I've written many opinionated pieces on the weak non-conference scheduling of the SEC. However, in all reality, it makes perfect sense to schedule cupcakes.
A mid-major team like Fresno State should never schedule a top-tier BCS program in their non-conference schedule because it does more harm than help.
When you have the philosophy that you will take on anyone, it hurts you. If you schedule three BCS teams in the non-conference per year, you are bound to lose one.
In 2002, Fresno State played tough non-conference games against Wisconsin, Oregon, Oregon State, and No. 21 Colorado State. They lost three out of four (they beat Colorado State) of those games. They were a solid team in 2002, showing that by beating Georgia Tech in the Silicon Valley Bowl.
Although they were worthy of a quality season, they finished 9-5. That record would have been much better had they scheduled some mid-majors in there.
In 2003, the non-conference schedule got even tougher. The Bulldogs scheduled No. 7 Tennessee, Oregon State, No. 3 Oklahoma, and Colorado State. They managed to beat the Beavers by two but lost the rest of their games. Despite beating UCLA in their bowl game, their record was again 9-5.
2004 is the best example of how a tough non-conference schedule kills you, even if you win the games. Fresno State scheduled Washington (won 25-16) and No. 14 Kansas State (won 45-21) in the first two games of the season. Following those two games, there were letdowns in consecutive weeks at Louisiana Tech, home against UTEP, and at No. 16 Boise State.
Playing tough non-conference foes in the preseason forces you to play with banged-up players in the games that really count. The Bulldogs had their best team in 2004, but their 9-3 final record didn't truly reflect that due to poor non-conference scheduling in the preseason. The Bulldogs showed their prowess by beating No. 23 Virginia (8-4), 37-34, in the MPC Computers Bowl.
It was a shame that Pat Hill wasted all his talent by scheduling tough preseason games, because his 2004 squad could clearly play with the best of them.
2005 was almost an exact copy of what happened to the Bulldogs in 2004. Although the preseason was easier with Weber State, Oregon, and Toledo, a tough non-conference game again blemished the Bulldogs' record. A late-season battle with No. 1 USC in Los Angeles again killed Fresno State's lineup and caused them to collapse down the stretch, losing their next three games to Nevada, Louisiana Tech, and Tulsa.
A team that takes No. 1 USC down to the wire, losing 50-42, should not be losing to these types of teams.
Again in 2007, Fresno State scheduled a nearly impossible non-conference schedule and paid for it by losing its games. Included in that schedule were No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 19 Oregon. The Bulldogs lost both games, plus two in conference, to finish the season 9-4.
This year is more of the same, as the Bulldogs have scheduled powers Rutgers, No. 13 Wisconsin, and UCLA as a part of their non-conference schedule. Again, it will probably prove deadly.
It's a shame that Pat Hill won't loosen up a bit and schedule some cupcakes in his non-conference schedule. Instead of being a mediocre eight- and nine-win team year in and year out, the Bulldogs would find themselves with 11 or 12 wins each year, placing them among the nation's best.
In this case, you don't have to beat the best to be the best. Just ask Hawaii.
14 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
L.J. Burgess 10 months ago
Well written, very well written.
Ain't gonna happen though...FSF is too insecure to schedule easy.
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Mitch at sportschatplace.com 10 months ago
Good read, I think Tulsa may have "read the manual" this year.
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Doug Kraus 10 months ago
Well researched article and all factually correct. Sure, scheduling the tough teams and losing hurts you on paper but in the long run makes you a better team. At some point that better team needs to gel and not need to put themselves at such risk. Fresno State just can't seem to get over that hump. They need to keep scheduling like this to gain attention for recruiting. This way players hear about them and get excited to go to a school where they get to play the really top teams a few times per year.
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David Wunderlich 10 months ago
Is your record the sole determining factor for how good you were in a season? Is it really wasting talent if you put it up against the best and give it a chance to do something special?
The only thing Fresno is missing out on is potential BCS dollars by not scheduling one mid-to-low grade Pac-10 team and three cupcakes like Boise State and Hawai'i did. I mean, if you don't play anyone good, then what was the point of your season?
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John W 10 months ago
The author of this article and the first couple of commenters are obviously clueless about college football and recruiting in the state of California. Let me clue you in so you can stop writng articles on subjects you obviously know very little about.
There are several reasons that our head coach Pat Hill schedules the way he does...the main one is:
If you ask a large number of the players on our roster why they chose to play football at Fresno State (in many cases turning down offers from BCS schools) they will site the tough non-conference schedule. Players want to play the best. Players want to be on National TV. PLayers want to be part of a program that says we will not back down from anyone. Without the schedule we play these many of our players would not have chosen to play for the Bulldogs. PLayers don't turn down offers from teams like USC (Ryan Mathews) to play for your team if your toughest game is a mediocre mid-major.
Maybe you ought to pick a subject you actually know something about before you write another article like this.
GO DOGS!!
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Mitch at sportschatplace.com 10 months ago
John, you bring up some good points and maybe it is one of those occaisions where I can see both sides making pretty good cases. If you have enough talent and play an easy schedule you can get to a big bowl and get exposure or you can play the tougher games and attract kids who want playing time they wouldn't get at one of the traditional powerhouses. A lot of schools have built themselves this way (Miami and FSU to name 2) but that was before they were aligned in a conference and conference bowl tie ins went 7 deep, I think it's tough to maintain it when all it gets you is a lower tier bowl bid.
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Michael Felder 10 months ago
John,
The point of his article was that Fresno State is going to struggle to duplicate the successes of teams such as Utah, Hawaii and Boise State in recent years. With their tough scheduling the chances of them going undefeated and breaking into the BCS bowl game are greatly diminished.
I do agree that players love the national television exposure and the "we'll play anybody anywhere attitude" has worked for schools such as Virginia Tech, FSU and WVU in their quest to establish perrenially successful programs.
In the modern era the BSU, Hawaii and Utah's of the world have a leg up on Fresno State because of those BCS bowl births. The money brought in alone is enough to upgrade the program considerably and the national exposure gained as a non-BCS at large team pays itself off in recruiting clout (both student and student-athlete wise).
Basically you can't have it both ways, either stack the deck against you and play regular season games against big time teams OR pad the schedule and hope that the stars align for that BCS birth.
Solid article buddy
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Thomas Brown 10 months ago
thats right mike, u cant have ur sex and orgasm too
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Michael Abbott 10 months ago
Not so sure that I agree with you completely. While you do make some good points, and many teams seem to choose the path that you suggest, Fresno seems to get a LOT of respect for being a tough team.
When a team is not from a BCS conference, judgment seems to be reserved a little, because no one knows if a team can really cut it when it comes down to the nitty gritty. Everybody seems to respect Fresno's ability to win against a tough team, maybe they won't always win (who does) but nobody seem to doubt them as a team.
I think that it is worth something to be viewed as a tough team, rather than a team like Hawaii who I remember mostly as failing to beat a good BCS team, when they finally had the chance to play one.
Personally I'm looking forward to the the game between my Scarlet Knights and Fresno!!
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ZK686 10 months ago
Fresno State is in a tough situation. Being in California, where the PAC-10 just controls all aspects of College Football, we're almost FORCED to schedule the way we do. Look at the other D1 programs in the state of California that are not in the PAC. Both San Diego State and San Jose State are a JOKE. They haven't had a successful football program in years, and the thing that seperates them and Fresno State is our willingness to get out there and play the elite of College Football. Our schedule helps our recruitment. Plain and simple, if it wasn't for our scheduling, we'd end up like SJSU and SDSU, just a couple of mid-majors trying to survive. Instead, we're recognized as one of the best mid-majors in the country, and possible one of the best Division One schools on the West Coast.
-ZK686
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mike poindexter 10 months ago
College football is won or lost by the coach. He organizes the team and he recruits the players. For recruiting, your image helps.
Fresno State's Pat Hill is the type of guy who would say "I am going to find the biggest bully I can, go to his house, punch him in the mouth and take his french fries away from him and say 'Yeah, I did it! What are you going to do about it?'" There is a large segment of players that like that attitude. It appeals to them. Those are the types of players we want to get.
Fresno State is playing for something besides a 10-2 record. They are playing for national respect and noteriety. They are playing as hard as they can so that people from the big conferences cannot dismiss any claim we have when we do get to the big game. It is the hard path we are taking, but the reward isn't just in the final prize but in how you attained it.
I respect Boise's program and do not begrudge them their success. It just isn't the path Fresno has chosen and I for one would rather use Fresno @ #1 USC as a defining moment for our school than Hawaii's undefeated regular season. We want the challenge and success without the challenge is just a hollow victory.
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Nick Lovgren 10 months ago
"Instead of being a mediocre eight- and nine-win team year in and year out, the Bulldogs would find themselves with 11 or 12 wins each year, placing them among the nation's best.
In this case, you don't have to beat the best to be the best. Just ask Hawaii."
That's one of the most asinine comments I've ever read. This article is all about how to work the system to make money. It has nothing to do with being the best. Hawaii played THE WEAKEST schedule in the entire FBS last year in order to get that BCS payout, and it worked. I'm sure there was an FCS team last year (Appalachian State maybe) that went undefeated playing a similar or stronger schedule than Hawaii. Are they too "among the nation's best"?
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mike poindexter 10 months ago
Well, with all due respect to Appalachian State, you cannot compare them here. They are FCS and probably play a harder schedule than most FCS schools (assuming here). Either way, they have proven they are the best in their division year after year and would probably do reasonably well in Div-1A. Much like Fresno State is the most dangerous mid-major to schedule, Appalachian State is one of the most dangerous FCS teams to schedule. You cannot fault them for their weak schedule when they are not even in Div-1A and I have a lot of respect for their program.
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Nick Lovgren 10 months ago
I'm not faulting Appalachian State at all though. I'm strictly comparing schedules and records. I know for a fact that Hawaii played the weakest schedule in the FBS (aka D-1A) and went undefeated. According to this writer, that places them "among the nation's best." I was saying that there's probably an FCS (aka D-1AA) team out there with an equal or more difficult strength of schedule than Hawaii AND the same record as Hawaii. It would logically follow then, that the FCS team should also be mentioned "among the nation's best" with Hawaii. For those that don't believe that an FCS team can have a stronger strength of schedule an FBS team, check out this link:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt07.htm
Note Hawaii's S.O.S. is weaker than Appalachian State's and Hawaii's credentials are comparable to Northern Iowa.
My point is, Hawaii did not deserve to make a BCS bowl last year because they didn't ever prove themselves worthy. They didn't play any strong OOC teams because they knew they couldn't beat them. They worked the system to make the big BCS $$ and then showed their true colors in the Sugar Bowl.
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