Strength of Schedule

[El-Moldo]

Kids who play I-aa football can't play for I-A teams??? Guess we should tell that to Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice, Steve McNair, Marcel Shipp, Michael Westbrook, Jerry Azumah, Kurt Warner, Dan Kreider, etc, etc....Best I could do for comparing I-AA vs I-A games was in 2003, where I-aa teams had a record of 10-58 vs I-A opponents. That's almost a 15% winning rate. Not bad considering that I-A teams have 22 more scholarship players per team than I-AA teams do. And considering that I-AA tams almost exclusively play I-A teams on the road. Now, since we are on statistics here, since 1999 the Universiry of Buffalo football team has had a record of 10-67. This includes last year's 1-10 record. This is a winning percentage of 13%. So you can see that, generally speaking, I-AA teams have a higher winning percentage over I-A teams than the University of Buffalo does. And believe me, Buffalo wasn't playing the cream of the I-A crop since 1999 either.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I guess I cant name you 300 players, per season, who were drafted from I-A schools over I-AA players. Nice try, Moldo.

You guys can rant and rave all you want about Buffalo. Buffalo is a I-A team, just like Penn State and Arizona are. Texas State is not, JMU is not, Northern Iowa is not, and The Citadel is not. That's the bottom line. Whether or not the TOP I-AA teams can beat Buffalo has no significance. There's I-AA teams who can beat a lot of I-A teams, LIKE I SAID. Difference is in the fact that they are not an equal classification as I-A teams are.

The point is, anyone can schedule the bottom tier of the I-A. They are STILL I-A teams, and I-AA teams are STILL I-AA.

Of all these future NFL Hall of Famers like Dan Krieder and Marcel Shipp, were they highly recruited athletes out of high school? Was Rice? Or was Jerry Rice a relative nobody who turned out to be great once in an NFL system?

Of all the great players who went through the NFL, I can name 3 I-AA players who made an impact. Rice, McNair, and Payton. How many I-A players are NFL greats? 99%?

And just like with I-A, there are good teams and there are bad teams. Some win conference titles, like Youngstown State, and some are doormats, like The Citadel and Liberty.

Once again, when is the last time you heard about a player deciding to take up the offer at Georgetown rather than go to Virginia Tech?

15% success rate, wow. That means EIGHTY FVE PERCENT OF THE TIME, those I-AA teams get beaten. Notice the spin Moldo tries to put on that one. "Wow, 15% that's pretty good."

[El-Moldo]

Irregardless of what I-aa teams do, 87% of the time BUFFALO gets beaten. PSU knows that and that's why they jumped on getting them for a HOME game in 2007. Buffalo won ONE game in each of the 2002, 2003 and 2005 seasons. So none of us want to hear that Buffalo is an up and coming team. They even lost to UCONN when the Huskies were still I-aa. Here's TAE's philosophy: If you're a division I team, you gotta be good because you can try for the national championship like evey other I-A team. And if you win your conference championship, you gotta be tremendous!!!!!! And by the way, it was TAE who said that NO I-aa kid could play for a division I-A school.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I'll take back what I said about "no kid can play I-A". I meant that they are not highly sought after recruits out of HS. I dont know one example of a kid having a scholarship offer to a I-A school and going to a I-AA school instead. I'm sure there are a few examples. And I am also sure that even in those few examples, the I-AA school probably has a major that the I-A school did not.

You dont want to hear about how Buffalo is up and coming, you like you dont want to hear about the Citadel's "success rate" either. Tell us more about how awesome that VMI win was. Program-changing monolith!!!!

No Penn State fan wants to pay 40 bucks a ticket to see FIU, UB, and Temple. No one. I'm not saying I am really excited here. Am I glad they are not playing Youngstown State? Absolutely. I'd rather see them play FIU than a I-AA team. At least they are technically scheduling I-A competition, unlike other in-state programs. I'm sure they ducked better teams, just like everyone else does when they call Temple or Buffalo. The only way Penn State is going to change is if they go undefeated and get screwed on a strength of schedule debate. Until then, as long as the teams are I-A, I can live with that. Ducking I-A teams to schedule I-AA is what I have the biggest problem with.

Buffalo, like Temple, is a program that wants to get a piece of that BCS money. They are both trying to change their fortunes, and hire new coch every couple of years. For the first time, it is actually looking like both schools have the potential to progress a little bit. For Buffalo, they hired a guy who is responsible for not just coaching great QB's, but was also responsible for their recruitment. My one friend down here is actually from Buffalo and he is a big supporter of Syracuse and UB. I know more about those programs than I ever wanted to know, or should know, because he beats people over the head with it. He is very high on Turner Gill, and knows his whole resume by heart. It sounds like UB finally made the right hiring. Same goes for Temple. When's the last time Temple had a 4* commit?

[El-Moldo]

Buffalo and Temple are trying to change their fortunes? And they're doing this by playing Penn State AWAY?????? How do you change your fortunes by getting slaughtered in an away game in front of 100,000 hostile fans? That's a real morale builder.....Now I know that TAE would rather play any D-I school than any I-aa school anyday. Well, according to our great friend Jeff Sagarin, in 2005 there were 48 I-aa teams ranked higher than Buffalo, and 40 I-aa teams ranked higher than Temple. And again, I-aa teams give out 22 LESS scholarships per team than the I-A schools. So here are smaller schools from smaller conferences with smaller rosters who are BETTER than Buffalo and Temple.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Based on one guy's ranking system, which has as many flaws as the rest.

I dont think there's 48 I-AA teams that can beat Temple. Maybe the very top teams can.

You are comparing apples and oranges.

They are making the right decisions by hiring new coaches all the time. They dont sit back and let a guy go 0-100 over 10 years.

[frostlion]

I just love this love/hate relationship sPitt fans on here have with the Saragin rankings. They love and use it to tear apart PSU, but hate and ingore it when it shows the Big East as a conference is by far the weakest and is neck and neck with C-USA.

[Coach]

Penn State plays 3 teams in the preseason top 15 this year.

Next year, I'd expect that to look pretty much the same, BUT there might be 4 top 15's next year: ND, OSU, MICH, and IOWA in 07


They can play whoever they want when you are playing those 4 teams. Argue with whatever rationale you want, then look at those 4 opponents and think about it a little. Maybe they should play Miami, FSU, and USC too right? No way! That part of the schedule is brutal. More brutal than anything the BE has to offer plus better overall than any BE team could bring to the table including their OOC games.


Now, I'll watch as another handful of goofy posts go by the wayside.

[vman]

"goofy posts" ??? Let me guess; any post not favoring UPS & their pitiful scheduling!

Look, the thread is 'Strength of Schedule' & you do your best to justify playing basically the three worst teams in the nation next yr...
but beware of this scenario: you have a good yr.( 1 or 2 loses) and get screwed on a strength of schedule issue (a bcs bid possibly).

And again, good thing you have ND (ranked so highly) this yr & next, as you incidently sneak them into your top 15 opponents, or you guys would be the laughing stocks of the college football world! ND goes off after next yr...then there are 2 yrs of nobodies that could again affect your overall sos standing; therefore your rankings & if eligible, bowl determination....

That's what I've been hammering on; an easy win sure looks good in regards to overall record .....but all those Kent States, Temples, Youngstowns, FIUs & Buffs may well come back & bite you right in the lions@$$!

And anything can be spun, especially to cover playing FIU, Temple & Buffalo in same season, to look how one chooses to perceive it. Example:

[quote="Coach";p="125291"]
there might be 4 top 15's next year: ND, OSU, MICH, and IOWA in 07
[/quote]

I can just as easily justify that OSU maybe the only team of those 4 in next yrs top 15 & that is if qb plays 2 more yrs...ND loses Quinn, entire ol, receivers, 3 d-linemen & everyone knows their D stinks....Mich will certainly be down and Iowa is a reach for top 15!
Conclusion: using your speculative rationalization I could make a statement that in '07 UPS has 1 possible top 15 opponent but fret not... they will rack up poll points with impressive wins over FIU, Temple & the much improved Buffalo whatevers (what the he!! is their nicknames?)

[The Ancient Enemy]

There's no way ND is not a top 15 team next season, they could lose all 22 starters.