How to schedule OOC games, 101

Check out this piece about Big Six member Utah's future OOC schedulemaking.

The Utes (Ute?  What's a Ute?~My Cousin Vinny) have added Big Six colleague member Louisville for two games in 2007 (road) and 2009 (home), and also Pac-10 contender Oregon for two in 2009 (road) and 2011 (home).

Imagine that, scheduling two BCS conference teams, one a top 10 squad and another a team that has been in the top 10 and won its conference within the last five seasons.  This really shouldn't be considered courageous, but compared to many college football teams and their pathetic scheduling gimmicks, this is something to behold.

Additionally, Utah is talking to Texas about a game down the road.

Comments

[Solon]

Question for CFR: do you think, if Utah keeps it up post-Meyer, that they can work their way into the Pac-10 the way Arizona and Arizona State did? Utah and BYU seem a natural pairing, and would fit in nicely.

On the other hand, I've heard that BYU doesn't have the academic profile to fit in the Pac-10 (I think Dempsey said this at some point). What are your thoughts?

[Resource Admin]

Awesome question. The Pac-10 is a really elitist, holdout type league. They don't have the power to dictate to the CFB powers and thus make their stand by... making a stand.

Utah in theory isn't on par academically with the Pac-10 and I think the Commissioner, at least, wouldn't be happy about that kind of move.

Additionally, the league simply has no interest in creating a 12-team league, much the same as the Rose Bowl had no interest in the BCS/Bowl Coalition until it had to join or become obsolete. My guess is that unless the conference's hand gets played by these other 12-team conferences, there will be no change.

You are right, that Utah and BYU as a pair fit into the overall Pac-10 scheme, and aren't any farther a journey than some of the other schools.

Part of the Pac-10 thing is that the schools are all competitive across the board in athletics, retaining nationally elite teams in many sports, not just football. I think Utah and BYU, if they were to become interested in joining, would really have to prove that they fit into the "Conference of Champions". Tough sell.

Especially to elitists.

[Solon]

Excellent point that I had not thought of, as far as the non-revenue sports (by which I mean anything that isn't football or men's basketball) the profile of Utah and BYU isn't anywhere close to the other Pac-Ten schools. Additionally, they probably don't have the natural recruiting base to take advantage of being Pac-Ten members to such a degree that they would be competitive in these sports--I assume that the best athletes from these schools come from CA, as they do in the rest of the Pac Ten--and all of the kids from Utah probably go to one of these schools already anyway.

The reason I brought it up here was that my belief (which may be wrong, I've always just assumed it's the case, but I don't know) was that ASU essentially played its way into the Pac 8 after their remarkably successful football season in 1975 (which was the culmination of several successful seasons). When I read this article, it occurred to me that Utah might be trying to do the same thing here, with such bold scheduling (obviously, ASU (and Arizona, as well) had a history in baseball, at least, that Utah and BYU can't match).

Don't you view the round-robin scheduling in the Pac Ten as a response to the 12-team leagues, where sometimes the best teams won't play in the championship, or you get a 2003 Kansas State over Oklahoma situation? The truth is, I think the Pac-Ten could really be setting itself up for a nightmare scenario with the round-robin scheduling; e.g., I think having three 8-1 teams who are 1-1 against each other and having to pick a champion is a much worse scenario than having two 8-0 teams who didn't play each other, but have 8 common opponents.

[CFR]

Interesting on the round-robin. There was something to that effect in 2002 with WSU, USC and someone else I'm forgetting.

[TrojanRuss]

Utah and BYU do fit in in basketball, and BYU does pretty well in women's volleyball. I don't know what other sports they're good at, though. Maybe cross country?

[Stephen Kim]

BYU does well in the Director's Cup. I do think they would struggle mightily in football in the Pac-10 or any major conference for that matter.

[kenneth]

hey i would like to say congrats to utah being the first school to have the number one draft pick in the NBA and NFL...who would have thought?

oh yeah though I like what Utah seems to be doing, playing anyone..anywhere. good stuff, that is how Florida State got to be.

And Pat Hill (fresno state) and Jeff Bower (southern miss) are the modern day bobby bowdens...but it is an uphill climb...