Irish most years. But those teams are capable of beating us, something that 99% of 1AA teams cannot say.

That's the point of this post.

Hal
Hal | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 4:36 pm | #

Michigan REGULARLY plays Illinois and the directional Michigans. Calm down. Navy went to a bowl game three years in a row and won two of them. 1A teams should only play other 1A teams. It's like a Major League Baseball team playing a AAA team. Michigan is a bunch of poo poo heads. There's really no other way to appropriately articulate the situation.
Fighting Binny | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 4:39 pm | #

Go Blue 8,
Thanks for your 'a three things' . . .
24 hour | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 5:06 pm | #

Great post, love the writing.
"Lining up at the dessert tray." Ha ha.
Go App State!
Joe Subway | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 6:22 pm | #

For the record, in their last 10 games against 1-AA opponents...

Navy is 9-1
Army is 9-1
Air Force is 10-0

Suggesting that the service academies are inferior to 1-AA opponents is simply wrong.
Jeff | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 6:49 pm | #

My son played in the SoCon..a great conference, in fact the oldest conference in the east, it led to the SEC and the ACC and I remember a time when WVU, Richmond and North Carolina played in the SoCon. Dont confuse the SoCon with the ACC, App could not compete week in and week out in the ACC. One reason is that D1AA schools are only allowed 63 scholarship players, that is a whole offense and defense less than D1A teams are allowed. Give the SoCon its credit as one of the best D1AA if not the best in the country, but they could not compete weekly with D1A teams. And to you Skunkbear fans, ND doesnt play Air Force and Army regularly, Navy is a traditional that you need to read up on why we play them,and how much ND values the Naval Academy, dating back to WWII. Stanford is as good as Illinois and we generally play at least 3 Big Ten teams, so how is your schedule tougher than ours?
Doug | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 7:09 pm | #

I tire of hearing the arguments about how scheduling the service academies is akin to playing a Div. 1AA school. Last year is a great example. Early in the season, Air Force loses to #11 Tennessee (in Knoxville, no less) 31-30 when UT stops a last-second 2pt conversion that would have won the game. Meanwhile, #20 BC beats Navy in the Emerald Bowl on a last-second FG, only after coming back from being down 8pts. with less than 8min to go.

The point is this: when you schedule a Div 1AA opponent, you are already penciling in the 'W' (94% of the time for BCS schools since 2003). But when you play Navy and AFA (not so much Army), you can rest assured at least one game a year they are gonna scare a Top 20 program. Maybe that program will be you that day.
c-stone | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 8:02 pm | #

I don't quite understand the relationship between our scheduling of Nevada and SDSU and the moving of the '04 BYU game. Can someone please fill me in on that? What does the moving of the BYU game have to do with scheduling these teams 4-5 years later?
AS | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 8:33 pm | #

It is prestigious for the service academies to play Notre Dame. Up until the Vietnam war both Army and Navy were quite formidable, and both of those institutions have multiple Heisman Trophy winners in their past. Anyone who begrudges the tradition that ND shares with West Point and Annapolis can eat sh*t. That we still play Navy annually, and Army and Air Force periodically, makes me damn proud, epecially when our nation is at war. We should never again stoop so low as to have to defend why one or more service academies are on our schedule. Finis.
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 9:10 pm | #

C'mon, Jay. You know how stats can "lie" sometimes. App St's 133 yards were gained with much better field position than NC State. NC State started time and time again deep in their own territory. As Oldfan points out, it was hot and humid and the team with more legs won the game.

Like I said, I'm not defending Michigan, nor am I claiming that App St. is a marquee team. They're good for their division, and they seem to be able to hold up a sustained recruiting powerhouse despite having to deal with "adverse" conditions as opposed to the other teams in the state and conference.

Being that I'm not an alumn like OldFan, I think I can take off the Mountaineer-colored glasses and say that ASU is a good team, but they'd never be able to stand up to a true D-1A school, largely because they don't have the same number of players. However, if this was a more level playing field, I think they could be a quality smaller conference team.

Still, their D-1AA, and Michigan should be ashamed.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 9:25 pm | #

they're D-1AA, even. Apologies for the piss-poor grammar.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 9:28 pm | #

First time post. Big Irish fan. Montana State Alum. I'd be remiss if I didn't post a bit of opposition to the "These games aren't even marginally competitive" comment. An eye-opening Montana State win over an albeit less than stellar Colorado Buffs team last fall comes to mind. Granted, MSU went on to lose in the I-AA playoffs (a real college football playoff system) to the aforementioned Appalachian State eventual champions.
Rocky Mountain Irish | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 11:35 pm | #

The Service Academies.
What does it say, above the portal to the Basilica? "God, Country, Notre Dame" We play these teams out of respect, and I am tired of hearing the criticism. AND, they are all D1 teams.
Kevin | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 11:48 pm | #

Kevin,

If the worst criticism someone can give Notre Dame is to rip on them for playing, supporting, and respecting our country's military academies, I'd say we have something pretty good going for us.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 02.25.07 - 11:57 pm | #

I'm a UM fan, and I'm disgusted by this. There are 119 Division I programs out there. Assuming as I do that the Michigan's staff and athletic department did not want another difficult game (ND and Oregon OOC along with a late season road trip to Wisconsin followed by a home game against OSU), I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that there wasn't some patsy in the Sun Belt, WAC, Conference USA, etc. that would not have wanted a TV appearance and $$ for playing Michigan.

Now what is the functional difference between playing Buffalo or App. State? Probably none, but off the top of my head only one of them is Division I-AA.

Michigan's fight song mentions the "leaders and best." Scheduling App. State undercuts that claim.

And yes I'll probably go to the damn game, but I'm still pissed.
masked avenger | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 1:02 am | #

Because I haven't posted enough about crappy teams in my state...

What do you all think would be better? Playing App. State, who is the two-time defending 1-AA champion, or playing Duke, which has no wins over D-1 schools and can't even score a point against a D-1AA school, yet is in a "BCS conference"?

For that matter, what about the difference between San Diego St., which is a decent but not great non-BCS D-1A school versus Duke?

Just looking for some thoughts here.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 8:12 am | #

Rather than promoting a playoff, I'd rather see the NCAA take some involvement in the scheduling of non-conference games. Not to reduce the prevalence of cupcake games per se, but to enlarge the network of games between competitive schools upon which the computer models are based. In other words, Sagarin et al. estimate the relative strength of teams largely through performance against common opponents, or opponents' opponents. Increasing these connections in a statistically unbiased way would not only presumably improve the predictive value of these models, but would have the ancillary effect of strengthening and balancing teams' schedules to a certain degree. The result would be a system with lower overall bias and a greater likelihood of bubbling the top teams into the BCS games, even without a playoff. For regular season fans (and computer scientists) like me, it's the best of both worlds since it would mean another step away from biased human polling. Thoughts, ye conversationalists?
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 11:45 am | #

What would you suggest for your preseason model? For every 1AA school you play, you have to schedule a BCS opponent? Or something to that effect?
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 1:31 pm | #

Some quick thoughts on scheduling weak opponents...

Teams such as Stanford, Navy, Duke, etc. have had solid teams in the past (maybe not Duke, but they have the means, being a BCS conference school) and have the capabilities of developing solid teams in the future. Remember that, in many cases, games are scheduled 2,3,4 years in advance. I have seen Notre Dame destroy Rutgers in the recent past. Do you think that anybody that may have scheduled Rutgers 3 or 4 years ago ever thought that they would be in a dog fight in 2006 or 2007? Any team in a BCS conference and many smaller conference teams have the means to pull together a quality squad and compete in football games in the next couple of years. Now, if you schedule a DI-AA team or a Ball State or a Buffalo or an Eastern Michigan or a Western Kentucky or a Youngstown State (just to mention a few that were already mentioned on this post, I could go on forever), do you think that they have any chance with their resources to assemble a team and staff with anywhere near the talent of a Michigan, Florida, Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, etc??? That is not to say that one of these teams cannot win, it is a bunch on 18-23 year old kids playing a game, but the odds of them winning are very, very slim. The odds of a DI-AA team or an Eastern Michigan ruining a teams NC hopes are even more rare to almost non-existent. If a team such as Michigan were to schedule a Duke, Stanford, Syracuse, or another program that has (to put it nicely) struggled (especially in recent years), for an opening game, a very good unsuspecting Wolverine club could have their season ruined by an up year and a few breaks from one of these programs. A Florida International or App. State will probably never be able to defeat a team that has a legit shot at an NC run (Redundant comment to emphasize my point).

My apologies for the poorly structured and rambling post, it was pretty much a stream of consciousness post done in a hurry. I probably deserve a literary beating for this inferior post on such a quality site, but I wanted to get my point out there. Hopefully, people can at least see where I am coming from. Go Irish!
Joel | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 2:29 pm | #

if you really want to penalize d-1 teams for playing 1-aa teams, just make it an automatic 1 pt deduction in bcs standings for playing the game at all, and tack on another for the "inconceivable" loss (pretty sure this was brought up before).

in any event, it won't happen. due the previously noted odds of going 12-0 (esp with a conf champ game), the bcs will not apply any penalties which might keep one of their own out of the mnc game.

as the ncaa isn't involved in the bowls, they have no say.
yz | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 5:00 pm | #

Being curious about some of the above mentioned hypothetical matchups (plus that I'm already jonsin' for college football); it looks like I'll need to fire up my Xbox360 and play some computer v. computer simulations.

[Man... I need to get a life]
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 7:05 pm | #

Matt - I'd have the NCAA take 0-2 games 'in hand' from each of the top 25 BCS finishers the previous year (I realize schedules are made years in advance - there would have to be some arrangements made to permit this) with the number of games determined by teams' strength of schedule. Weaker schedules would give up more games to the NCAA. These games would be scheduled in such a way to maximize the 'connectedness of the D1 schedule graph' which means they would be arranged to make sure there are some games played between each of the power conferences and between teams that might otherwise be very distant by the measure of common opponents from one another. Think of it as minimizing the 'Kevin Bacon' number for teams with respect to each other.

The effect would be to reward teams that schedule tough non-conference games, make it possible to teams like Boise St. and Rutgers to get games against power conference opponents, and make sure that there is a little schedule-based bias (and maximum equity) reflected in the computer models.

I haven't looked closely at last year's schedule to describe the scenario in detail, but if I recall correctly there were only maybe 2 games between the PAC 10 and SEC until bowl time. That means the games USC and (Arizona?) played against SEC teams, and their in-conference performance determined how UCLA, Cal and Arkansas were relatively ranked. Not too bad, but then you consider the difficulty of determining whether Rutgers was better than Boise St. I'd have to look at the schedule to confirm this, but I imagine that their relative ranking in the polls was severely dependent on a few games by unrelated teams (Texas/tOSU? ND/UNC?). Likewise Iowa and West Virginia.

This would be a way to fix that and improve the computer models without throwing out the importance of the regular season and the bowl system. It would reward schools that worked out equitable but challenging non-conference play, and not force us to go to a playoff where only a very small number of teams would be included anyway and so much of the tradition of the game would go out the window. I'd be interested in hearing others opinions on this, and would definitely think it would be interesting to work out a more detailed proposal.
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 8:03 pm | #

Navy has been to four consecutive bowl games (2-2), and was a fumble and a career long FG away from beating ranked BC in our bowl game.

And now back to having our schedule jerked around by the MAC (first Toledo, then Kent St., now Northern Illinois).
midwatchcowboy | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 8:23 pm | #

Don't nobody be knockin' Ball State now. Those guys are going to cost some power conference AD his scheduling manager someday soon.
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 10:02 pm | #

Oh my god, where do I begin?

Let's see here, let us start with the two teams that just finished the season #1 and #2 in D1.

The national champion Florida Gators went undefeated, including a win over...drum roll please.... the always powerful 1AA opponent Western Carolina. FYI - Western Carolina finished the season 2-9, 0-7 in the conference.

The national runner-up Ohio State Buckeyes, who I'm pretty sure destroyed ND about 14 months ago, is opening their 2007 season with.....drum roll please..... 1AA Youngstown State.

Anyone see a pattern here?

So now the fact that Michigan couldn't find anyone else to fill their schedule at the 11th hour and had to schedule a 1AA team is blogger fodder on the board of the team that Michigan just completely undressed at their house. I find that very amusing.

A few more items to point out.

ND fans MIGHT want to worry about more pressing issues such as the fact that they haven't won a bowl game in something like 10 years. It's really getting quite embarrassing to see you taken behind the woodshed every New Year's day.

And lastly, Appalaichan State finished last year as the 1AA national champions, destroying Youngstown State 49-24, a margin slightly less than LSU's dismantling of ND. Didn't Quinn all but guarantee a win there by the way?
Go Blue 8 | Email | Homepage | 02.26.07 - 11:47 pm | #

ND's bowl streak is due to the fact that the dictate is "play the best team available." Add the program's slump, and every team wanting to make itself available, and...you build a streak.

BTW: Wasn't Michigan supposed to play in a bowl this year?

Go Irish
Bill H | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 12:52 am | #

Ummmm, what? Best team available, making itself available....? Good argument.

Wow, are you really ripping on Michigan for losing to USC in the Rose Bowl? You guys beat SC this year, right? Wait, nope.

What's really funny is that I never even mentioned in my blog the most important part. Michigan completely destroyed your #2 ranked team this year at your place.

No matter what anyone writes in response to my blog, nothing can argue with that little fact.

And thanks for commenting on the 1AA scheduling issue. Looks like I won that argument as well.

Thanks for playing. See you in September when we beat you again.
Go Blue 8 | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 1:09 am | #

Didn't App St. beat UMass, not Youngstown St. this year for the championship? Just as a point of clarification. (I think they beat Chattanooga for the championship the year before...the only time Youngstown wins is when App St. isn't in the equation).

I don't think anyone is giving Florida a pass for their scheduling of Western Carolina. And we're sure as hell not giving Ohio St. a pass on the Youngstown St. game (however, if you look where the Sweater Vest is from, maybe that game will make more sense to you).

I'm sure someone like Boise St. or Utah would play Michigan. They'd probably rearrange their schedule. But then they'd do the unthinkable and ask for a home-and-home, something that big schools (Notre Dame included) don't want to do with a smaller school where they could run into a road trap and ruin all hopes for a good bowl bid.

The point is, Michigan should be above playing 1-AA fodder. Beat up on the MAC or the WAC, but don't dip down to the second-tier schools who, despite having good players, don't have the depth and talent to beat an upper-echelon first tier team like Michigan (or Florida or Ohio State).
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 8:22 am | #

seems like there might be some short term memory issues in a squared.....

can't remember exactly, but where were the wolves ranked that warm sat in '05? somewhere around #3, i think.

i don't think anyone is "ripping" um for losing to sc. but the fact is you guys were FAVORED by a field goal, and then proceeded to get waxed in the second half (that second half part is slightly familiar).

and if we want to compare apples to apples, how did that '05 season end up for um? wait, don't tell me, oh i got it....with a loss to an unranked neb team. and a final record of 7-5.

if you want throw stones, at least have some facts that work to support your argument (and preferrably some stones).
yz | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 10:38 am | #

GB8; As you probably know, ND has a bad bowl streak right now because despite fielding weaker teams than usual over the past decade, we consistently generate huge TV ratings and therefore always create an attractive matchup for bowls despite the fact that our on the field performance might not justify it. Unfortunately for us, this creates great FB revenue and not so great loosing streaks. Talk trash if you like, we all know ND is on the rise and will end the streak soon enough. If you read this blog regularly, you most likely know this is conventional wisdom around here and while we all like to watch our Fighting Irish on TV, there aren't too many of us that tried to justify a top 8 ranking or BCS bid after our loss to USC.

If I were you, I'd be more concerned that your signature win came against an admittedly overrated #2 ND team last year and you didn't have the same success against USC when the holding calls weren't there for you. And as I recall most of the UM trash talk toward us came after the game; perhaps your fellow Wolverines too keenly remembered the lingering breezes from your own recent disrobing in Ann Arbor.

While I'm happy that Ron was able to turn around your defense in a year, I think you might want to consider that we have made some big changes on the defensive side this season as well before you start penciling in that home win. I think this game will be much more competitive than last year, and we should have some real tape on your 07 squad after you play Oregon. Maybe you'll come back here after that game and tell us how it went. If you get caught looking ahead like you did last year down here in Indiana at Ball State, you may not have so much swagger when the Irish come to town.
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 11:04 am | #

You know, it IS pathetic, but how much different is it really from the 70's when there were really only about 30 truely big time programs and the Michigans and the Notre Dames were festing on the likes of Northwestern adn Miami. I'm not defending the current trend, just wondering if it isn't back to the future.
Doubledomer | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 11:12 am | #

I'd take Appalachian State over San Diego State. I-AA scored some wins over I-A last year, so don't get all high and mighty about them.
MaximumSam | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 11:47 am | #

How about Georgia Tech?
indy | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 12:14 pm | #

In my opinion, division 1 schools should *only* play other division 1 schools.

The only reason why this sad state of affairs is allowed to take place is due to the ineptness of the NCAA by letting large conferences run the show.

The Rock Report on NDnation hits the nail on the head.

http://therockreport.blogspot.co...l- villains.html
Irish_Angst | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 12:23 pm | #

yz - to the extent it matters, ND did not dominate the second half of the 2005 game. The score was 14-3 ND at the half and the game finished 17-10. ND finished with a whopping 244 yards including 2.4 ypc. Your main point, that UM was highly ranked in 2005 similar to the manner in which ND was ranked this year is obviously correct. The minor point that UM got "waxed in the second half" is not.
masked avenger | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 12:54 pm | #

"waxed in 2nd half" refers to USC game I believe
Other side of Aaron Taylor's m | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 1:47 pm | #

indeed it does refer to the last rose bowl, not the '05 nd-um game.
yz | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 2:05 pm | #

Well that I certainly can't argue with.
masked avenger | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 2:14 pm | #

"I-AA scored some wins over I-A last year, so don't get all high and mighty about them."

Um, yes. Against such national powerhouses as Northwestern, Colorado, Indiana and Duke.

And, no, we're not talking basketball.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 2:30 pm | #

Look, I'm not going to pretend to be happy that Michigan is playing a 1AA this year. In fact when it originally came out my friends and I were on the phone discussing what an awful decision it was by our ADepartment.

But now that I've had time to digest it a bit, I'm not nearly as upset when I realized that UF did it last year and OSU will do it this year.

But what got me so red-azzed is to read that holier-than-thou blog ripping Michigan for doing it, while failing to mention that many other top programs are doing it. It's also hard to read that without responding considering Michigan's most recent blowout of ND as well as the fact that ND is completely overrated every single year, leading to their recent bowl record.
Go Blue 8 | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 5:42 pm | #

GB8, I'll bet OSU and USC could be saying the same things about Michigan's schedule. Are their arguments more valid only because they beat you? That logic seems flawed to me.

And please don't reply with "they beat you too." I wasn't trying to rub those losses in your face.
Anony | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 6:12 pm | #

GB8,

"But what got me so red-azzed is to read that holier-than-thou blog ripping Michigan for doing it, while failing to mention that many other top programs are doing it."

Michigan was used as an example primarily because they are our #1 or #2 rival (depending on who you ask). However, if you read Jay's post his overall point is not boo on Michigan for scheduling a I-AA team. It's that I-A schools powerhouses in general should not schedule I-AA teams. He says it's bad for college football as a whole, and blames the NCAA (not Michigan) for creating the situation. He also cites Texas Tech, Florida, Arkansas, and 43 other 1-A schools (not necessarily by name).

Finally, saying that Michigan should be above scheduling I-AA teams can actually be interpreted as backhanded *compliment* to the overall strength of their program, tradition, and stature in college football.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 6:56 pm | #

Not to mention that he pointed to his own disgust at our scheduling of San Diego State and Nevada. How that can be interpreted as "holier-than-thou" is beyond me.
Matt J. | Email | Homepage | 02.27.07 - 11:16 pm | #

Anony,

That's not nearly the same thing. OSU and USC would have no basis to make fun of us for playing a 1AA, because they have done, and will do the same thing.

The second paragraph from the original story is not as diplomatic as you guys are making it sound. How about this part, "They put together a fact sheet on Appalachian State that applies lipstick to a pig -- Defending 1-AA champs! Six victories versus D1 teams since 1982! Also good in basketball! -- but let's be honest: this was a win for Michigan the moment the ink dried on the contract. The fact sheet fails to mention that the Mountaineers played just one game last year against a BCS opponent, a 2-9 NC State team, and got thumped, 23-10."

Also, I wouldn't call the very first comment on this list a knock on the idea of big D1 programs playing 1AA. It looks like a direct shot at Michigan playing a 1AA. So for atepesm I'll just say that the same team that is playing a 1AA team destroyed you guys last fall and will do the same this fall.
Go Blue 8 | Email | Homepage | 02.28.07 - 12:18 am | #

My one pet peeve is D1A schools (esp BCS conf schools) who play 1AA teams.. there is no excuse for this crap
VAMAN | Email | Homepage | 03.07.07 - 5:23 pm | #