2010's toughest schedules

[Plinnius]

Ouch, look who comes in at #119.

 

[Silvio]

Keep in mind that would have been a lot higher had the gophers not been so poor. I also have a hard time believing that Wisconsin's schedule was only 7 spots more difficult than Boise St. I know Wisc.'s non conference was soft, but that doesn't speak to highly of the BigTen schedule.

 

[Stan The Caddy]

Or at #120...

 

[Monty519]

Look who comes in at #88 lol

 

[RodentRampage]

To be fair, that's inline with other MAC schools, other MAC schools have SOS of 79, 90, 92, 98, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 115 and 116.

 

[Ski-U-Mah24]

Look who comes in at #88 lol

beat me to it! very glen mason-like scheduling over there at wisconsin! way to schedule the least toughest schedule in the big ten badgers!

 

[Silvio]

To be fair, that's inline with other MAC schools, other MAC schools have SOS of 79, 90, 92, 98, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 115 and 116.

Remember as one of the top MAC schools they can't play themselves so it makes sense that they would have one of the weaker MAC schedules. I think they also played Illinois and we know they played the U.

 

[NateDawgUM]

They had to play the 3 worst D1-A schools in the country (per Jeff Sagarin): Eastern Michigan, Buffalo and Akron.

The also kicked the snot out of all 3.

 

[RodentRampage]

Also, winning your games makes your schedule look easier, as your opponents have worse records than they would if you had lost to them!

 

[Stan The Caddy]

They had to play the 3 worst D1-A schools in the country (per Jeff Sagarin): Eastern Michigan, Buffalo and Akron.

The also kicked the snot out of all 3.

71-3 Baby! I would love if Kill could bring some of that here, regardless if it is New Mexico State or NDSU!

 

[Flatfoot]

Or at #120...

120 Fahrenheit?

 

[highwayman]

Also, winning your games makes your schedule look easier, as your opponents have worse records than they would if you had lost to them!

True. 10 of the 13 schools in the MAC were listed in the "bottom 25" of this ranking, including NIU. 5 of 13 teams had 9 losses or more. Winning or losing to anybody with those schools in the mix does little to boost your ranking up or drop it down.

2010 MAC Football Standings
East Division MAC Overall
Miami OH 7-1 9-4
Ohio 6-2 8-4
Temple 5-3 8-4
Kent State 4-4 5-7
Buffalo 1-7 2-10
Bowling Green 1-7 2-10
Akron 1-7 1-11

West Division MAC Overall
Northern Illinois 8-0 10-3
Toledo 7-1 8-4
Western Michigan 5-3 6-6
Ball State 3-5 4-8
Central Michigan 2-6 3-9
Eastern Michigan 2-6 2-10

 

[year of the gopher]

"Wisconsin had the easiest schedule for BCS teams coming in at #88. Despite playing in the Big Ten, the Badgers faced just five bowl teams and their non-conference schedule consisted of Austin Peay (FBS), UNLV, San Jose St and Arizona St."

Good stuff. I hope TCU lights them up. Sorry, I try to root for all big ten teams in the bowls but it just kills me every year and by halftime I find I'm rooting against Wisconsin.

 

[goldybobblehead]

So the Gophers would have been in the top 10 if we wouldn't have played a team that was in the bottom ten in schedule toughness? (oh, and we lost to them too)

 

[Art Vandelay]

I thought running up the score is frowned upon her at Gopherhole?

Apparently Coach Kill will have to change his coaching philosophy to keep folks around here happy

 

[Silvio]

So the Gophers would have been in the top 10 if we wouldn't have played a team that was in the bottom ten in schedule toughness? (oh, and we lost to them too)

We played two teams in the bottom two, splitting against them.

 

[RodentRampage]

So the Gophers would have been in the top 10 if we wouldn't have played a team that was in the bottom ten in schedule toughness? (oh, and we lost to them too)

Not quite. NIU and MTSU may have had the two easiest schedules, but they weren't by any means the two worst teams. The difficulty of our opponents's schedule doesn't affect the difficulty of our schedule. Washington State has the #2 most difficult schedule, but is rated #88 by Sagarin.