Non-conference games as we head into the future ...

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Texan Gopher

Texan Gopher

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Would love to hear y'all's thoughts on this....

As we head into a 4 super-conferences world of College Football where NIL.$ and the transfer portal will create essentially a small group of Have's (schools that are blue bloods with boosters that pay for the recruits) and have not's (teams that will be forced to develop 3 star kids over 5 years to hopefully make a surprise run in their conference once a decade).

Does it make sense to schedule 3 cupcakes every year to at least get us some warm up type games and 3 "W"'s so we are closer to a bowl invite ?

The in conference schedule is going to be insane year after year as we will have NIL spenders & blue bloods almost every game.

Oregon, USC, UCLA, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State are Tier 1 NIL/Bluebloods

Then add in Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, ....

Nebraska will eventually be good again. Maryland has under armour $$$ for years. Etc.

I really hope the non-conference schedules going forward are filled with Eastern Michigan's and UTEP's.
 


Absolutely need 3 wins in non-conf, 3-6 Big Ten record gets you to bowl game. That kind of BT conf record could become more common than we hope.
 

No cupcakes, make the away non conference games a destination. I would prefer to go to a nice location like Chapel Hill, Starkville etc. I think of it like a bowl game (but with meaning) st the beginning of the year. There are plenty of power 5 schools to schedule for the fans to enjoy a great environment.

I would love to see them schedule anyone in Florida, Utah/Idaho area, Atlantic
coast states, A&M, TT, ISU (or any other bug 12 school)

No one wants to spend any money, home or away on a MAC school
 



Texan Gopher said:
Would love to hear y'all's thoughts on this....

As we head into a 4 super-conferences world of College Football where NIL.$ and the transfer portal will create essentially a small group of Have's (schools that are blue bloods with boosters that pay for the recruits) and have not's (teams that will be forced to develop 3 star kids over 5 years to hopefully make a surprise run in their conference once a decade).

Does it make sense to schedule 3 cupcakes every year to at least get us some warm up type games and 3 "W"'s so we are closer to a bowl invite ?

The in conference schedule is going to be insane year after year as we will have NIL spenders & blue bloods almost every game.

Oregon, USC, UCLA, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State are Tier 1 NIL/Bluebloods

Then add in Iowa, Wisconsin, Washington, ....

Nebraska will eventually be good again. Maryland has under armour $$$ for years. Etc.

I really hope the non-conference schedules going forward are filled with Eastern Michigan's and UTEP's.
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Yes. In fact, in our case (and some other conference teams), we'd be better off going to an 8 game conference schedule. Then maybe we could schedule a respectable or even good team in nonconference here and there.
 


.they need to flip flop some of the games always schedule or we are going to have years scheduled with 8 home or 6 home instead of a consistent 7.

I assume next year is going to be 8 home to wrap up UNC series.
I assume we are actively working to flip flop home/road for Ms State, cal series
 






MplsGopher said:
You know what's a good destination? A bowl game
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I bet as many people travel to a nonconf game against a good P5 in a good location, compared to a 3rd tier bowl game in a 2nd rate location possibly not even against a P5. There is more time to plan the trip, and it’s usually less expensive than booking holiday travel on short notice.

That being said, over the next few years I suspect the West Coast away games will fill that niche. So may as well load up on cupcakes the next several years while adjusting to the new B1G schedule.
 

Catechol said:
I bet as many people travel to a nonconf game against a good P5 in a good location, compared to a 3rd tier bowl game in a 2nd rate location possibly not even against a P5. There is more time to plan the trip, and it’s usually less expensive than booking holiday travel on short notice.

That being said, over the next few years I suspect the West Coast away games will fill that niche. So may as well load up on cupcakes the next several years while adjusting to the new B1G schedule.
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Probably more...
 



I see. Sacrifice a win for the sake of your personal convenience and desire to go somewhere “fun”. Neat
 



I’m simply saying that I don’t give a crap if you had a blast in Chapel Hill. It’s not Fleck and Coyle’s job to make a non-conf schedule that gives you a fun excuse to book a weekend trip.

Their job is to win and go to a bowl game, now. Yesterday is the new Big Ten.
 

MplsGopher said:
I’m simply saying that I don’t give a crap if you had a blast in Chapel Hill. It’s not Fleck and Coyle’s job to make a non-conf schedule that gives you a fun excuse to book a weekend trip.

Their job is to win and go to a bowl game, now. Yesterday is the new Big Ten.
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Fleck and Coyle need to sell tickets- and having home and home series against power 5 schools enhances the appeal to buy tickets. Are people more interested in playing UNC at home next year or a MAC or FBS school?

I do hope once this realignment is done that all the power 4 conferences only schedule other power 4 teams in NC
 

MplsGopher said:
I’m simply saying that I don’t give a crap if you had a blast in Chapel Hill. It’s not Fleck and Coyle’s job to make a non-conf schedule that gives you a fun excuse to book a weekend trip.

Their job is to win and go to a bowl game, now. Yesterday is the new Big Ten.
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Is that their job? Does it bring a higher profile if they win 1 more game and scrape into a third rate bowl which does not make a profit for the U? I’m not suggesting to schedule 3/3 Power 5 heavyweights in nonconf. But scheduling just 1, one might look at it as prescheduling a sort of “bowl game matchup” of your own choosing and if it’s a home and home, you get a home bowl game and a quality destination game.
 

I would like to see more P5 nonconference opponents such as.
Kansas
Kansas State
NC State
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Iowa State
Missouri
South Carolina
Arizona
Arizona State


Basically teams or regions we haven't played a lot recently.
 

Catechol said:
That being said, over the next few years I suspect the West Coast away games will fill that niche. So may as well load up on cupcakes the next several years while adjusting to the new B1G schedule.
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That's not how it works- non conference schedules are set years in advance.

As it stands- looks like we have 1 opening in 2026 and 2027. Every other game is accounted for already!
 

First off, you likely don't need to worry as the Gophers have their non-conference schedule laid out except for 2 games through 2028. 1 P5 is scheduled each year already.

Everyone knows there will be a bias towards the B1G and SEC when it comes to rankings and perceived power. It will be interesting to see who gets scheduled from the Big 12 for non-conference games. ACC may not exist soon.

Still odd that the SEC and ACC are going to still play 8 games and the other 2 conferences are going to play 9 conference games.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
First off, you likely don't need to worry as the Gophers have their non-conference schedule laid out except for 2 games through 2028. 1 P5 is scheduled each year already.

Everyone knows there will be a bias towards the B1G and SEC when it comes to rankings and perceived power. It will be interesting to see who gets scheduled from the Big 12 for non-conference games. ACC may not exist soon.

Still odd that the SEC and ACC are going to still play 8 games and the other 2 conferences are going to play 9
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Media partners lose games with a shift from nonconference to conference games.
 

Not valuable games.

You lose Gophers vs Louisiana-Lafayette and you gain more Big Ten games.

BTN is the only one who would "lose" those games. None of the ones going away would make the main channels that actually make them the money.
 

Yes. You play G5 teams early in the season to gear up and tack some experience onto new players. A program like the Gophers (and 80% of the other P5 teams that aren't helmet schools) will want those wins (hopefully) to boost their bowl pedigree.

It'll make even more sense after the B10 expands to 20 teams and the conference schedule hits 10 games (which it will). You need those tune up games. And for anyone saying 'we need destination games in the non-con'......the new B10 is going to take the team to both coasts. You want a Gopher trip vacation? You'll have that opportunity with conference games.
 


MplsGopher said:
I’m simply saying that I don’t give a crap if you had a blast in Chapel Hill. It’s not Fleck and Coyle’s job to make a non-conf schedule that gives you a fun excuse to book a weekend trip.

Their job is to win and go to a bowl game, now. Yesterday is the new Big Ten.
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Then they should be good enough to beat UNC.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
First off, you likely don't need to worry as the Gophers have their non-conference schedule laid out except for 2 games through 2028. 1 P5 is scheduled each year already.

Everyone knows there will be a bias towards the B1G and SEC when it comes to rankings and perceived power. It will be interesting to see who gets scheduled from the Big 12 for non-conference games. ACC may not exist soon.

Still odd that the SEC and ACC are going to still play 8 games and the other 2 conferences are going to play 9 conference games.
Click to expand...
The 8 conference games makes it much easier to get 7 home games for every team.
Minnesota Has a balancing act now to maintain that since they were swapped in terms of which years they have 5 home games
 


swede2 said:
Media partners lose games with a shift from nonconference to conference games.
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Interesting that last Saturday and next Saturday are the two major bye weeks. Last week only 4 east teams played and this week only 4 west teams play. Northwestern played a non-conference game last week and Penn State plays one this week.

BTN had 1 game last weekend and will have 2 this weekend. Brutal conference schedule these two weeks for National Games.

Michigan/MN
Maryland/tOSU was ok.

Fox Indiana/Michigan
NBC Illinois/Maryland
Fox Iowa/Wisconsin is the most meaningful.
 

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