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2012 Football Schedule
- Thread starter Spoeagle
- Start date
grizzaholic
Active member
I will be there for 2 or 3 games next year if anyone wants to meet up for a drink...SE will take care of the *cock*tails....
Especially for the EWU/Griz game.
Especially for the EWU/Griz game.
Not to beat a dead horse, but Weber and UNI's 2012 schedules:
Sat, Sep 01 at Fresno State
Sat, Sep 08 at BYU
Sat, Sep 15 open
Sat, Sep 22 Eastern Washington
Sat, Sep 29 at UC Davis
Sat, Oct 06 Cal Poly
Sat, Oct 13 at Sacramento State
Sat, Oct 20 at Southern Utah
Sat, Oct 27 open
Sat, Nov 03 Montana * Ogden,
Sat, Nov 10 Northern Colorado
Sat, Nov 17 at Idaho State
9/1 @Wisconsin
9/8 Savannah State
9/15 @Iowa
9/22 @YSU
9/29 NDSU
10/6 open
10/13 @SIU
10/20 SDSU
10/27 Illinois St.
11/3 @WIU
11/10 @South Dakota
11/17 Missouri St
Towson also has two FBS scheduled in Kent State and LSU. There must be a reason AD's across the country with playoff caliber teams are doing this.
Sat, Sep 01 at Fresno State
Sat, Sep 08 at BYU
Sat, Sep 15 open
Sat, Sep 22 Eastern Washington
Sat, Sep 29 at UC Davis
Sat, Oct 06 Cal Poly
Sat, Oct 13 at Sacramento State
Sat, Oct 20 at Southern Utah
Sat, Oct 27 open
Sat, Nov 03 Montana * Ogden,
Sat, Nov 10 Northern Colorado
Sat, Nov 17 at Idaho State
9/1 @Wisconsin
9/8 Savannah State
9/15 @Iowa
9/22 @YSU
9/29 NDSU
10/6 open
10/13 @SIU
10/20 SDSU
10/27 Illinois St.
11/3 @WIU
11/10 @South Dakota
11/17 Missouri St
Towson also has two FBS scheduled in Kent State and LSU. There must be a reason AD's across the country with playoff caliber teams are doing this.
Remember, only one of 20 playoff teams played two FBS teams this season, and only one other playoff team in HISTORY has done it. Therefore, only twice has a team scheduled two FBS teams and gone to the playoffs. Doesn't seem too smart...
I can kinda, sorta see it for UNI as they play two very marquee teams--- probably for over $500k each, maybe quite a bit more (Iowa paid $600k last time they played I think)--- and they still have a full set of home games and midseason bye.
Weber has tried this before, failed (although they were one of the two teams that has gone the two FBS game route to the playoffs) but they should know better. Selling your season to the highest bidder-- or worse yet, selling your season because you just couldn't negotiate a game with the Mississippi Valley State's of the world, is catastophic.
BTW, I'll bet you had to search to find two teams that scheduled as dumb as us, huh?
I can kinda, sorta see it for UNI as they play two very marquee teams--- probably for over $500k each, maybe quite a bit more (Iowa paid $600k last time they played I think)--- and they still have a full set of home games and midseason bye.
Weber has tried this before, failed (although they were one of the two teams that has gone the two FBS game route to the playoffs) but they should know better. Selling your season to the highest bidder-- or worse yet, selling your season because you just couldn't negotiate a game with the Mississippi Valley State's of the world, is catastophic.
BTW, I'll bet you had to search to find two teams that scheduled as dumb as us, huh?
LDopaPDX said:
No, it popped up on the 2012 schedules thread on cs.com. While I agree that it's not favorable, my point is that when a program like UNI that's been in the playoffs for a gazillion straight years, has always been a brides maid, and wants desperately to win a NC does this, it's a strong sign that it's economically necessary and not due to an AD's ignorance.
marceagfan5
Active member
kalm said:
This will be the 5th straight year Weber has scheduled 2 FBS teams and I don't think their fan base is too happy. They have proven they can make the playoffs by doing so (2008 and 2009) but they never hosted a playoff game or made it out of the 2nd round in that time span.
I think the issue with scheduling 2 FBS teams is that you have an outside shot at the playoffs but you don't set yourself up to do well in the playoffs if you make it because you will most likely be on the road....
Neither of those teams play 3 straight on the road to open the season and both have 5 home games at least.
marceagfan5 said:
And you touch on a good point... people around Eastern seem to think just getting to the playoffs gives us a shot. And it does give us a longshot, difficult, and almost unreasonable shot just to get in. But remember, only one 8 win regular season team has ever gone on to win the championship. Every other year, it's been teams that have had the easiest route through the playoffs by getting home games and seeds. Had we not played 3 straight at home last year, we probably arent national champions. it isn't about getting in, it's about setting yourself up for success.
kalm said:
And I don't think it has to do with AD ignorance. The problem isn't ignorance, it's an unwillingness to pay upfront money as an investment in success. EWU has recently shown an overwhelming desire to get the paycheck, even if it's is so small that it borders on inconsequential, rather than take a risk on scheduling a home/home or even just buying a team for a one-off home game. This is a new thing at Eastern... this wasn't the case up until the last 5-6 years.
Think about this, had we played Eastern Oregon at home last year in the second week, we probably make a little money, but we almost certainly break even with a $50k investment and a $10k operational budget for the game. Instead, we played South Dakota on the road for $50k (I can't even believe we took a game for such a low fee... which we agreed to AFTER we won the national championship, but I digress), had to charter a plane (remember, Vermillion is about 500 miles from nowhere) and thus probably pocketed about $10k. Was it worth it to lose and carry NO momentum into what was obviously the most important stretch of the season, before playing Montana and Montana State? No... but we took the money instead of making the investment.
kalm said:
Also, while I'd NEVER advocate selling a season for money--- it simply isn't fair to the players or fans--- I guarantee Weber is making more for either Fresno or BYU than we are for Idaho. And I'd guarantee UNI is making at least 4x for either of their games than we are for Idaho; maybe even 6x.
Dopa, you make good points as always. If we don't make the playoffs, we can't win a title. Makes sense. But for me and maybe others, playing "up" is more important than an irrelevant W against an over-matched opponent. Sure, three straight road games is a very difficult way to start the season. But we're not exactly playing the Alabamas and LSUs of the world. Last year's schedule is a perfect example. I thought we had a good chance to win each of the first three games. If we had scheduled home wins against lesser FCS, DII or NAIA teams, would our team have been fundamentally better with one or two more wins that don't count? If it were about making it to the playoffs, our friends over in Bozeman should be happy since their team's made it the last two years. But they're not. They want another title. Speaking of Bozeman, we still could have made the playoffs with home wins against the Cats OR the Vikings.
I know history shows that teams that don't stick their necks out early in the season win more titles than those that do. Good for them. But I want Eastern to beat teams they're not supposed to AND win another title or two.
I know history shows that teams that don't stick their necks out early in the season win more titles than those that do. Good for them. But I want Eastern to beat teams they're not supposed to AND win another title or two.
But that's just it, 93bird... we had a *chance* to win those games, but we didn't. I'm not looking at this from a player point-of-view (which is always "we're going to win"), I'm looking at it from a pragmatic kind of view. Sure, you might win, but what if you don't? What has our admin done to ensure success, not just hope for it? I'd say NOTHING, we've done nothing to plan for and prepare for success.
Let's say we played MVSU at home in week #2 instead of travelling to USD for almost nothing in compensation (keep in mind, $50k is the going rate for scheduling a DII team at home... and that's what we got paid as defending national champs to travel to Vermillion). MVSU had an open date on week #2 and wound up with only 10 games. They were terrible, a bottom-feeder team from the tradionally weak SWAC. We'd have killed them, probably in front of a good early-season crowd and good weather-- which we used to historically get back when we played at home in early September. Then we'd have been 1-1 with momentum going into Missoula.
Oh, and for you "let's just make the payoffs regardless of playing in the first round and never getting to play in Cheney" crowd, we'd have likely finished 7-4 and made the playoffs.
Montana State knew they had a tough one in coming to Cheney. So what did they do? They played Minot State at home the week before coming. Momentum, a win, and then they come to Cheney and take care of business. Preparing for success.
Let's say we played MVSU at home in week #2 instead of travelling to USD for almost nothing in compensation (keep in mind, $50k is the going rate for scheduling a DII team at home... and that's what we got paid as defending national champs to travel to Vermillion). MVSU had an open date on week #2 and wound up with only 10 games. They were terrible, a bottom-feeder team from the tradionally weak SWAC. We'd have killed them, probably in front of a good early-season crowd and good weather-- which we used to historically get back when we played at home in early September. Then we'd have been 1-1 with momentum going into Missoula.
Oh, and for you "let's just make the payoffs regardless of playing in the first round and never getting to play in Cheney" crowd, we'd have likely finished 7-4 and made the playoffs.
Montana State knew they had a tough one in coming to Cheney. So what did they do? They played Minot State at home the week before coming. Momentum, a win, and then they come to Cheney and take care of business. Preparing for success.
93bird said:
And again, had we played at USD in 2010 instead of playing Central Washington, finishing 8-3 would have sent us on the road to start the playoffs. We probably never win the national championship in that scenario. I don't get the fascination with making our lives more difficult. The "playing up" games are the one logical BCS money game we ought to play every year, the Big Sky Conference slate, and the 4 playoff games up to and including the national championship game. Those are the ones that count.
I guarantee Montana fans aren't devastated by playing Western Oregon at home this season. It was a smartly scheduled game. They also played at Tennessee and at home versus Cal Poly. Then the had the whole conferecne schedule, and then the playoffs. I wouldn't argue they didn't "play up," they just "played up" intelligently and didn't sell out their season.
Whey protein is good for you. Yet I'm confused by the question.
Here's my formula... one BCS team or high-paying FBS team, one FCS "decent team" on a home-home, one DII or FCS garbage team. Don't see what's wrong with that? NEVER play a team that isn't going to pay huge $$$ or give us a home-home (see Idaho, South Dakota, et al).
Here's my formula... one BCS team or high-paying FBS team, one FCS "decent team" on a home-home, one DII or FCS garbage team. Don't see what's wrong with that? NEVER play a team that isn't going to pay huge $$$ or give us a home-home (see Idaho, South Dakota, et al).
marceagfan5
Active member
LDopaPDX said:
Completely agree...this is how it needs to be done, this 4 home game or 2 FBS game BS gets us nowhere. Our players can take the schedule that is given, never back down, and they do a fantastic job of it, but as a supporter of the program, we need to look at what is best for the program. I posted in another thread, playing 2 FBS teams hasn't done crap for us over the past decade, every year we've played 2 FBS teams, we didn't make the playoffs, and except for this year, every year we didn't play 2 FBS teams, we made the playoffs.
Not only do we need to focus on making the playoffs but we need to focus on winning in the playoffs. Seeded teams win in the playoffs because the play at home. Delaware and Eastern never played a road game last year, Sam Houston hasn't played a road game this year and they are in the chipper, neither have NDSU and Georgia Southern until GSU plays at NDSU tomorrow. In order to be seeded you typically have to finish 11-0, 10-1 or 9-2(in a bigger conference). Playing 2 FBS games puts you behind the eight ball from the start, you may make the playoffs, but you don't have the best success when you do.
Look at last year, Dopa's formula worked for us. We played an FBS game, SUU at home, and a drop down (eventhough it was in Seattle). We played 5 games in cheney and a 6th "home" game in Seattle. The team finished 9-2 and received a #5 seed. Had we played another FBS or FCS team on the road last year and lost instead of Central Washington, we would have been 8-3, and most likely playing on the road in the first round of the playoffs and would have been on the road every game, a much more difficult path to the championship.
I understand a lot of people on here want to "play up" and never back down, I get it, I've competed in sports all my life, I know the feeling, but it is not what is best for the program. We need to play games where we set ourselves up in good situations. Playing a drop down game isn't just to win an easy game, it gives you another home game, a chance to work out some things you can't against an FBS team, and most of the times, gives the team a rest before going into conference play. I know Idaho and WSU are 2 games we can win next year, no doubt about it, but if we don't, we are 0-2 and we start conference season at Weber who returns a lot of their starters, that is not a setting us up for success. We then return home to play the Griz, so we start 3 straight on the road, and then host a Griz team that should be a top 3 team next year.
We have the makings of a great team next year, we have some good options at the QB position, a lot of returning studs on offense and the defense will be improved, we just need to put ourselves in a better position to win games and the schedule isnt doing that...
