Scheduling Question

[jamesda3]

why don't we schedule cupcakes out of conference every game. I realize the draw of ND as I am excited for them game, but if we had schedule say one fcs like a GW, Tulane, bad cusa, bad mac, or bad sun belt. Than bowl eligibility would not be a concern right now.

Now I only say do this for about 10 years until we establish ourselves as a consistent bowling program. BCS sos should never be a concern.

I believe Duke tried to do this this year no one realizing how could Stanford would become. But they are simply not winning should win games though. I think they lose tonight against a very tough FIU team. Who shut down UCF who destroyed BC.

I just believe we should focus on becoming a yearly winning program whether it is 7-5 or 8-4 until we start pulling in bigger name recruits.

I care much less about crowd draw to see ND than I do wins. If we start winning consistently the crowds will come to see whoever we play.

What is your opinion?

 

[TheShot]

i think it's a balance. i know a lot of people hate the Elon/G-W game, etc. But i love it - you need one game that is a W and where you can work on some stuff. Playing Navy for that game isn't a good idea.

I actually think this year is a decent balance OOC - 1 sure win, 1 marquee draw (super marquee draw this year) and 2 50/50 games against BCS teams,

 

[jamesda3]

the next two years are crucial to our program and we have to take advantage OOC.

Tulane, Army, ND, Vandy, and Liberty on the horizon. The Oline will be young but the rest of the O will be vets. We lose VT and get an improving but more winnable UVA team on the road next year and UNC, Duke, Clemson, and BC at home next year. A chance for a really good season if the new OL can be good and the replacements for Wilber, Quarles, and Bush are good.

 

[ChrisL68]

We should have at least two pretty sure wins a year. A FCS game and a Tulane type game.

 

[Deacon92]

6

Until we have 6 wins bowl eligibility is at least a little concerned. But see the point

 

[PhDeac]

We do typically schedule cupcakes.

 

[LilburnDeac]

I like our current scheduling philosophy. 1 cupcake (FCS), 2 beatable but respectable BCS opponents, 1 big name. Throw in a service academy every few years and its a good approach to scheduling.

 

[JGDeac]

We have a bunch of scrubs scheduled through 2015. I'm thrilled we picked up the 2-for-1 Notre Dame games or else our OOC schedule would look like VPI's this year. We have one TBA for '13 and '15 and I'd love it if we picked up a Home and Home with a team like South Carolina. We should be good in '13 and right now our OOC is Army, Rice, and Vandy.

 

[jamesda3]

I like our current scheduling philosophy. 1 cupcake (FCS), 2 beatable but respectable BCS opponents, 1 big name. Throw in a service academy every few years and its a good approach to scheduling.

It works if you only want to go to a bowl every once in while.

I want to go to a bowl every year and if that means Tulane, FAU, Elon, and Eastern Michigan so be it.

We start winning going to bowls every year our recruiting picks up to 4* players then we start scheduling low level BCS conference schools.

 

[jamesda3]

We have a bunch of scrubs scheduled through 2015. I'm thrilled we picked up the 2-for-1 Notre Dame games or else our OOC schedule would look like VPI's this year. We have one TBA for '13 and '15 and I'd love it if we picked up a Home and Home with a team like South Carolina. We should be good in '13 and right now our OOC is Army, Rice, and Vandy.

wouldn't you rather see us beat a scrub than lose to a good team and sit home at Christmas.

 

[TheShot]

http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062504aaa.html

Wake Forest's Non-Conference Opponents By Year:
2011: Notre Dame, at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Gardner-Webb
2012: Army, Liberty, at Notre Dame, Vanderbilt
2013: at Army, Rice, at Vanderbilt, TBA
2014: Army, Northern Illinois, at Rice, at Vanderbilt
2015: at Army, Vanderbilt, at Notre Dame, TBA

Next year is manageable. It's the 2007 conference sked:UNC at home, @Duke, @UVA

 

[jamesda3]

http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/062504aaa.html

Wake Forest's Non-Conference Opponents By Year:
2011: Notre Dame, at Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Gardner-Webb
2012: Army, Liberty, at Notre Dame, Vanderbilt
2013: at Army, Rice, at Vanderbilt, TBA
2014: Army, Northern Illinois, at Rice, at Vanderbilt
2015: at Army, Vanderbilt, at Notre Dame, TBA

Next year is manageable. It's the 2007 conference sked:UNC at home, @Duke, @UVA

Duke is at home next year. If we are not bowling the next 2 years someone should be in trouble.

 

[Say Hey Deac]

wouldn't you rather see us beat a scrub than lose to a good team and sit home at Christmas.

I realize a lot of people don't share my philosophy, but personally I'd rather play a fun opponent who might beat us in Groves Stadium (e.g., Notre Dame, Nebraska) than play a meaningless bowl game against Navy 3 days before Christmas.

 

[jamesda3]

I realize a lot of people don't share my philosophy, but personally I'd rather play a fun opponent who might beat us in Groves Stadium (e.g., Notre Dame, Nebraska) than play a meaningless bowl game against Navy 3 days before Christmas.

The meaningless bowl game is not the goal. The building a consistent winner to make us into a program that gets 4* with an occasional 3 instead of one that wins 2 or 3 times a decade and gets 3* with the occasional 2 is the goal.

I would suck it up and watch us play patsy's for 10 years if it meant we could elevate our recruiting and our program before moving up to more meaningful opponents.

If you consistently schedule tough games and only win every once in a while bigger recruits will look away.

Do you really think at the end of the season if VT is 10-3 and we are 5-7 or 4-8 that a recruit is going to look at VT and say well they only beat App St. and Duke and Wake played the likes of ND, Clemson, and FSU. No they are not they are going to look at the record that is all that matters.

 

[WakeGal]

wouldn't you rather see us beat a scrub than lose to a good team and sit home at Christmas.

I realize a lot of people don't share my philosophy, but personally I'd rather play a fun opponent who might beat us in Groves Stadium (e.g., Notre Dame, Nebraska) than play a meaningless bowl game against Navy 3 days before Christmas.

I have to agree with Say Hey. I would much rather Wake play a challenging OOC team and lose, but still put up a good/respectful game, than to see us play in a crappy bowl game year in and year out. Part of what made the Orange Bowl so special is that it was a novelty. Going to a crappy bowl each year, would likely wear away some of the novelty.

 

[mersk862]

I have to agree with Say Hey. I would much rather Wake play a challenging OOC team and lose, but still put up a good/respectful game, than to see us play in a crappy bowl game year in and year out. Part of what made the Orange Bowl so special is that it was a novelty. Going to a crappy bowl each year, would likely wear away some of the novelty.

Indeed - I can get excited about trips to Nashville, Orlando, Atlanta or Miami.

Going to San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl or DC for the Eagle Bank Bowl just doesn't excite me. I'd take a trip to a good destination every 3-4 years than going to some dull bowl every 1-2 years.

 

[PhDeac]

The meaningless bowl game is not the goal. The building a consistent winner to make us into a program that gets 4* with an occasional 3 instead of one that wins 2 or 3 times a decade and gets 3* with the occasional 2 is the goal.

I would suck it up and watch us play patsy's for 10 years if it meant we could elevate our recruiting and our program before moving up to more meaningful opponents.

If you consistently schedule tough games and only win every once in a while bigger recruits will look away.

Do you really think at the end of the season if VT is 10-3 and we are 5-7 or 4-8 that a recruit is going to look at VT and say well they only beat App St. and Duke and Wake played the likes of ND, Clemson, and FSU. No they are not they are going to look at the record that is all that matters.

Can we say for certain that beating Navy in December does more for the program than playing Notre Dame and Nebraska?

 

[2&2 Slider To Leyritz]

Bowl games are absolutely completely meaningless unless it is for the national championship. Everything else is an exhibition game that is usually poorly attended; I really have no idea why anyone cares about bowl games. Whether or not we are good enough to win the ACC (our actual goal) is unrelated to bowl games. If our perceived goal is to get to a "good" (again, all but one are meaningless) bowl game so that we can play Notre Dame in Boise, then I am a helluva lot happier simply playing Notre Dame at home so that I can go to the game.

 

[Wakelaw2006]

The meaningless bowl game is not the goal. The building a consistent winner to make us into a program that gets 4* with an occasional 3 instead of one that wins 2 or 3 times a decade and gets 3* with the occasional 2 is the goal.

I would suck it up and watch us play patsy's for 10 years if it meant we could elevate our recruiting and our program before moving up to more meaningful opponents.

If you consistently schedule tough games and only win every once in a while bigger recruits will look away.

Do you really think at the end of the season if VT is 10-3 and we are 5-7 or 4-8 that a recruit is going to look at VT and say well they only beat App St. and Duke and Wake played the likes of ND, Clemson, and FSU. No they are not they are going to look at the record that is all that matters.

I fail to see how scheduling 4 OOC games against the Directional Michigans of the world so that we consistently go 7-5 helps us "compete" with VT at 10-2. We need to consistently win conference games against the supposed big boys (VT, FSU, Clemson, etc.) of the conference to get to the level that you are talking about. Going 7-5 with wins against FAU, Elon, Gardner Webb, and Tulane doesn't get you there at all.

 

[Deacfreak07]

A couple of missed points.

Revenue is a factor. Our alumni base can't generate the same revenue vs. Bethune Cookman as it can vs. Nebraska. Revenue pays for facility upgrades and coaching salaries.

Second, better conference performance is better for the program long term. VT and FSU didn't rise up by just winning crappy nonconference games, they did it by competing in the conference, being ranked, and being on TV. A better nonconference schedule helps us do that.