2021 College Football Thread: New Year Same Playoff

[paintmered]

UC probably could get App State to visit instead of Murray State, though. May not sound like a big difference, but it would be huge with the computers.

For the very reason you suggest, UC and Marshall find themselves playing every few years. UC is often able to get a two-for-one agreement, and travel expenses to Huntington are light.

One of the biggest challenges UC has is their geographically regional schools are either P5, who rarely agree to one-and-one deals (Purdue and IU are two recent exceptions) or MAC-level who don't help the strength of schedule.

UC is in a position where if they're going to travel non-conference, they need to collect a paycheck or stay within a few hours radius (ND happened to be both). I expect their non-conference scheduling will begin to look different once they're in the Big XII and their budget has a bit more freedom.

[oregonred]

A&M vs Bama? Are you serious Clark...

A&M will be lucky to find a single win against the SEC West this season

Happy to be wrong on this one and not be able to envision a 100-game Bama win streak vs. unranked teams coming to an end. This college football season has been bonkers so far and would be even more off the chain if Texas bothered to show up for the 2nd half yesterday.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Put yourself in the shoes of UC's AD. Like virtually every school out there, UC needs to have at least six home games to pay the bills. Four of those come from within the conference, leaving four non-conference openings. One of those will be Miami every year, so that leaves three games to schedule.

Which P5 AD do you call who will answer the phone, agree to travel to Nippert, and lose?

Why they gotta be at home only again?

Why not a home-and-home with another top-ranked team who needs more quality opponents?

Or perhaps a home-and-home with a mid-tier Power Five team who might need some more juice or recruiting in the Cincinnati area? (Hello, Louisville. Or WVU. Or even Michigan State.)

[UKFlounder]

Or a neutral-site game? One this year was Ole Miss versus a Louisville tesm that has had a couple bad years. Maybe UC is getting enough press to get into 0ne of those games?

Why they gotta be at home only again?

Why not a home-and-home with another top-ranked team who needs more quality opponents?

Or perhaps a home-and-home with a mid-tier Power Five team who might need some more juice or recruiting in the Cincinnati area? (Hello, Louisville. Or WVU. Or even Michigan State.)

[paintmered]

Why they gotta be at home only again?

Why not a home-and-home with another top-ranked team who needs more quality opponents?

Or perhaps a home-and-home with a mid-tier Power Five team who might need some more juice or recruiting in the Cincinnati area? (Hello, Louisville. Or WVU. Or even Michigan State.)

It's got to be a home game because we're talking about alternatives to Murray State, which was a home game. Many P5 schools are willing to play a one-off game, as long as it's at their place and not Nippert. Replacing Murray State with a P5 away game in the name of strength of schedule means UC would be left with only five home games on their schedule this year, and they're unwilling to do this. Home games pay the bills, and most schools schedule to maximize their number of home games.

UC has been very aggressive at pursuing one-and-one agreements with P5 schools, but there are few takers out there. Most schools counter with two-and-one or three-and-one, if they're willing to entertain it at all. Agreements less favorable than one-for-one don't help UC fill their home slate. UC will agree to a one-and-done if it fills an away hole in their schedule and there's a paycheck attached (see Arkansas, for example).

Louisville hasn't given UC the time of day since they left for the ACC, for whatever reason. UC would love nothing more than an opportunity to reclaim the Keg. I haven't heard whether WVU was agreeable to a series or not. I'd imagine the nine game conference schedule in the Big XII is a big hurdle for WVU. And besides, a non-conference series with WVU is OBE.

[WVRed]

Why they gotta be at home only again?

Why not a home-and-home with another top-ranked team who needs more quality opponents?

Or perhaps a home-and-home with a mid-tier Power Five team who might need some more juice or recruiting in the Cincinnati area? (Hello, Louisville. Or WVU. Or even Michigan State.)

I don’t follow UC enough to know how Fickell recruits but I’d imagine giving any help to other schools with recruiting in the city would not be in their best interests.

[WVRed]

Completely forgot the UK basketball pro day was on this evening.

Went to KSR to get a recap, it’s barely being followed. Everything on there is football.

What a time to be alive.

[Stray]

Completely forgot the UK basketball pro day was on this evening.

Went to KSR to get a recap, it’s barely being followed. Everything on there is football.

What a time to be alive.

Kentucky the "football school" is pretty cool this year. Stoops has done a really good job there.

[Bourgeois Zee]

It's got to be a home game because we're talking about alternatives to Murray State, which was a home game. Many P5 schools are willing to play a one-off game, as long as it's at their place and not Nippert. Replacing Murray State with a P5 away game in the name of strength of schedule means UC would be left with only five home games on their schedule this year, and they're unwilling to do this. Home games pay the bills, and most schools schedule to maximize their number of home games.

Which is the entire point of my argument.

If Cincinnati's AD is after money, the sixth home game makes sense.

If he's after a national championship, he should have scheduled a tougher opponent.

[paintmered]

Which is the entire point of my argument.

If Cincinnati's AD is after money, the sixth home game makes sense.

If he's after a national championship, he should have scheduled a tougher opponent.

The operating budget absolutely comes first if the AD wants to remain employed and in the good graces of the university president and board of trustees. Remember that UC is a state school with state appointed budgetary oversight. Its athletic department already runs at a significant deficit, which is a source of frustration among faculty and students (who cover the difference though student life fees every semester). The university has been living beyond its means in the name of escaping the AAC. That gamble paid off, but they were staring down eight-figure budget cuts without the conference realignment lifeline. After all, it is the weakness of the AAC (particularly this year) that started this discussion.

And none of this touches on the effects it would have to recruiting Cincy-area kids. Come to UC, where your parents can't watch you play until October.

So maybe all of this means UC misses the playoffs. But it's nowhere as easy as simply scheduling someone better.

[kaldaniels]

You can try as hard as you want but if you aren’t a Power 5 school you have an uphill climb to make the playoff, even if you go undefeated. Despite a few tough games on UC’s schedule they do not have the grueling week in and out schedule that schools in the top conferences have. It’s not fair but it’s the nature of the beast.

I’m glad UC is stepping up to the Big 12.

I’m glad to revisit this at the end of the season and compare SOS between UC and other playoff contenders. Though I suspect UC’s SOS will be shockingly low in comparison.

[paintmered]

The B1G West is awful. Iowa has played one ranked team and have none remaining on their schedule. Yet nobody is suggesting Iowa should be left out of the playoffs because of it. Why is that?

[kaldaniels]

The B1G West is awful. Iowa has played one ranked team and have none remaining on their schedule. Yet nobody is suggesting Iowa should be left out of the playoffs because of it. Why is that?

Everyone knows when the dust clears (Big Ten title game included) Iowa (if they run the table) will have a much higher SOS overall and it’s not really debatable.

[RedTeamGo!]

The B1G West is awful. Iowa has played one ranked team and have none remaining on their schedule. Yet nobody is suggesting Iowa should be left out of the playoffs because of it. Why is that?

Iowa will also play a likely top 5 team in the B1G championship game, though. IF they win that game they will have two wins better than any of UC’s

[paintmered]

Iowa will also play a likely top 5 team in the B1G championship game, though. IF they win that game they will have two wins better than any of UC’s

The conference championship game will make it a better schedule, sure. But it's still a weak schedule where Iowa only have to get up twice instead of every week. Isn't that the argument against UC?

We're drawing arbitrary lines to determine who is worthy, and somehow that line keeps getting drawn right above UC. Weird how that works.