Wall Street Journal on Wisconsin non-conference scheduling

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Guessing some people here will like this:

It may not look like it, but Saturday's Oregon State-Wisconsin game is a fascinating matchup: the most courageous program in college football—OSU's Beavers—against, well, the opposite.
We're not talking about the teams' respective abilities: Wisconsin, a three-touchdown favorite, should win handily. We're talking scheduling.
Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema has been getting praised lately for his 21-0 record in nonconference regular-season games. Overall, the Badgers have won their last 29 such contests. But it's easy to get all A's when all you're taking is underwater basket weaving.
Since the Wisconsin run began Sept. 20, 2003, the combined record of their nonconference opponents (excluding non-major-college ones) is 87-190 (.314)—the lowest of any school in the six major conferences. Of Wisconsin's 29 victims, 13 either were non-Football Bowl Subdivision schools or teams that went on to lose double-digit games. The last time a regular-season nonconference opponent of Wisconsin's ended the season in the AP top 25 was West Virginia in 2002—which finished 25th.
On the complete opposite end of the scheduling spectrum is Oregon State. Their opponents' win percentage over the same span is .758, by far the best nationally.
Of course, the Beavers are in no position now to pound their chest: They opened their season last weekend by losing to lower-level Sacramento State.

Show Some Courage
Since Wisconsin's 29-game nonconference win streak began, the schools that have played the toughest and easiest nonconference opponents:
Team Conference Opponents' Record
Oregon State Pac-12 185-59 (.758)
Arizona Pac-12 143-71 (.668)
North Carolina ACC 176-103 (.631)
Indiana Big Ten 98-155 (.387)
Northwestern Big Ten 95-182 (.343)
Wisconsin Big Ten 87-190 (.314)
Source: Stats LLC; Note: Excludes bowls and games against non-Football Bowl Subdivision opponents
 

Sounds like a great formula for getting bowl eligible and tuning up for conference play. When the conference goes to a 9 game schedule most teams will schedule fog a mirror U to pad the wins and get ready. Why knock a winning formula? TCU and Boise st. have shown You can play one tuff game, stay injury free and make a bcs game. Then when You show up for the bowl game, injury free due to not having your head kicked in every week in a tough conference schedule You have a decent chance to win the bowl game. Would the Gophers have been better off opening up vs. UNLV with a win? Coach Kill said as much. The gophers could have been 4-0 going into conference play needing only 2 wins to make a bowl. Making any bowl is huge for the extra practices and recruiting exposure.
 

Wisconsin's NC scheduling is no different than 95% of other BCS teams. They always play 1 BCS team, 2 MAC level teams, and a cupcake 1AA. Do I wish that the 1 BCS team was better on a yearly basis? Absolutely. But these games aren't scheduled the year before.
 

I can't stand Bielema, but I don't blame him for this. My guess is Alvarez has more to do with this than anyone else. Gopher fans shouldn't be harping on this, seeing that Mason's non-conference record was sterling as well, as we would constantly crush cream-puffs. And, as in the case of Bielema, I don't blame Mason for setting the schedule.
 

Alas, we should be doing likewise.

There's a reason we usually stink late in the season. The roster advantages of the bigger programs really asserts itself in November, which should come as no surprise.

Cut the season to 10 games. 2 non-conference, 8 conference.
 


Wait a second here. Everyone on this thread seems to be saying that either Wisconsin shouldn't be ashamed of this practice or that we should be emulating this practice. We used to do that under Mason and people on this very board pissed and moaned about it all the time.

It may not have been ideal this year, but I like having one tough non-conference oppponent. I think it's good to have an early-season test against another BCS team.
 

Ironically, after next season, Wisconsin will have played (and likely beaten twice) each of the top three teams on that list in the last eight years. Maybe they wouldn't be ranked so high if they hadn't played Wisconsin? Maybe the Badgers can schedule themselves to move up the list?
 

Start having a playoff and we will see less and less of this type of schedule.
 

4four4 said:
Start having a playoff and we will see less and less of this type of schedule.
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False. The small schools do it to get payed. Auburn payed Utah St. 950K for their game this past weekend.
 



Nice to see it took slightly over a 1/2 hour for some thini-skinned, red weasel troll to get on board and defend this crap.
 

Alvarez's teams got burned by playing good teams in the 90's. Getting beaten badly by Colorado twice and getting smoked by Syracuse in a kickoff classic. I suspect it is more the AD than the coach making these calls. They did split a nice series with Oregon and sweep the two games agains WV before the current cupcake streak started. The current streak also includes the delay of a series with Va Tech too.

Personally I'd like the BCS games to be a bit better, but you can't really criticize OSU - they played a civil war game for the rose bowl two years ago and they beat USC twice in their heyday.
 

Unregistered User said:
Nice to see it took slightly over a 1/2 hour for some thini-skinned, red weasel troll to get on board and defend this crap.
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Not really defending it, just pointing out the irony.
 





year of the gopher said:
Wait a second here. Everyone on this thread seems to be saying that either Wisconsin shouldn't be ashamed of this practice or that we should be emulating this practice. We used to do that under Mason and people on this very board pissed and moaned about it all the time.

It may not have been ideal this year, but I like having one tough non-conference oppponent. I think it's good to have an early-season test against another BCS team.
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I agree. I hated rolling on the cupcake teams and then facing Mich, Iowa or Wisky and getting rolled ourselves. Floop that, schedule 2 cupcakes, 1 midmajor and 1 BCS/helmet school.
 


Unregistered User said:
Directed at mnbadgerturd
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dude, get over it. I read gopherhole, I don't flame the gophs, and I love college football. You're bizarre blind hatred of everything Wisconsin is horribly embarrassing.

As has been echoed in this thread already, I think the best possible NC scheduling is 1 cupcake, 2 non-AQ teams, and 1 BCS team. Yes, scheduling a BCS team like Duke, Iowa State, or some of the weaker Pac-10 programs can guarantee an easier BCS match up, but these games are scheduled far earlier than they're played so who knows what you are going to get.

I would love UW to schedule a big time non con game with someone like Texas, USC, or any big name SEC school, but that's because I believe UW has gotten their program to a point where they can expect to win or compete with any of those teams. When you are trying to build your program it is important to get bowl eligible because the extra developmental time is invaluable. It just makes it that much more difficult when you have a guaranteed 'L' in the non conference portion of the schedule.
 


Unregistered User said:
Nice to see it took slightly over a 1/2 hour for some thini-skinned, red weasel troll to get on board and defend this crap.
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I think it's worth the entertainment factor to fire up a good Badger post every other day just to see how many of them feel the need to rush over and pipe in.

I mean, that's reasonable behavior, right? After all, the MN-WI game is right around the corner. Oh wait, they're on this board just as much in frickin' April and June as they are during football season....
 

I am on this board because my Son is now a Gopher. It has been great for me to learn about Gopher football and follow his team. The gophers have 6 more national titles then the Badgers. As a Badger alum I now pull for the Gophers and Badgers. When I fly in on 11/11 we are going bow hunting instead of taking in the badger/gopher game. I will be at the Illini game with him in my Gopher gear. I completely agree with the Badgers scheduling. 4 rose bowls and 3 wins in the last 17 years means something is now working every year. The Badger did schedule a pac 12 team this year and the Beavers got pounded ( no pun intended) at home vs. Sacramento friggin state last week. It shows how bad the Pac 12 is again this year. They had 4 losses on Saturday, look at the conference bowl record the last 2 years. Is that the Badgers fault when they scheduled this game 6 years ago that the beavers would be clams in 11'?
 

Formo said:
I agree. I hated rolling on the cupcake teams and then facing Mich, Iowa or Wisky and getting rolled ourselves. Floop that, schedule 2 cupcakes, 1 midmajor and 1 BCS/helmet school.
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Didn't you guys loose to USD last year and NDSU in '07?
 

LITTLEGUYSINGREEN said:
Didn't you guys loose to USD last year and NDSU in '07?
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Who said I was talking about '10 and '07 seasons? I was referring to Coach Mason's era of scheduling 3-4 cupcakes and maybe a mid-major.
 

LITTLEGUYSINGREEN said:
Didn't you guys loose to USD last year and NDSU in '07?
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That posts smells suspiciously like lakesbison ... wonder if he's signed up under another alias since he's banned until after the NDSU game.
 

As much as I enjoy seeing the Badger rubes tweaked now and again, this really isn't a story. As popeyeyoung5 has pointed out, these schedules are made years in advance and who knows how good someone will be when the offers are accepted and the schedule is made.

I'm torn a bit on the whole scheduling issue. I think going to an 8/3 or 9/2 conference to non-conference ratio might help, but then the non-conference games take on the flavor of exhibition games. The paydays are nice for the cream-puffs (and there's the occasional Appalachian State/Michigan upset), but it sure doesn't say much for the spirit of competition.

Good debate.

PS--lakesbison banned? There is a God!
 

I do not believe USC was on the Gophers schedule when Brewster took over. He went out and made it happen in order to play a top program. I give him him credit for that. If BA and BB had any kahoonies and wanted to show people they are a top program(not like the second tier program or lower they are) they would seek a game against a top program instead of UNLV. It was good to see the WSJ point out what every one thinks.
 


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