Assembly Hall (08-20-2018)
When did the Big Ten start playing conference games week one and what went into that decision? I like it. Traditionally the Big Ten is known for a very boring schedule in Sept. Teams like Purdue and Northwestern would not be playing a watchable game Labor Day weekend so last night was refreshing
I'm not a big fan of playing a conference opener. I'd like it better if Northwestern was playing FSU and Purdue was playing VaTech this weekend, so that none of them were playing conference games. I don't think you should be deep in the hole in your league (as Purdue is now) before September even starts.
I'm with you. Last night was much better than having Northwestern and Purdue playing nobodies. I'm just shooting for the perfect world where the P5 teams playing conference games would play out of conference games against other P5s (or at least a Houston or Boise or UCF) instead.
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Speaking of UCF, I just checked out their schedule, and it's atrocious. The could go undefeated again this year and barely crack the top 10 again (and I guess win another "national championship").
The Oregon St thing is one of those issues with scheduling in advance. When the game was booked 5 years ago it looked like at least a decent game, not the worst team in college football, but oh well.
I think with the 9 game schedule you have to have someone open with a conference game for that math to work. I remember listening to a podcast where it was being discussed.
That UCF schedule is brutal. I don’t get why they don’t try harder to schedule someone with a pulse. They need to look at Boise State as a model.
I think when you play a "compelling" conference game the first game of the season it gets a bunch of eyeballs. Had Northwestern and Purdue played in the middle of October it probably would have been buried behind 10+ other better games. Now it stands out, and even though Purdue is in a conference hole, they got some pretty good exposure they wont get for the rest of the season.
Don't know about Pitt, but UNC won like three games last year, and I don't expect them to be much better. Maybe .500. I don't think anyone expects Pitt to challenge Miami in their division of the ACC.
The interesting thing is about UCF is they're not a small school. They're the 2nd biggest school in the country (Arizona St is #1 in student enrollment last time I checked).
I like that they've gotten good. The American Conference needs schools like that. It's up to the rest of the conference to get better
I don’t expect Washington to beat Auburn. This is a game that will have playoff implications. A rare chance for the PAC 10 to score some direct “points” vs the SEC.
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