UCF watering down their future schedules...

[CyberBull]

Playing 'big boys' not for UCF

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By Mike Huguenin and Alan Schmadtke

Sentinel Staff Writers

June 5, 2005

Once upon a time, dates with Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference opponents were crown jewels on UCF schedules. Former athletic director Steve Sloan viewed landing such opponents as one of his chief roles.

But that was when UCF was a Division I-A independent. And when the Knights had a less-demanding coach.

Now, with the guarantee of eight opponents a year through a conference (starting this season, Conference USA), racking up big-name opponents is less important in the big picture than being able to win games.

Thus, the Golden Knights will buy themselves out of three games in 2006 and another in 2007. Georgia, South Carolina and NC State will drop off the '06 schedule, UCF officials confirmed. And NC State, which was scheduled to come to Orlando in '06, also will have its '07 game bought out.

UCF Athletic Director Steve Orsini informed opponents of the Knights' intentions, ones that come on the heels of UCF buying out of its 2005 return visit to West Virginia.

The moves leave UCF with a full 12-game schedule for 2006 -- for now. It includes a school-record seven home games: C-USA foes Southern Miss, East Carolina, UAB and Rice, plus non-conference opponents USF, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech.

But UCF's contract with Louisiana Tech is so old the payoff is hardly worth the Bulldogs' effort.

They're guaranteed $75,000, and that won't even cover their travel costs. That means it won't be a surprise if or when Tech asks to revisit the contract, given the going rate for road-game guarantees runs no lower than $400,000.

In other words, if UCF balks, Tech could buy its way out of the contract and instead play a power-league school that would give it a lot more money.

-- Alan Schmadtke

Playing where?

In the past two weeks, we've looked at the best and worst of this season's non-conference games. This week, we'll look at some of the most surprising non-conference games -- that is, games you look at and say, "I can't believe they agreed to play there."

This certainly isn't a criticism of the "bigger" schools involved in these games; indeed, they deserve applause for having the moxie to go on the road to play these games. It's just that we wonder why they're doing it.

5. Indiana at Central Michigan, Sept. 2: If we're making the decisions at Indiana, there's no way we'd play a Mid-American Conference team -- even a mediocre one -- on the road. The reason? Hey, the Hoosiers are bad, and a loss is a distinct possibility.

4. Washington State at Nevada, Sept. 9: Nevada won at Washington in 2003, and the crowd will be extra-revved for this one because it's a Friday night game on ESPN2.

3. Pittsburgh at Ohio U., Sept. 10: It's not as if Pitt is playing a good MAC team. Still, it's a risk.

2. California at New Mexico State, Sept. 23: This is a big deal for the Aggies, who have hosted just one Pac-10 team ever (Oregon State in 2001). And this one also is a Friday night game on ESPN2.

1. Oklahoma State at Florida Atlantic, Sept. 8: This is FAU's first official season in Division I-A, and the Owls' home schedule is highlighted by this Thursday night visit from a Big 12 school. It'll be on one of the ESPN networks. And it'll be at Dolphins Stadium. The crowd almost certainly will be small, but it's nevertheless great publicity for Howard Schnellenberger's program.

Planning ahead

There will be at least three televised games on Labor Day. The day kicks off with UNLV at New Mexico at 1 p.m. on ESPN2. That's followed by Ole Miss at Memphis at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN, and the day wraps up in spectacular fashion with Miami at Florida State at 8 p.m. on ABC. At last count, there are 17 -- 17! -- televised games that weekend.

In other TV news, the unveiling of the ACC Championship Game means the Big 12 Championship Game will have to change time slots. ABC will telecast the ACC game on the night of Dec. 3, meaning the Big 12 title game moves to an early afternoon kickoff. ABC will show UCLA-USC in-between the title games.

Shula situation

News broke this week that Alabama was discussing a contract extension for Coach Mike Shula, who signed a six-year, $900,000-per-year contract in January 2003. Shula, who is 10-15 in two seasons with the Tide, is said to need an extension to make sure the length of his contract isn't used against him on the recruiting trail. There are two ways to look at this.

One is that he has been working under NCAA sanctions and deserves the extension. The other is that he has guided Alabama to the school's worst two-year record since 1956-57 and hasn't proved he can be a successful head coach in the SEC.

Grid bits

Under a deal signed last week, Notre Dame will play three Big East teams each season, starting in 2009. The Irish will play one of the games each season at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; that opponent is expected to be either Rutgers or Connecticut.

Appalachian State has invited "actor" Adam Sandler to one of its games this fall. The reason? A comment Sandler's character makes in The Longest Yard. In the movie, Sandler portrays Paul Crewe, a former college and NFL star quarterback who now is in prison. At one point in the film, Crewe recalls his star turn at Florida State and "whipping an overmatched opponent like Appalachian State." Appalachian State Chancellor Kenneth Peacock extended Sandler the invitation.

Stanford has announced plans for a new on-campus stadium, one that will be much smaller than the present Stanford Stadium. The new facility is expected to have a capacity of 50,000; the current stadium's capacity is 85,000. Construction on the site of the new stadium is to begin soon after the Cardinal's final home game of the season, Nov.26 against Notre Dame. Stanford will play the '06 season either at SBC Park in San Francisco or -- more likely -- at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium. Arch-rival California also is planning to renovate its stadium, and the Golden Bears are expected to have to play the '07 season in an alternate facility.

The Big 12 and Conference USA are expected to sign off on instant replay in league meetings this week. The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-10 and Southeastern Conference already have OK'd the use of instant replay this fall. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Mountain West wants an "an NFL-style coach's challenge" and is waiting for NCAA approval on that proposal.

A Final Thought: Pete Carroll needs a tighter leash -- a much tighter leash -- on his players.

Alan Schmadtke can be reached at aschmadtke@orlandosentinel.com. Mike Huguenin can be reached at mhuguenin@orlandosentinel.com.

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[CyberBull]

Off topic replies have been moved to [link=http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=04012005;action=display;num=1117997218]This Thread[/link] by Bulliever.

[USFPDiddy]

There's no point in playing a tough schedule if you can't win enough games on it yet.  USF would be in great shape if we played ohio instead of Miami, and ball state instead of penn state.

All of a sudden, a bowl game wouldnt be such a stetch, as we'd only have to win 3 conference games to be eligible, and maybe a 4th to lock it up.  Maybe.

[YourBoss]

????????????????????????

What?

[KNIGHTTIME]

There's no point in playing a tough schedule if you can't win enough games on it yet.  USF would be in great shape if we played ohio instead of Miami, and ball state instead of penn state.

All of a sudden, a bowl game wouldnt be such a stetch, as we'd only have to win 3 conference games to be eligible, and maybe a 4th to lock it up.  Maybe.

Just go for wins.    Now that we have 28 bowls it will be pretty easy to make a bowl if you're over .500.  

[GarySJ]

Just go for wins.    Now that we have 28 bowls it will be pretty easy to make a bowl if you're over .500.  

29. There's a new one in San Diego this year.

[TripleB]

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What?