2018 Schedule-related Thoughts

drwho

Suspended
Dec 11, 2013
1,685
0
55
New Mexico St and Georgia St too. Not much there to get excited about. If I’m remembering the SEC rotation correctly though, we should get South Carolina in the cross divisional game. Muschamp seems to be moving them in the right direction, so that could be a big game.
We get Mizzou this year.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
Truly amazing argument here.

Why is everyone assuming here that the conference as a whole is staying the same? Prior to last season our schedule looked pretty tough but by the end of the year not so much.


There is literally not a person here who knows how the schedule we played will look come December. What if Louisville has someone better than Jackson who nobody knows at this point? Mizzou has a Heisman candidate, Tennessee will improve just by virtue of the coaching change, and so too will Arky and ATM.

And the whole buyout thing is amusing. Isn’t this one of those games where ESPN forks over $5 million? Why would Louisville turn down money like that?

Too many of y’all continue to not realize that the dollar is the bottom line for schools. Bucks are preferred to rankings and national titles. That’s why when Oklahoma and Washington has the chance to play #1 BYU in the 1984 Holiday Bowl they said no - Orange Bowl paid many times more, esp since Holiday Bowl wasn’t even nationally televised. So give up the UCF pipe dream.

As far as Auburn and FSU that was a home and home that Lowder was willing to eat the cost because he was going to get even with the Bowdens no matter what; it wasn’t because of fear of FSU. Indeed, a lot of Auburn fans at the time were in an uproar over the multiple level stupidity Lowder showed.
 

dadleyblane5

All-SEC
Apr 19, 2011
1,643
0
0
DeFuniak Springs Fl.
Switch Louisville to UCF at the beginning of the year?.... Hmm... With our healthy and refreshed Defense?... I don't think that's really what the UCF President would want, would he?... No matter how much moolah he was offered. Still, it would be nice to show those guys where they belong.:wink:
 

Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
11,042
907
237
76
Boaz, AL USA
We tried to play Duke in Atlanta for a neutral site game but I remember Cutcliff would have no part of that. He wanted Bama at Duke for recruiting purposes. I never understood that and I still don't. What does it matter to recruiting where you GET STOMPTED by Bama? Or maybe it was he wanted visiting recruits at Duke field?
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
And it is not anywhere near too late to make a schedule change for 2018. July would be too late. Which is exactly when Bama had to reschedule their opener in 1966. Tulane left the SEC on July 1 and asked to be removed from Bama's 1966 schedule.
Actually, they left the SEC on June 1, not that I disagree with your point.

Of course the other little problem with this is the fact that the 1966 season didn't start until September 24. Nowadays we open Labor Day weekend at the absolute latest.



Bama was left scrambling and wound up scheduling non-1A La Tech. Gave the poll voters the excuse they were looking for to move Bama down in the polls.
Oh please. There's not a widespread conspiracy against Alabama and there wasn't one then, either.

Here's the first poll, with first-place vote totals included:

1) Alabama (15)
2) Michigan St (12)
3) Nebraska (2)
4) UCLA (6)
5) Arkansas

Then remember these facts:
1) Michigan State was a co-national champion in 1965, so they were already #1 in the UPI poll
2) AP only ranked TEN teams in 1966
3) Michigan St opened against a mid-level NC State on September 17 and won, 28-19
4) UCLA played Pitt ON THE ROAD and blew them to pieces, 57-14 (this was the first time many of the AP voters ever saw UCLA play as the
game was in the East)
5) Tulane was 2-8 in 1965 and hadn't had a winning season in a decade.

Here's the next poll:
1) Michigan St (12 - same as before)
2) UCLA (13)
3) Alabama (10)

In all probability, those five voters simply switched from Alabama to UCLA after watching the Bruins punch in 57 points. The week of the season opener, Michigan St smoked Penn St, 42-8, for the Nittany Lions' worst loss since 1948, Notre Dame beat a good Purdue team led by Bob Griese, and UCLA clobbered Syracuse AGAIN in the Eastern USA........Alabama's vote total from the AP shrunk to two AP votes. Alabama never had more than 4 AP votes at any point during the season until the infamous Michigan St-Notre Dame tie. Even in the final vote, Alabama only had 7 AP votes.

I'm not saying the outcome was just and it would certainly never happen that way today, but there was no 'conspiracy' to damage Alabama, and even had we played 2-8 in 1965 Tulane, it would not have mattered.


Moved Preseason #1 Bama down to #3 before they ever opened with La Tech.
Yes, and I just explained why that was. UCLA went back East and played two games and mauled the opposition behind Gary Beban while Michigan St was a defending national champion.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
287
54
UCF will be an 8-4 team in 2018, maybe 7-5. Thereafter, a winning season will start to look good to them.
I would not want to schedule them, it would pull down the strength of schedule.
I totally agree with you here.

UCF is in posture mode; they're going to lose at least two games in September, including one to Kiffin.
 

Go Bama

Hall of Fame
Dec 6, 2009
13,785
14,082
187
16outa17essee
For the regular season, I can see Jalen or Tua getting the job done.

If Coach wants to make an offensive change, 2018 would be a great year to do it.
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
35,306
31,375
187
South Alabama
If you were an AD at a major school, would you play Alabama in a neutral site game?.
Depends on what major school you are. If I'm tOSU I'm demanding a H/H because I know both schools are within travel distance that makes sense, and I know fan support at both is there. If I'm USC or Miami then I'm trying the neutral site option. Then you get schools like FSU and Clemson that don't want to get backed into a big commitment that will settle for Atlanta.


The people who put these things together are scraping the bottom of the barrell to find someone who will play them.
Really?

Cowboy Classic:
2018: LSU vs Miami
2019: Auburn vs Oregon

Chicfila Kickoff
2018: Auburn vs Washington
2019: Bama vs Duke
2020: FSU vs WV
2020 UGA vs Virginia
2021: Bama vs Miami
2021: Louisvile vs Ole Miss

Camping world kickoff
2018 Bama vs Louisville
2019: Florida vs Miami

They are mostly pretty good matchups
 
Last edited:

BamaHoosier

All-American
Jan 17, 2011
3,614
620
132
Noblesville Indiana
I totally agree with you here.

UCF is in posture mode; they're going to lose at least two games in September, including one to Kiffin.
Wholeheartedly agree. Scheduling UCF would be highly shortsighted. It’s ultimately a lose-lose situation for us, and a win/win for them. We beat them badly to open 2018 and no one will bat an eye. It won’t be viewed as discrediting their 2017 season, especially since Frost has left the program. 2017 is done and there’s nothing anyone can do to impact their claims now. Additionally if we beat them and they do lose multiple games, it’s a huge drain on our strength of schedule. Now all we’ve done is beat a mediocre midmajor who we were expected to beat. However, at the same time they get the free advertising and hype of being the midmajor who finally has the stones to schedule a #1 team in the country. Even if we blew them out of the water, they would have lost nothing.

The flip side is even worse though. If we beat them in a close game or, God-forbid, we lost to them by some miracle, everyone will be crowing how it validates their championship claim.

I firmly believe that the matchup would work against us no matter the outcome. At least Louisville is an ACC opponent. Even if they wind up tanking post-Jackson, they still can’t do any worse for us than FSU did last year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
4,977
393
102
Cumming, GA
Depends on what major school you are. If I'm tOSU I'm demanding a H/H because I know both schools are within travel distance that makes sense, and I know fan support at both is there. If I'm USC or Miami then I'm trying the neutral site option. Then you get schools like FSU and Clemson that don't want to get backed into a big commitment that will settle for Atlanta.




Really?

Cowboy Classic:
2018: LSU vs Miami
2019: Auburn vs Oregon

Chicfila Kickoff
2018: Auburn vs Washington
2019: Bama vs Duke
2020: FSU vs WV
2020 UGA vs Virginia
2021: Bama vs Miami
2021: Louisvile vs Ole Miss

Camping world kickoff
2018 Bama vs Louisville
2019: Florida vs Miami

They are mostly pretty good matchups
My reply was directed specifically to a question about playing Duke. IMO, Duke and Louisville are at the bottom of the barrel of teams that would be considered for the Kickoff games.
 

JTBama

All-American
Jul 2, 2005
2,652
1
57
45
Some where out there
I'm not going to be too hard on the schedule this year. Bama has done something the past several seasons that alot of teams do not, which is schedule a tough opponent out of the gate. That kind of game can often dictate your direction the rest of the season. The Louisville game was made several years ago when it was probably thought that they were a player in terms of competition. They still may be a formidable opponent. I understand the discontent with the remaining ooc teams but I'm not concerned about how it affects us...the bottom line is take care of business and you're right back in the title game. I'm not as worried about having to get in with one loss using this schedule as well. Past preseason we had the number 3 ranked schedule on toughness but it fell quickly just as this one may not play out as bad as it looks. We're shooting for zero in the loss column, and next year looks like a strong possibility . I say let the media talk, they're going to anyway regardless of schedule strength, all that matters is when you're left holding that gold cylinder at the end of the year. RTR
 

ALA2262

All-American
Aug 4, 2007
4,977
393
102
Cumming, GA
Wholeheartedly agree. Scheduling UCF would be highly shortsighted. It’s ultimately a lose-lose situation for us, and a win/win for them. We beat them badly to open 2018 and no one will bat an eye. It won’t be viewed as discrediting their 2017 season, especially since Frost has left the program. 2017 is done and there’s nothing anyone can do to impact their claims now. Additionally if we beat them and they do lose multiple games, it’s a huge drain on our strength of schedule. Now all we’ve done is beat a mediocre midmajor who we were expected to beat. However, at the same time they get the free advertising and hype of being the midmajor who finally has the stones to schedule a #1 team in the country. Even if we blew them out of the water, they would have lost nothing.

The flip side is even worse though. If we beat them in a close game or, God-forbid, we lost to them by some miracle, everyone will be crowing how it validates their championship claim.

I firmly believe that the matchup would work against us no matter the outcome. At least Louisville is an ACC opponent. Even if they wind up tanking post-Jackson, they still can’t do any worse for us than FSU did last year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am not advocating scheduling UCF. I am saying that if Louisville wants to buy out of the game, or if the Camping World Kickoff wishes to buy them out and replace them with UCF, then that is fine with me. IMO, playing UCF would be no worse than playing Louisville. Whatever will be, will be up to Louisville and the Camping World Kickoff. Alabama will have very little input into the matter unless they themselves threaten to buy out of the game. Don't see that happening because if they are OK with Louisville they are probably OK with most any team.
 

Crimson1967

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2011
18,734
9,919
187
We tried to play Duke in Atlanta for a neutral site game but I remember Cutcliff would have no part of that. He wanted Bama at Duke for recruiting purposes. I never understood that and I still don't. What does it matter to recruiting where you GET STOMPTED by Bama? Or maybe it was he wanted visiting recruits at Duke field?

I would not have agreed to a home/home with Duke unless Coach K gave us the same deal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Ole Man Dan

Hall of Fame
Apr 21, 2008
8,982
3,421
187
Gadsden, Al.
Not a highly rated schedule. I'm not sure winning those games will give us any quality points.
We may have to blow out teams next year to get due consideration.
 

CoachInWaiting

3rd Team
Nov 27, 2017
298
89
47
On paper, the next two schedules do look pretty mild, but on paper Florida State didn't look like they would be easy this year either. Some of our other previous "big name" neutral-site opponents have been duds as well. As long as Bama wins and wins convincingly, the rest should take care of itself. The pundits are gonna squawk and whine, but they'll do that if we schedule the Patriots and the Edmonton Eskimos. I for one, would not give a whit when they go ballistic if Bama ran off 30 in a row over the next two seasons. The only way it happens is to win a 4-team playoff, and I don't believe for a minute that a pretender is going to do that.
:biga:
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.