Ohio State vs. Georgia in 2008?

[ORD_Buckeye]

Are you even aware that OSU plays USC in '08 and '09 and Miami(FL) in '10 and '11?

Are you complaining that we dropped Cal 5 years out without even knowing who they're being replaced with? Seriously?

Yes, I am. I am aware of the games mentioned, but we also have a huge alumni base in Northern California and haven't played out there since the early 80's. There had better be a damned good opponent to replace Cal and not just an additional home game for some in-state school.

 

[23Skidoo]

By the way Alabama did just have a home and home with OU a few years ago.

2002. Here's what I found when I looked some schedules up...

I'm only specifically mentioning away games out of the "region." Region is kind of up for grabs in definition, but here is what I got.

The teams I chose to look at are somewhat by reputation. Both one of not playing many tough teams OOC, and being high-profile programs that have expectations.



Auburn: last time out of the South was @USC 2002
27 away games of 71 total games since 2002

LSU: left the South for ASU (#15) in 2005 and Arizona in 2003.
28 away games of 71 since 2002.

Alabama: went to Oklahoma (#8) in 2002 and Hawaii in 02 and 03.
27 away games of 72 games since 2002


Wiscy: 31/71 total away games
2007 @UNLV
2006
2005 @HI, @NC
2004 @AZ
2003 @WVU (#23)
2002 @UNLV

PSU: last went to Nebraska in 2003 28/70 total away games



From this it seems LSU and Wiscy leave home often enough, but don't really play tough teams.
PSU, Alabama, and Auburn should be dropped in the polls just for being total sissies. All 3 of these should be able to garner nationwide interest and, schedules willing, get home-and-away deals with other top-programs (maybe eachother?). They have the clout, they have the money, and they're guaranteed to get national exposure for doing so. Really no excuses in my opinion.
(Though, in PSU's defense -- BC and NoD aren't bad OOC matchups. Just leave the eastern seaboard / B10 country for once...)

 

[23Skidoo]

This is really a strawman argument.

I am saying that you don't see the Big Ten play in SEC country (and vice versa), and you can't necessarily blame that on the SEC. You've demonstrated that the SEC doesn't travel as much as the Big Ten, but that isn't what I'm arguing here.

Look again at the data you've provided. There is precisely 1 Big Ten team visiting an SEC opponent in those games (Indiana --> Kentucky). On the other hand, there are 3 SEC Teams traveling to the Big Ten territory (Kentucky --> Indiana 2x, Vandy --> Michigan). You've really proven my point that the SEC might not be to blame here.

Look, I don't like the SEC... but I don't know enough about the game scheduling to say that they're to blame for not playing the Big Ten more often. It goes both ways, as I said before. I'd like to see more head-to-head match-ups, but at this point, one or both conferences are preventing this from happening.

I don't think people are misunderstanding your argument. I think we're just not buying into it. You could take ANY disagreeable situation, say "both sides are to blame", and be correct to some varying extent.
The replies so far have been of a nature of establishing a precedent that the SEC teams don't like to leave the South. Whereas the B10, for the most part, shows a willingness to schedule home-and-aways. Such a precedent would put the onus them.
I think sandgk said it best. Tenn is willing to play anyone, anywhere. The rest, not even close. Props to Tenn.
There's also an article that was linked last year (on a similar subject) about our AD calling around to several SEC teams to schedule games (presumably home-and-aways, since it's how we've rolled so far) and not getting any interest.

It sounds like GA's AD is looking to change that perspective, and I welcome it.

 

[CleveBucks]

This is really a strawman argument.

I am saying that you don't see the Big Ten play in SEC country (and vice versa), and you can't necessarily blame that on the SEC. You've demonstrated that the SEC doesn't travel as much as the Big Ten, but that isn't what I'm arguing here.

Look again at the data you've provided. There is precisely 1 Big Ten team visiting an SEC opponent in those games (Indiana --> Kentucky). On the other hand, there are 3 SEC Teams traveling to the Big Ten territory (Kentucky --> Indiana 2x, Vandy --> Michigan). You've really proven my point that the SEC might not be to blame here.

Look, I don't like the SEC... but I don't know enough about the game scheduling to say that they're to blame for not playing the Big Ten more often. It goes both ways, as I said before. I'd like to see more head-to-head match-ups, but at this point, one or both conferences are preventing this from happening.

Look, it's actually quite simple. EVERY Big Ten team has left the conference footprint for at least one non-conference game in the last five years. That's pretty good evidence that every team is willing to travel some distance away for games. What logical argument can you possibly make to say that Big Ten teams will travel pretty much anywere in the country EXCEPT for the SEC? Is it the Big Ten's fear of SEC teams? I bet. Every Big Ten team, except for Penn State, has traveled all the way to the West coast at least once in the last five seasons.

On the other hand, you have three of the SEC's biggest programs - Florida, Georgia, and Auburn - that have refused to even leave the conference footprint in the same time span. Another two, Kentucky and South Carolina, merely traveled one state over.

Almost half of the SEC conference has not traveled as far as any Big Ten state in the last five seasons. What makes anyone think they would be willing to schedule a home-home with a Big Ten team? They haven't scheduled anybody else outside of their region either.

The closest we have come recently is the Penn State - Alabama series of 04-05, which Alabama postponed. Yet it's the Big Ten that's avoiding the SEC?

PLUS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Alabama Postpones Series With Penn St. - New York Times

By the way, Georgia has not played an OOC game outside of an SEC state since - get this - 1967 when they lost to Houston. How the heck is a Big Ten team going to schedule them?

 

[B-UNIT]

yeah texas is in the state, along with southern cal, miami hurricanes, and va tech all m.a.c. schools because osu is afraid to play hard out of conference games. when we scheduled wash. they were in the midst of winning pac 10 titles and playing in rose bowls. come with facts idiot!

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

yeah texas is in the state, along with southern cal, miami hurricanes, and va tech all m.a.c. schools because osu is afraid to play hard out of conference games. when we scheduled wash. they were in the midst of winning pac 10 titles and playing in rose bowls. come with facts idiot!

I'm assuming that you're responding to me. First off, I never said that Ohio State was afraid to play hard ooc games. I expressed my disappointment in our trying to pull out of a series with Cal. Second, I expressed my opposition to loading up our schedule with too many in-state MAC schools and hoped that would not prove to be the reason for dropping Cal. Why the hell would we drop Cal? It makes no sense. They're an emerging top 10 program. They're located in a recruiting hotbed. There is a huge alumni base in their region, and the location makes for a great road trip.

Third, before calling someone an idiot, learn to write an intelligible sentence.

 

[Dryden]

Just did some checking at cfbdatawarehouse ... BCS-era (1998-2006), not including the present season, since I don't know every teams' current schedule ...

Florida? Have played 30 regular season OOC games. 24 have been in Gainesville, 5 in Tallahassee, and 1 in Miami. Have not played a single regular season OOC opponent from a BCS conference other than Florida State or Miami, and have not left the state of Florida for a regular season OOC game in this stretch.

Georgia? Have played 30 regular season OOC games. 25 have been in Athens, 4 in Atlanta, and 1 in Clemson. Aside from pimp-slapping GT on an annual basis, have only played two regular season OOC opponents from a BCS conference other than Georgia Tech: Clemson and Colorado. Only once have they left the state of Georgia, and that was to travel all the way to ... South Carolina.

South Carolina? Have played 30 regular season OOC games. 23 have been in Columbia and 5 in Clemson. Have played three regular games versus OOC opponents from BCS conferences outside of rival Clemson, splitting a home/away series with Virginia, and once traveling to NC State. So in their stretch, they've at least managed to head from Columbia, SC, all the way to ... Raleigh, NC, and Charlottesville, VA.

That's just the three programs I bothered to look up in depth, and not one has traveled north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Mississippi River from 1998 to the present day!

Here's a few more I'll take stabs at:

Arkansas? Went to Dallas (SMU), Austin (Texas), and Los Angeles (USC). Otherwise, haven't left the state of Arkansas.

Alabama? Went to Pasadena in '00 to play UCLA, and Norman, OK in '02. Haven't played a OOC regular season game outside of Birmingham/Tuscaloosa otherwise ... OK. OK. So they did schedule a couple impromptu trips to Honolulu to play Hawaii to end seasons where they couldn't have gone to bowls, since they were on probation ...

Auburn? Went to Syracuse in '01, and LA in '02. Haven't played a OOC regular season game outside of Auburn since.

LSU? Went to South Bend in '98, Blacksburg VA in '02, Tucson, AZ in '03, and Tempe, AZ in '05. (Hey, now we're getting somewhere).

You get the idea ...

Contrast that with Ohio State: Morgantown ('98), Neutral Site/New Jersey to play the 'Canes ('99), Tucson ('00), LA ('01), Raleigh ('04), and Austin ('06). Were the rest of the games against in-state opponents and D1AA's? No. In '98 we also had Missouri, '99 had UCLA, 2002 -- though both were at home, -- we played both Texas Tech and Washington State, 2003 was Washington and NC State, '06 included Cincinnati (now in the Big East). That means in more than half of the seasons counted, Ohio State has played two teams from BCS conferences, not just one.

 

[milkman21]

Look, it's actually quite simple. EVERY Big Ten team has left the conference footprint for at least one non-conference game in the last five years. That's pretty good evidence that every team is willing to travel some distance away for games. What logical argument can you possibly make to say that Big Ten teams will travel pretty much anywere in the country EXCEPT for the SEC? Is it the Big Ten's fear of SEC teams? I bet. Every Big Ten team, except for Penn State, has traveled all the way to the West coast at least once in the last five seasons.

On the other hand, you have three of the SEC's biggest programs - Florida, Georgia, and Auburn - that have refused to even leave the conference footprint in the same time span. Another two, Kentucky and South Carolina, merely traveled one state over.

Almost half of the SEC conference has not traveled as far as any Big Ten state in the last five seasons. What makes anyone think they would be willing to schedule a home-home with a Big Ten team? They haven't scheduled anybody else outside of their region either.

The closest we have come recently is the Penn State - Alabama series of 04-05, which Alabama postponed. Yet it's the Big Ten that's avoiding the SEC?

PLUS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL; Alabama Postpones Series With Penn St. - New York Times

By the way, Georgia has not played an OOC game outside of an SEC state since - get this - 1967 when they lost to Houston. How the heck is a Big Ten team going to schedule them?

Now we're talking! You're demonstrating that the SEC is probably to blame, here. You're arguing a point and backing it up appropriately. Now, I can say that I agree with you.

Before, you were making an accusation and not backing it up. I truly did not know the scheduling situation well enough to judge the accuracy of your statement, so I called BS on your logic. But by demonstrating that there's more evidence here, you've demonstrated that the SEC is likely the cause of this. Now, it makes sense to say "the SEC is to blame", and I agree.

Thanks for the info.

 

[muffler dragon]

Great Post, Dryden. I love all the information.