Is our 2017 schedule really as bad as it seems?

[NewEnglandBull]

17 minutes ago, JTrue said:

There is no excuse for playing Stony Brook, UMass, and SJSU in the same year. What meager amount of money we're going to get from having Stony Brook and UMass at home this year is essentially burned by playing the game itself. The minute this year looked like it might be something special, we should have been on the phone with every AD in the country begging for a game. Even a one and done with a legit team on the road is better option than either of those two teams at home. I refuse to believe there wasn't one decent team in the entire country who wouldn't have agreed to play us this year.

+1000. Harlan dropped the ball here.  He actually had two years to get this done. 

[Triple B]

25 minutes ago, JTrue said:

There is no excuse for playing Stony Brook, UMass, and SJSU in the same year. What meager amount of money we're going to get from having Stony Brook and UMass at home this year is essentially burned by playing the game itself. The minute this year looked like it might be something special, we should have been on the phone with every AD in the country begging for a game. Even a one and done with a legit team on the road is better option than either of those two teams at home. I refuse to believe there wasn't one decent team in the entire country who wouldn't have agreed to play us this year.

I guess we believe what we want to believe. We really have no idea if Harlan tried to do something about it but just couldn't find a partner. Once this year looked like it might be something special, why would any legit/decent team, with an opening, really want to play us?

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

3 minutes ago, Triple B said:

I guess we believe what we want to believe. We really have no idea if Harlan tried to do something about it but just couldn't find a partner. Once this year looked like it might be something special, why would any legit/decent team, with an opening, really want to play us?

Nobody wants to play us. Nothing to gain and everything to lose.

[Apis Bull]

10 minutes ago, Triple B said:

I guess we believe what we want to believe. We really have no idea if Harlan tried to do something about it but just couldn't find a partner. Once this year looked like it might be something special, why would any legit/decent team, with an opening, really want to play us?

Trip, don't you know you just pick up the phone and say, "Hey, we want to play you" and the other school will respond with, "Okay, sure.  Let us know when"

[JTrue]

9 minutes ago, Triple B said:

I guess we believe what we want to believe. We really have no idea if Harlan tried to do something about it but just couldn't find a partner. Once this year looked like it might be something special, why would any legit/decent team, with an opening, really want to play us?

In no particular order:

1. A better opponent strictly for entertainment purposes.

2. A better opponent for attendance purposes (which makes more $).

3. A better opponent for possible TV exposure (which could mean more $).

4. A better opponent so that your fanbase doesn't think you stink at accomplishing #s 1-3, 5.

5. A better opponent for strength of schedule which could determine your bowl (which makes more $).

[JTrue]

6 minutes ago, Apis Bull said:

Trip, don't you know you just pick up the phone and say, "Hey, we want to play you" and the other school will respond with, "Okay, sure.  Let us know when"

It seems to work for WMU. They're playing USC and Michigan State this year. No return games. Their AD realized he needed to strike while the team was hot and play some legit games. Lo and behold, he found two programs who were more than happy to put them on the schedule.

[GaUSFBull]

29 minutes ago, JTrue said:

It seems to work for WMU. They're playing USC and Michigan State this year. No return games. Their AD realized he needed to strike while the team was hot and play some legit games. Lo and behold, he found two programs who were more than happy to put them on the schedule.

Those games were scheduled within the last year?  

[JTrue]

2 minutes ago, GaUSFBull said:

Those games were scheduled within the last year?  

Last two years. The same amount of time we had to adjust our schedule. I know the USC game contract was signed in 2015.

Edited May 15, 2017 by JTrue

[charsibb]

Just now, JTrue said:

3 minutes ago, GaUSFBull said:

Those games were scheduled within the last year?  

Last two years. The same amount of time we had to adjust our schedule. I know the USC game contract was signed in 2015.

Apples to oranges. Two years ago, anybody would have given us a 1-n-done at their place, because it would have been a guaranteed win. Same for WMU.

WMU was only good THIS year. They'd have had a hard as **** time getting something for this fall

Same for us, but we didn't know we were going to get good, so we took the easy games to get W's, as the conference slate was stacked against us back then. We had no idea we were going to be this good going into Fall 2017. History since 2010 has said otherwise. No reason to think, until late 2016, that this team was going to be any different.

Yeah, I'd love a tougher schedule, but it is what it is, and no amount of bellyaching is going to change it. Hopefully we get through this season undefeated, and next year's SOS is higher as well.

[GaUSFBull]

6 minutes ago, JTrue said:

Last two years. The same amount of time we had to adjust our schedule. I know the USC game contract was signed in 2015.

Right, but your big thing in this argument is that you don't believe Harlan did enough to make the schedule better once he knew this year could be special.  So, really, you pretty much have to pick which argument you want to go with here, because you're moving the goalposts just a hair.