Florida State adding Alabama and Auburn. Penn State adds.....

[Michael.Felli]

...Akron
...Pitt
...Georgia State
...Kent State
...Appalachian State

Not to mention we get (ahem) mighty Buffalo and San Diego State THIS year.

Someone remind me, are we Penn State or aren't we? When I was a student we played Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt (when they were good), Syracuse (when they were good). What the fvck happened?

 

[Rollin Stone]

While I agree......

Remember it takes two to tango and you are also dealing with a limited number weeks early in the year. And we have to find those good teams that want to play us and travel to PA. Let's face it a number of those Southern teams do not want to come this far north as their fans may not travel that well that far north or they don't see it beneficial for recruiting.

There are always exceptions, but we have to find teams that want to come here as well.

Just my rambling thoughts.

 

[BlueBand]

Some of those teams were added when the sanctions came down, I believe, and when we didn't have relief yet. We needed every cupcake we could get.

Also, back when we played most of those teams you mentioned, we were an independent (and some of them were too). We had much more flexibility in when we could schedule them. With conference games, we are limited. Besides, those teams were our current equivalent of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, etc. At the same time, we were playing (at the time) really crappy Rutgers, Temple, Maryland, Cincinnati (remember 81-0?), William & Mary (may have been 56-0), etc. teams. People forget we didn't play murders row back in the day.

I'm not a fan of many of these crappy games, but they really aren't much different than the Temple and Rutgers games in the 80s. Difference was they were somewhat local, we had a history of playing them, and we may have had classmates from high school at those schools that we held bragging rights over. Otherwise, really, they weren't any better or worse than Buffalo and Kent State.

 

[PSUSignore]

Agree this is a problem that needs fixing, quickly

With our schedule, even undefeated seasons would leave an appearance in the title game in question. The schedule should be such that it leaves no doubt! I'm not saying we're going undefeated this year, just an example. I'd like to see one premier "move the needle" national P5 team (Bama, Oregon, FSU, Texas, Stanford, etc.), one either mid to low tier P5 team or best of the best non-P5 team, and one scrub (MACtion, Temple, etc.) each season. I put Pitt in the middle category right now, and most other games in the latter "scrub" category. Our schedule is pretty weak vs. many of our peers. Look at what MSU, Wisconsin and OSU are doing.

It wouldn't surprise me if the current cupcake schedule was partially due to the sanctions and trying to get us through with best case results, at least those that were scheduled late since I know some were likely booked long before the scandal broke. But this needs to change, and fast, now that we are coming out of the scandal years and scholarship reductions.

 

[fairgambit]

Going back quickly through Joe's last 15 years (1997-2011) we

played regular season games out of conference against Pitt four times, Miami twice, Alabama twice, Notre Dame twice, BC twice, USC, Virginia, Oregon State, Syracuse, Arizona, Louisville, so it hasn't always been Akrons, Temples, and Rutgers.

This post was edited on 3/25 6:53 PM by fairgambit

 

[bdgan]

I'm all for adding tough opponents once we start winning 10 games / yr

Right now we need all the wins we can get. Hopefully that will change in another year or two.

 

[MontereyLion]

Problem in 2016 is we start 9 game in confernce schdule.

All major football programs want 7 home games for the gate. Every other year there will be only
4 home in conference games. That means all of the non conference games those years will need to
be at home to get to 7 home games. That makes it hard to do home and homes with other
major programs. It can be done, just not as many.

 

[OMPats13]

Southern schools

Are fine playing each other, the weather is better and they are recruiting the same kids. The really dont want to come north, even in September. Plus, while it would be a home game, they dont want PSU to come down and maybe get some of their kids.

 

[PSU87]

You're wrong when denigrating our past schedules for several

reasons.

Firstly, back in the days prior to the 85 scholarship limit, College Football in general was TRULY a world of haves and have nots. Back when we were playing Pitt, Rutgers, Boston College and Syracuse, the Big Ten other than Ohio State and Michigan was pretty inept. MSU and Iowa fielded decent teams occasionally, but Indiana, Minny, Purdue, and even Wisky were pretty weak sauce. From 1970 to 1992 the Big Ten was won by someone other than UM/OSU only SIX TIMES (and out of those six, some were tied with UM or OSU). That's not exactly parity. And don't tell me it was because UM and OSU were so good (ahem, bowl game records anyone)...long time poster Front Range (who rarely posts here anymore) once did an analysis of the traditional Eastern schools vs the non-OSU/UM Big Ten and found that Rutgers/Pitt/BC/Cuse/etc were BETTER HEAD TO HEAD than the little 8. In other words when our "weak opponents" played the Big Ten, they won more than they lost.

Also, in 1982 when we won the MNC, the NCAA ranked our strength of schedule as NUMBER 1 in the NATION.

The inbred, Midwestern, Big Ten homer idiots like to say our schedules pre-Big Ten were easy. They are wrong. Please don't agree with them or give them any ammo.

Our schedules today are dictated by conference games. I would like to see more quality opponents, but we have to have home games to make money and good teams want a home and home series.

This post was edited on 3/25 9:49 PM by PSU87

 

[Peetz Pool Boy]

hey! The B1G is the most difficult conference in the nation...

When you're a team representing a toxic university and the officials are hell bent on showing them "who's in charge&quote. Why make the schedule harder than it needs to be when you're playing in conference with 1-1/2 hands tied behind your back.

Don't bitch about not going to a bowl game next year when so many games are decided by the zebras.
This post was edited on 3/25 10:04 PM by Peetz Pool Boy

 

[LionFan96]

Re: Agree this is a problem that needs fixing, quickly

Originally posted by PSUSignore:
With our schedule, even undefeated seasons would leave an appearance in the title game in question.

There is zero chance an undefeated Penn State team (or any undefeated B1G team) would get left out of the 4 team playoff. In order for an undefeated team from one of the power 5 conferences to be left out, there would have to be at least 4 other undefeated teams from the power 5 conferences. In the past 35 years there has been 1 season where there have been more than 4 undefeated teams at the end of the regular season, and that included then mid-major teams Utah and Boise State.

 

[Mudge1026]

Re: You're wrong when denigrating our past schedules for several

PSU87, excellent post. I grew up in the 1970's and consistently watched BIG 10 champs get smoked in the Rose Bowl for a good 20 yrs, 1970-1990. I had no respect for Ohio State or Michigan. These UM and OSU teams were not the same teams that PSU had to face in the mid 1990's. Unfortunately I have gotten into some stupid arguments with Buckeye fans my age that continuously over-rated their team's abilities way back when. This was a time when the college football media consistently hyped both UM and OSU. I think the Pac10 won 9 out of 10 Rose Bowls in the 1970's. Seems both schools took the "Big 2, little 8" mantra as a compliment when in fact it was disparaging to the entire conference. LOL !!!

This post was edited on 3/25 11:34 PM by Mudge1026

 

[Southeastern PA Buck]

Originally posted by Michael.Felli:
...Akron
...Pitt
...Georgia State
...Kent State
...Appalachian State

Not to mention we get (ahem) mighty Buffalo and San Diego State THIS year.

Someone remind me, are we Penn State or aren't we? When I was a student we played Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt (when they were good), Syracuse (when they were good). What the fvck happened?

So let me get this straight... you want a group of kids that have been screwed over and forced to play with less than 50 scholarship players to play a tougher schedule? Haven't they been punished enough? Hasn't the NCAA, the B1G and society in general taken it's pound of flesh against PSU football over some BS claim of 'cultural issues" already? But somehow you want them to face Bama and ND? Isn't that just another way to eff these kids over? When is enough... enough?

 

[JN1949]

I understand the cupcake mentality in order to get a certain amount of home games. What bothers me is how we approach "marquee" home-home ooc games. We have no variety in our scheduling. Almost all of our ooc opponents are just boring rehashed Independent opponents like Boston College, Syracuse, or Pitt (none of which are marquee). Even the "name" teams are repeats of old schedules- Miami, Notre Dame, Alabama.

Virginia is a "fresher" face, but we've scheduled THREE series with them since the late 80s. We played a 4 game series with Southern Cal in the early 1990s, so what do we do? Schedule them 2 more times in 1996 and 2000!!!

I ask, where is the variety??????