College Football Pre-Season: Non-Conference Scheduling Widely Debated

Normally this time of night is spent at home going after every sports story I can get my hands on to see what everyone is talking about. That's usually my routine.

Tonight was a tad bit different because a radio host in the Dallas area had Texas football fans hopping mad. Now, those of you who know the host I'm referring to know that he has a tendency to get under the skin of his listeners. But you also have to admit that it's effective. No matter how much they hate him, they still listen.

Anyway, that's besides the point. The issue he brought up was the fact that Texas and the University of Maryland were apparently in negotiations for a home and home series starting in 2015.

Most would read the above and wonder aloud, "why would that be a hot button topic?" Well, normally it wouldn't be, unless you up the ante a little bit and you call Texas "yellow" or "scared." Then it goes from mild to volcanic.

The argument that was brought up was the non-conference teams that Texas has on their schedule for this season, which includes Rice, Wyoming, UCLA, and Florida Atlantic.

Now that the facts are known, at least for the upcoming season, we can begin to break this down and I'll give you my opinion and try not to make anyone even angrier than they probably already are.

First of all, Texas has every right to schedule who they want out of conference. While there are those of us, and I'll admit that I'm one of them, that want to see teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, LSU, and every other big team play each other at least once a year, most of us know that just isn't going to happen.

I've been up in arms before about Alabama playing the likes of San Jose State, wondering why they don't pick up the phone and call someone like Oklahoma, Ohio State, or even USC. The answer to that is simple. There's nothing in it for Alabama.

While they gain respect by pulling off a win over any of the aforementioned teams, a loss could be catastrophic to their season and could wipe out any chance to even be in the running for a national championship. It's the same reason teams like Texas, Alabama, Florida, etc. won't schedule Boise State. Kick and scream all you want, it's never going to change.

But here's where the conversation got even more heated out here in Dallas. This particular host called out Texas for being "scared" to even schedule TCU. If you're going to piss off Longhorn fans, that's exactly the way to do it. They won't take someone telling them they're scared of the little red-headed stepchild lightly.

I think we can all agree that TCU doesn't exactly pose a challenge to the Longhorns, the same TCU team that couldn't get past Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl this past January.

When this show finally had a caller that correctly called him out for not holding the SEC to the same standard, the host's answer was exactly what I expected to hear. He said, "because the SEC has to play a tough conference schedule, they're allowed [to schedule creampuffs]." I would have been absolutely shocked by that answer if I didn't already see it coming.

Let's get to the meat of the issue. People can kick and scream about Texas not scheduling anyone better than UCLA, but Texas has more to lose by scheduling Alabama or Florida than they have to gain.

If you're Texas, you want to get to the national championship and you want to get there any way you can. If you ask Alabama, Florida, LSU, etc. the same question, you'll get the same answer. They call those easy non-conference games "tune-ups for the conference schedule." Hey, at least they admit it.

I don't like the way non-conference schedules are made and I don't like how the big time conferences can schedule Florida Atlantic, Louisiana-Monroe, and Tennessee Tech just to name a few, while San Jose State has to travel to Alabama.

But, those of us that have been around college football enough and have heard the same arguments year in and year out, we know this is never going to change until the BCS is dissolved.

Until that time comes, this kind of scheduling is going to continue regardless of how much fans, or this particular host, want to kick and scream about it.

I used to go through this same debate with a good friend of mine who was a columnist in the Dallas/Ft Worth area for 12 years and is, ironically, an LSU graduate so you know where he stands.

Fans from the big conferences will never agree with the fans from the small conferences. The BCS allows the scheduling of "easy wins."

The sooner we realize that's never going to change as long as the BCS is around, the better off we're all going to be.