Does Auburn Have the Weakest Non-Con Schedule in the Country?

#1
DiderotsGhost

DiderotsGhost

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
4,584
Likes
23,258
#1
Even by 'load up on cupcake' standards, this schedule is pretty insanely weak:

Umass (Sagarin rank: 190)
Cal (Sagarin rank: 46)
Samford (Sagarin rank: 176)
New Mexico State (Sagarin rank: 154)

They are playing 3 teams not even in the top 150. As a reminder, there are only 129 I-A (FBS) teams. UMass is the lowest rated team in I-A and they might not even crack .500 if they moved to I-AA. Samford is ranked in I-AA, but Sagarin doesn't like them very much. And New Mexico State might as well be I-AA.

Even Cal is generally a middling to weak P5 team. Plus, they get Vanderbilt (Sagarin rank #107) as their SEC East game.

So they basically get 5 wins without even having to break a sweat and just have to win 1 non-Vandy SEC game to go to a bowl in Hugh Freeze's first year.
 
#3
#3
Cal is actually by far the best OOC team that Auburn/Tennessee/UGA/Michigan will play this year.

Tennessee
Virginia: 94
Austin Peay: 163
UTSA: 67
UConn: 133
Avg: 114.25

UGA
UT Martin: 166
Ball St: 113
UAB: 101
Georgia Tech: 88
Avg: 117

Michigan
East Carolina: 90
UNLV: 102
Bowling Green: 134
Avg: 108
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gandalf, onevol74, LouderVol and 2 others
#5
#5
Yeesh, I stand corrected. So apparently there is a rush to schedule the absolute worst I-A teams to fill out the non-con schedules.
 
#6
#6
DiderotsGhost said:
Yeesh, I stand corrected. So apparently there is a rush to schedule the absolute worst I-A teams to fill out the non-con schedules.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's incredibly common. Some schools are weaker than others; Auburn's is really bad as you mentioned (142 average), but it isn't like any of the other schools I happened to look at are much better and they actually are playing the single best OOC school out of the others I looked up. For all the bellyaching about UGA's OOC schedule, Sagarin says ours is essentially just as weak (117 vs. 114) and Arkansas's is worse.

The thing to remember about a school like UGA is that they have a standing P5 OOC rivalry game each year, and that team happens to suck, so they don't have to go out and schedule a good P5 opponent every year. However, to their credit, they've lined up a good P5 OOC opponent for the next several years and they didn't have to, and they've also recently played ND and Clemson.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pennheel and DiderotsGhost
#7
#7
Are schedule isn't exactly scary either so I'm not going to bad mouth others....Couple things to remember or keep in mind however is that even though someone like a Virginia sound like a decent OC game these are scheduled years in advance so who knew UV would be such a mess.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tbwhhs, Pennheel, Plecoptera and 2 others
#8
#8
Found this in a search, don't agree with it and it takes the entire schedule into mind instead of just OC games

Here are the 10 easiest schedules in the country among Power Five schools for the 2023 season, based on win-loss percentage:

10. Wisconsin: 77-76 (50.3%)

9. Maryland: 73-73 (50.0%)

8. Oregon: 75-77 (49.3%)

7. USC: 74-76 (49.3%)

6. Miami: 73-76 (49.0%)

5. TCU: 74-78 (48.7%)

4. Nebraska: 74-79 (48.4%)

3. Iowa: 72-79 (47.7%)

2. Washington State: 69-79 (46.6%)

1. Louisville: 67-78 (46.2%)
 
#9
#9
Just proof how others disagree on these debates, here is one from ESPN that has Louisville as having one of the hardest schedules lol

Toughest Power 5 nonconference schedule​

This was a close one between Pittsburgh and Louisville, both of whom face three Power 5 opponents (including Notre Dame). The Panthers get the nod based on having to play back-to-back games against Cincinnati and West Virginia on Sept. 9 and 16, an especially difficult assignment given how heated the "Backyard Brawl" rivalry is and that it shifts to Morgantown for the first time in the series' renewal a year ago. In addition, following their trip to Notre Dame on Oct. 28, the Panthers host No. 3 Florida State the next week.

Easiest Power 5 nonconference schedule​


We have a repeat winner. For the second season in a row, Michigan has earned the "honor" of playing the nation's cushiest nonconference schedule. The two-time defending Big Ten champion doesn't face a single Power 5 opponent. This was also the case a year ago, marking the first time in 78 years the Wolverines didn't play a nonconference game against a current Power 5 member or Notre Dame. Michigan opens this season with three straight home games against East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. It originally had a home-and-home series with UCLA set for 2022 and 2023, but canceled it in 2019 to guarantee at least seven home games each season.

The only team rivaling Michigan in this category is Georgia, which plays UT Martin, Ball State and UAB at home and closes the regular season against in-state rival Georgia Tech on the road. The Bulldogs were originally scheduled to play Oklahoma, but the SEC dictated that game be scrapped with the Sooners joining the league in 2024.
 
#10
#10

No napping for the Vols​

Which Power 5 teams could get tripped up at home by a Group of 5 team, a la Appalachian State winning at Texas A&M last season? One game to watch is UTSA at Tennessee on Sept. 23. The Vols have an away game with Florida the week before and a home date the week after with South Carolina, which torched Tennessee 63-38 a year ago and ruined the Vols' playoff chances. UTSA brings back 15 starters, including record-setting quarterback Frank Harris, after going 11-3 and winning two straight Conference USA titles.
 
#11
#11
To me, Georgia and Michigan should have scheduled each other. Both had "Cancellations" so why not schedule each other? Then again, based on Michigan situation, sounds like it was to secure another home game so the only way Georgia could have gotten it to work was to go to Ann Arbor.
 
#12
#12
The problem is that when you have a terrible game - and every school has them - and you lose to a "cupcake" it looks even worse. I was there for the first North Texas State/Tennessee game.
 
#13
#13
05_never_again said:
Other bad OOC schedules:

Penn St
West Virginia: 61
Delaware: 156
UMass: 190
Avg: 135.67

Arkansas
Western Carolina: 160
Kent St: 148
BYU: 59
FIU: 158
Avg: 131.25
Click to expand...
I am giving Arkansas a pass considering they have had the toughest schedule in the country the past 3 years . At least it seems like it. I think they had UGA twice, Texas, BYU, Cincinnati all with the SEC West, which has been the best division in football for about a decade +.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top