ESPN ranks easiest non-conference schedules ... Bama rolls in at #6

BamaNation

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ESPN.com: Ranking college football's easiest 2019 nonconference schedules http://bit.ly/2Fp8Ra9

Unfortunately we get no credit for Coach Saban’s suggestion that P5 only play P5 non-conf. Everybody gives a head nod and then refuses to play us except on neutral fields. It will happen eventually because smart people aren’t going to continue to buy season ticket packages with the likes of what we have OOC this season.

When scheduled, Duke was on the upswing.


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81usaf92

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ESPN.com: Ranking college football's easiest 2019 nonconference schedules http://bit.ly/2Fp8Ra9

Unfortunately we get no credit for Coach Saban’s suggestion that P5 only play P5 non-conf. Everybody gives a head nod and then refuses to play us except on neutral fields. It will happen eventually because smart people aren’t going to continue to buy season ticket packages with the likes of what we have OOC this season.

When scheduled, Duke was on the upswing.


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The Duke game was not our fault. We didn’t schedule them, the ACC and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff committee did.

As for neutral sites... it really depends on the opponent. I think teams like USC and Miami should be played on neutral grounds, but most others should probably be H/H
 
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rgw

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Yeah we didn't get much choice in this I think. We got stuck with it for signing the same contract that gave us the #1 v. #3 season opener against Florida State in 2017. Duke had been complaining about access to this game and since we agreed to another series in ATL they just stuck us with the poop sandwich. Regardless of whatever upswing Duke was on, it was still Duke and bound to be a bad matchup for us SoS-wise.
 

81usaf92

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Yeah we didn't get much choice in this I think. We got stuck with it for signing the same contract that gave us the #1 v. #3 season opener against Florida State in 2017. Duke had been complaining about access to this game and since we agreed to another series in ATL they just stuck us with the poop sandwich. Regardless of whatever upswing Duke was on, it was still Duke and bound to be a bad matchup for us SoS-wise.
From what I remember reading is that the SEC-ACC have some sorta agreement that they get priority on the Chickfila Kickoff for matchups, and how it usually works is that SEC and ACC teams throw their name into a slot, and it gets filled with an opponent. If an opponent isnt found then a non SEC-ACC can put their name in. Alabama stuck their name into 2019 hoping for Clemson, FSU, or Miami, or at the very worst a big non ACC draw. But Duke started complaining of not being represented in the deal, and moved to the head of the line on putting their name into the hat, and ofcourse picked Alabama.

I think its a big reason Alabama has started doing more Cowboy Classics lately. Because that one you know the matchup you are getting
 

rgw

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Peach Bowl committee has been good to Bama overall but you gotta think that our decision to go to H&H was partially due to a souring with them over this matchup.
 

ALA2262

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Yeah we didn't get much choice in this I think. We got stuck with it for signing the same contract that gave us the #1 v. #3 season opener against Florida State in 2017. Duke had been complaining about access to this game and since we agreed to another series in ATL they just stuck us with the poop sandwich. Regardless of whatever upswing Duke was on, it was still Duke and bound to be a bad matchup for us SoS-wise.
^^^this^^^ The game was announced on Monday 11/21/2016. Duke was 4-7 and had just lost 14-56 to Pitt. They would end the season at 4-8 the following Saturday with a 21-40 loss to Miami.

https://fbschedules.com/alabama-duke-2019-chick-fil-a-kickoff-game-atlanta/
 

81usaf92

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Peach Bowl committee has been good to Bama overall but you gotta think that our decision to go to H&H was partially due to a souring with them over this matchup.
Well that and the 2013 fiasco. They let Lane Kiffin pull out of a matchup about 2 years out. We pretty much got stuck with Virginia Tech.

I think a big part of it is that the FSU game had such a negative impact on both teams seasons, and most teams either want Dallas or a H&H vs Bama outside of the South East.
 

MOAN

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Get ready for all the crap head media talk about how great an out of conference schedule Clemson plays/played this year! Texas A&M, South Carolina, Wofford and Charlotte!! Bama plays A&M and South Carolina in our regular season along with LSU, Auburn and Miss.St., then Georgia most likely in the SEC championship game. Clemson? Syracuse that is likely to be in the top preseason 25, and who knows in the ACC championship game? Could be Duke lol!! The Coastal division in the ACC is anyones guess at this point as bad as that division is, probably the worst division in P5 football!!
 

crimsonaudio

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Every year people complain about Bama's non conference schedule and every year Bama ends up playing a top five toughest schedule.

You'd think people would learn, but I guess that's expecting too much.
 
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selmaborntidefan

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This will only matter if we lose a game to a nobody and it comes down to committee vote.

Otherwise, it simply doesn't matter regardless.
 

selmaborntidefan

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I'm tempted to remind everyone that ESPN had a graphic last year showing UCF crowned as football playoff champions...so who you play simply doesn't matter in ESPN World.

Unless, of course, you're Alabama and then it does.
 

deliveryman35

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I’ve already spoken about our ooc schedule and opener this year so I won’t belabor the point. As far as I’m concerned our real schedule this season starts Nov. 1 and that’s when I’ll start paying serious attention.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Look, I'm not one of those "persecuted Alabama fans" who has a martyr complex, but it's just plain nonsense.

Has anyone ripped on Clemson's joke of a schedule? If so, I haven't heard it (other than us, of course).

No, we're told Clemson plays a tough game by playing the exact same Texas A/M team Alabama plays on their "soft schedule."

I mean, the gymnastics necessary to pull this off are ludicrous. And many of the same people who complain about OUR schedule are the very same people who are touting an eight-team playoff that includes the likes of UCF, whose schedule makes Alabama's look like an NFL grind by comparison.

I'm not so bothered by the complaints as I am by the lack of logic shown by many of those complaining.


Might it be that CFB has become so "top heavy" among the highest reaches of the upper echelon that no elite team is capable of playing what anyone would consider a "tough schedule" anymore?


Btw - I'm prepping an article on the 1979 season, and one of my observations is how little has changed. Wanna know what hasn't changed? People complaining about our schedule. In a "this could only happen in college football" column, one particular clown bashes our schedule in 1979, says that we struggled against our only decent opponent (LSU), and then boasts on USC's schedule, which included a struggle against LSU (the Trojans trailed the entire game and won it in the final minute). The part he didn't mention - aside from the quagmire that we played in Baton Rouge that night - was we were missing five starters and our best running back was limited with a groin injury.

Ohio State advocates did the same thing, focusing on one team (Wichita St) that went 1-10. Of course, they ignored Ohio State barely beating a 1-10 Northwestern. They also mocked us for beating an 8-win Auburn team in the fourth quarter but conveniently ignored them beating an 8-win Michigan team in the fourth quarter (via a blocked punt no less).


You can't say "Alabama doesn't play anybody" and then (like USC did) play to a tie with a 5-5-1 mediocrity. After all, if you can't beat the soft teams then it doesn't matter how soft it is.
 

UAH

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Look, I'm not one of those "persecuted Alabama fans" who has a martyr complex, but it's just plain nonsense.

Has anyone ripped on Clemson's joke of a schedule? If so, I haven't heard it (other than us, of course).

No, we're told Clemson plays a tough game by playing the exact same Texas A/M team Alabama plays on their "soft schedule."

I mean, the gymnastics necessary to pull this off are ludicrous. And many of the same people who complain about OUR schedule are the very same people who are touting an eight-team playoff that includes the likes of UCF, whose schedule makes Alabama's look like an NFL grind by comparison.

I'm not so bothered by the complaints as I am by the lack of logic shown by many of those complaining.


Might it be that CFB has become so "top heavy" among the highest reaches of the upper echelon that no elite team is capable of playing what anyone would consider a "tough schedule" anymore?


Btw - I'm prepping an article on the 1979 season, and one of my observations is how little has changed. Wanna know what hasn't changed? People complaining about our schedule. In a "this could only happen in college football" column, one particular clown bashes our schedule in 1979, says that we struggled against our only decent opponent (LSU), and then boasts on USC's schedule, which included a struggle against LSU (the Trojans trailed the entire game and won it in the final minute). The part he didn't mention - aside from the quagmire that we played in Baton Rouge that night - was we were missing five starters and our best running back was limited with a groin injury.

Ohio State advocates did the same thing, focusing on one team (Wichita St) that went 1-10. Of course, they ignored Ohio State barely beating a 1-10 Northwestern. They also mocked us for beating an 8-win Auburn team in the fourth quarter but conveniently ignored them beating an 8-win Michigan team in the fourth quarter (via a blocked punt no less).


You can't say "Alabama doesn't play anybody" and then (like USC did) play to a tie with a 5-5-1 mediocrity. After all, if you can't beat the soft teams then it doesn't matter how soft it is.
Those of us with more years on our odometer will recall that CPB scheduled "soft" teams like Clemson, Virginia Tech and South Carolina between the SEC and major inter-sectional games on the schedule. Most of the teams in the Middle Atlantic haven't changed that much from a historical perspective. They remain "soft" and this is the "difficult" schedule Clemson plays. It is easy for writers looking for a by-line to dismiss just how physically and mentally demanding it is for a team to face an SEC schedule while Clemson faces a couple of opponents who may give their SEC lookalike team a contest in the odd years.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Those of us with more years on our odometer will recall that CPB scheduled "soft" teams like Clemson, Virginia Tech and South Carolina between the SEC and major inter-sectional games on the schedule. Most of the teams in the Middle Atlantic haven't changed that much from a historical perspective. They remain "soft" and this is the "difficult" schedule Clemson plays. It is easy for writers looking for a by-line to dismiss just how physically and mentally demanding it is for a team to face an SEC schedule while Clemson faces a couple of opponents who may give their SEC lookalike team a contest in the odd years.
Let's note some other important points:

1) Bryant scheduled Va Tech because his old roommate was the AD there, and it helped VT financiallly.

2) The Alabama-Clemson tie was quite strong even before Dabo.

3) For much of Bryant's tenure, we could not play "non-Southern" teams in large part because they wouldn't play us because of the racial issues (not that I blame the opponents but let's not blame CPB in isolation).

4) Because back in the day schedules were made TEN YEARS OUT, even the move to playing fully integrated teams took a full decade to get going. It's not like anyone was banging down the door to play us, either.

5) The Wichita St game they gave us such grief about only happened because in August of 1978, SMU backed out of the Dallas-based return game in a dispute over venue. Bryant told SMU that it was late to be rescheduling a 1979 game, but he would do so IF he could find an opponent. He wound up with Wichita St because the coach there in 1978 had played for him at ATM. Unfortunately, that guy got fired prior to the game taking place.

6) When Alabama won the 1961 national title, they whined that we didn't play the 2nd and 3rd best SEC teams, Ole Miss and LSU. So we put them on the schedule yearly starting in 1964, and then they whined that we didn't play Georgia (who miraculously got better once they didn't have to play us). In 1977, they whined we didn't have to play Kentucky, who went 10-1 but was on probation.

The fact is, you can ALWAYS name "team Alabama didn't play" because it's impossible to play round robin in a 128-team field.

But don't tell me Boise St or UCF "deserves a fair chance" and then complain about who Alabama plays.
 

RollTide_HTTR

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I mean, we have a really easy OOC schedule this year. Idk what the big deal is. Sure we play Texas A&M just like Clemson but A&M is an OOC game for them and not for us so that shouldn't matter when ranking OOC schedule.
 

selmaborntidefan

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I mean, we have a really easy OOC schedule this year. Idk what the big deal is. Sure we play Texas A&M just like Clemson but A&M is an OOC game for them and not for us so that shouldn't matter when ranking OOC schedule.
I don't think anybody disagrees that our OOC this year isn't much at all.


But the ASSUMPTION driving this whole nonsense is the ridiculous idea that "all conferences are created equal." That's the same assumption that drives the idolatry of conference championships, too.

And is it REALLY fair to compare teams with four OOC games and teams with three anyway?
 

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