Penn State will have played 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 over the past 6 weeks. That is its most difficult stretch of games since the inception of the AP poll in 1936.
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OSU Game Ends Most Difficult 6 Game Stretch in Associated Press Poll History
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No more excuses. It’s time for PSU to man up and play a good road game against a formidable foe.
Don't confuse the experts here with the facts. Otherwise known as but fans.
Which makes zero sense why freaking Utah and Oregon is ranked ahead
I remember somebody saying playing tough competition makes you better. We'll know in 12 hours.
Thank God it’s almost over. We need a Rutgers game lol.
Yes, its the most difficult stretch the Lions have faced.
https://www.mcall.com/sports/penn-s...0191121-f7ywhfw57fgtpexbcizikgcjy4-story.html
This will be the norm for PSU. Delany’s going away present to PSU is all the hard games in the middle of the Big Ten schedule (with OSU and Michigan back to back most years) and the easy games at beginning and end.
Love this conference.
Love this conference.
To be fair (which I’m typically not irt Delaney and his crooked conference), tosu ends their season with us and meatchicken back-2-back and nobody could’ve guessed that minny would have a pulse, so it’s an odd scheduled for more than just us.
Yes. I would like a link. I had lunch with a Pitt friend yesterday and we were discussing schedule strength. He mentioned Auburn's schedule, LSU, and Texas A&M. I'd like to send him a link on this.
A one off is understandable. Go look at our future schedules through 2027. That shit ain’t random.
And before PSU and Mich weeks they had a bye week, MD then Rutgers - basically a month off from playing college football
Yes, love this conference indeed.
Not to raise a sore subject, because it's already been debated (and debated and debated) here, but it is this factor more than any other, namely the treatment Penn State has received in the Big-10 from Day One, which, among other things features one or two hose jobs a year from the conference zebras -- is anyone NOT expecting to see John O'Neill this afternoon? -- that concerns me the most with regard to JF's future.
I mean, it's a sucker's game that Penn State is forced to play in this league, and you have to wonder how long a hot coaching commodity like JF, if offered an attractive alternative, will choose to keep playing it.
As for the question of why Penn State, having navigated that brutal schedule, is ranked below some 1-loss teams whose "resume" is a lot less impressive, well, welcome to college football -- where champions, or at least the opportunity to become champions, are created as much in the conference room as on the playing field.
NOT the most difficult stretch ANYONE has faced, which is kinda what the OP implied.
I think he did more than imply it. While interesting, this wins me no points with my Pitt friend.
Yep!I looked at the 2020 schedule yesterday morning. It’s eerily similar to this years schedule.
That last paragraph is why it needs to be just conference champs going into a playoff. Any system that relies upon a subjective choice made by a group of people (4 teams, 8 teams, five conference champs + 3 at large, etc...) does nothing to make the system fair.
So I went back and looked at every schedule since we've been in the Big Ten (1993). This was indeed the only such stretch in which we played 5 ranked teams in 6 games. I haven't gone beyond that, but we've typically played more ranked teams while in the Big Ten than we did in the Independent years. So I imagine it's accurate to say that this stretch has been the only such 5-out-of-6 we've had.
Most difficult, though? That's tough to say. A few tough stretches come to mind:
2018: #4 Ohio State, Michigan State, @ Indiana, #18 Iowa, @ #5 Michigan, and Wisconsin.
2006: We had three top-5 teams in a 6-game stretch (@ #4 ND, @ #1 Ohio State, and #4 Michigan). But in between those games, we had the likes of Youngstown State, NW, and Minnesota.
2004: @ #20 Wisconsin, @ #18 Minnesota, #9 Purdue, #25 Iowa, @ Ohio State as a 5-game stretch.
2003: @ #18 Nebraska, Kent State, #24 Minnesota, Wisconsin, @ #18 Purdue, @ #16 Iowa, #8 Ohio State -- so that's 5 ranked teams in a 7-game stretch
Most difficult, though? That's tough to say. A few tough stretches come to mind:
2018: #4 Ohio State, Michigan State, @ Indiana, #18 Iowa, @ #5 Michigan, and Wisconsin.
2006: We had three top-5 teams in a 6-game stretch (@ #4 ND, @ #1 Ohio State, and #4 Michigan). But in between those games, we had the likes of Youngstown State, NW, and Minnesota.
2004: @ #20 Wisconsin, @ #18 Minnesota, #9 Purdue, #25 Iowa, @ Ohio State as a 5-game stretch.
2003: @ #18 Nebraska, Kent State, #24 Minnesota, Wisconsin, @ #18 Purdue, @ #16 Iowa, #8 Ohio State -- so that's 5 ranked teams in a 7-game stretch
This was done to help Michigan remain relevant nationally. The BIG wants Harbaugh to have success and Michigan to win the conference sometime in this generation. He just isn’t up to the task.
Have you watched Jim and UM the last few weeks starting with the 2nd half of the PSU game ? A juggernaut on a roll and the rest of the CF world is very nervous - including the sucknuts. S. Patterson is finally over his early season injuries and is living up to his preseason Heisman hype. UM is probably the hottest team in CF !!!!! The Wolverine has been released in Michigan football.
Assuming LSU wins today Texas A&M will face the AP #1 three times in one season. I have been wondering if that has ever happened before.
Michigan is definitely the best 8-2 team in the BigTen East.
No doubt that is difficult. But, to be really fair, PSU can never benefit from a similar arrangement because of the season ending set up that likely will never change. Therefore, both Michigan and tOSU have benefitted more times than it has been a detriment.
I would have liked to have seen how 2005 played out with the game at Michigan some other week than right after tOSU.
Similarly, I'd like to see how 2017 ends up with not having to go to MSU immediately following a Michigan and at tOSU setup.
So a system that ignores the results of 25-33% of a teams games played is needed? What about OOC games? Before you say not everyone plays similar competition, that already happens in conference play also. On top of that, only one conference guarantees the top two teams in conference play will play against each other in a CCG.
So your statement is based on...?
What do you define as the independent years? In the 80s, PSU played more top 20 (compare apples to apples) teams than they did in the Big Ten years. In the 60s and 70s, with a few exceptions, most contending teams did not play as difficult competition.
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