Nc....no Wonder

[Fine Vol]

It really bothers me that teams who can go to the NC game do not have the schedule near SEC caliber. WV come on, USC ok schedule,
Ohio St ok but not SEC,Texas. I love our uphill battle every year,yes it is hard to not have a loss. This makes me just realize what a great team we really have. In whatever year we go to a bowl you will never here "vols schedule is easy." What teams do you think have it a little to easy road?

 

[GAVol]

It always shakes out in the end though. So far, none of the teams with cupcake schedules have played in the championship game.

 

[KSVOL]

Sometimes the team with the tough schedule, conference championship game and finishes undefeated (Auburn) still doesn't get a fair chance. So I don't know about "It always shakes out".

 

[jakez4ut]

Texas and OK are two that come to mind...since Nebraska has been down, that conference has been a two horse race.

The acc historically has been bad...FSU won that conference 11 or 12 straight years. I think it's a bit tougher now with BC, VT and Miami in the mix.

Miami, while in the Big East had it pretty easy....VT being the only real competition for them.

I think USC has done a very good job of scheduling ooc games the past couple of years, and the last 3 years or so there have been some other good teams in the Pac10...OR, Cal, and UCLA have been good recently. Az St. has had spots of success...so while USC has been dominant, i think overall their road was more difficult than most would like to admit or think.

the Big 10 historicaly has land mines all thru the schedule. OSu and Michigan are usually where it's at...but Iowa, MSU, Penn St., Minnnesota and Wisconsin provide some depth to that league.

But the SEC is still very tough all in all. though, i would telly you in 02 and 03, the league was really down. TN and Florida were not very good. Georgia, LSU and Auburn to their credit used that time to take a hold of hte league. Bama was still on probation...and we had a stretch of losing some non conference games in the reg. season and in the bowls that we are not accustomed to. Now TN and FL appear to be back in form and LSU, Auburn, Georgia are still good....Bama, ARK and SC are on the rise. KY, VAndy and the MS schools are status quo.

 

[therealUT]

It really bothers me that teams who can go to the NC game do not have the schedule near SEC caliber. WV come on, USC ok schedule,
Ohio St ok but not SEC,Texas. I love our uphill battle every year,yes it is hard to not have a loss. This makes me just realize what a great team we really have. In whatever year we go to a bowl you will never here "vols schedule is easy." What teams do you think have it a little to easy road?

When West Virginia makes it to the National Championship game, then I will buy into this argument. USC, although they have it light in the PAC 10, has gone out of their way to schedule good non conference opponents: Auburn, Arkansas, Va Tech. Texas deserved it last year for beating Ohio State, if Tosu makes it this year, they deserve it for beating Texas.

I think Tosu got by with a light schedule in 2002, but going undefeated in the Big 10 is no easy task. Miami in 2001 beat PSU (was a good team when they set the schedule) and FSU.

It is tough to judge a team by their schedule in the current year, unless they are scheduling perennial patsies or 1-AA teams. When we scheduled Cal they had gone 3-8, 1-10, and 7-5 in their past 3 seasons. I am sure Fulmer was expecting a decent team, however, I doubt he realized they would be a Top 10 team.

 

[JonWard]

I think it's a bit tougher now with BC, VT and Miami in the mix

Don't all three of these teams have 2 losses already. Maybe they brought down the ACC.

:happy:

 

[jakez4ut]

Don't all three of these teams have 2 losses already. Maybe they brought down the ACC.

:happy:

yeah, this year the ACC is just bad. but looking at the ACC prior to the expansion vs. now, and the ACC is tougher. Miami, FSU and VT won't be bad for long...and if Clemson and GT can gain a little steam off of what they are doing this year, the ACC has a chance to be really good. a couple of years ago, it was really, really good...this year, though, it's really, really bad.

 

[Tnfootballjunkie]

This is why a national playoff system would be the way to go, teams in the SEC have such an uphill battle to stay undefeated and play for a NC.

 

[jakez4ut]

This is why a national playoff system would be the way to go, teams in the SEC have such an uphill battle to stay undefeated and play for a NC.

i used to feel the same way...but i always come back to the same thing...we have a play off, and it's the regular season...

D1 college football has the most intriguing regular season in all of sports. at this point, the only thing i think they should do is instead of having just a 5th BCS game, put 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 in two of the BCS games and let that 5th game be between the winner of those two games.