[cartman]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

Yeah, schedules are done way in advance. And with that delay you inevitably will have some programs that unexpectedly decline. I fully cop to the reality that it's a tough deal. With that said, if a program really wanted to prove they are big-time, they'd schedule big-time programs, even if it means taking a road trip every time. Schedule a road trip to USC on the assumption that they'll rise again. Schedule a road trip to Alabama because, well, chances are Alabama will be really good.

Outside of someone like Pat Hill when he was at Fresno State, I just don't see mid-major programs aggressively pursuing this kind of difficult out of conference schedule model to prove themselves, and probably for good reason - while it's fun for UCF to claim a national championship for last season, they are most likely better off financially by winning as many games as they can and positioning themselves as the latest mid-major "it school" like Boise State was under Petersen. And to Petersen and Boise State's credit, in time they did end up getting some very good teams on their schedules.

But then the power programs get blasted for scheduling "soft" teams in non-conference play when the non-Power 5 teams are in one of their down periods. Scheduling is a two way street.