I wasn't sure about this, so I checked the records. Rutgers and Army each have played ND three times in the past 15 years. In Army's case, the third meeting (2006) was when the NCAA added the 12th game on short notice in 2006. Many schools added a FCS school to their schedule. ND added a scrub, but at least it was a scrub as to whom we have some tradition. Given our history of playing in the NYC area, I don't have a problem with the occasional game against Army or Rutgers. I do have a problem with the fact that we apparently just signed a long-term deal with Army, though.Left Seater wrote:Rutgers, Washington, and Army were on at a minimum of 4 times over the past 15 years. The winning percentage of these teams in the years they played ND was .301%
To be fair, every team in the former category was a home-and-home, whereas many teams in the latter category (Hawaii, Baylor, Kansas, Maryland, Washington State) were one-offs. Northwestern wasn't a one-off, but hasn't been on our schedule since '95, which appears to be the year you began your search. It was also the year Northwestern went to the Rose Bowl, btw.There have been plenty of teams like Nebraska, Texas, LSU, FSU, Tenn, etc. The problem is for each one of those there are two of Northwestern, Vandy, Hawaii, Baylor, Kansas, Maryland, BYU, Syracuse, Washington State, UNC, etc.
Not sure where you're getting your schedule rankings from. I used Sagarin, and over the last three seasons (working backward), ND's SOS was 50th, 24th, and 18th (2006, therefore, would've qualified as a winning season vs. Top 28 SOS). I would expect our SOS rank this season to be about where it was last season -- we drop San Diego State, North Carolina and Syracuse and add Nevada, Washington State and Connecticut. Of course, an unexpected season, either positive or negative, from one of our opponents could have a huge impact.In fact ND has had two winning seasons against top 28 strength of schedules in the last 13 years. In '05 they went 9-3 against the 7th rated schedule, in '02 they went 10-3 against the 15th ranked schedule. Their last three strenghts of schedule are 78th, 30th, and 39th. This season's SOS could be absolutely horrible, depending on how SC and Michigan finish the season.
Probably more information than you want, but to me it looks like we're trying to fit 50 pounds of stuff into a 10-pound bag. A quick hitter on various scheduling issues that have arisen in recent years:So how do you feel about the schedule year in and year out?
Traditional rivalries: Like them, and I can see a reason for continuing with each of the traditional rivalries currently on our schedule. However, if you want more diversity on the schedule, some of these may have to be sacrificed.
3 games vs. Big East: I realize I'm in the minority on this point, and maybe it's impacted by where I live, but I actually don't have a problem with this. By accepting us into the Big East for basketball and other sports on our terms, the Big East helped us save our basketball program. I don't see a semi-favored status on our football schedule being too big a price to pay for that. In fact, I see the Big East obligation as being somewhat akin to the debt of honor game with Navy, albeit on a smaller scale.
7-4-1: Hate this idea, it's a move in the wrong direction. While there are some BCS teams that might be willing to take a one-off with ND in exchange for a national TV appearance, there aren't enough of them to allow ND to continue this schedule arrangement in the long term. Throw in teams that would be willing to take a 2-1 deal, perhaps, and you might be able to pull it off. But that would require pulling the plug on some of the traditional rivalries. If seven home games are a necessity from a financial standpoint, I've floated a compromise whereby we would schedule Hawaii every so often, play them on the road, and that would allow us a 13th game, which could be at home.
Barnstorming: Love it in theory, hate it in practice. ND vs. Washington State in San Antonio, 'nuff said. Perhaps Swarbrick can come up with better matchups for this game, but that still remains to be seen.
4-4-4: Not an official ND scheduling policy or even a consideration, but a construct of one of the ND homer boards. The idea behind it is to rank opponents into three tiers, and each year schedule four Tier 1 teams, 4 Tier 2 teams and 4 Tier 3 teams. Again, a good idea in theory, but practice is a different matter altogether. One problem is the feasibility of such a proposal. The tiers are not divided equally. Rather, it looks like a bell curve, with Tier 1 being the smallest grouping. Assuming we'll keep two Tier 1 schools (USC and Michigan) on the schedule annually, that leaves only about 10 or so remaining schools to fill out the last two Tier 1 slots every year. Another problem is bias, both with respect to rankings (for example, Texas Tech is ranked as a Tier 3 school) and with respect to who is ranked and who isn't (only BCS schools and service academies are ranked). I can see the reasoning as to why service academies are favored on ND's schedule over other non-BCS schools, but in something purporting to be an objective ranking, that should go out the window. For example, Army gets a Tier 3 ranking, while Utah (on ND's schedule in 2010) is unranked.
Scheduling is a topic that comes up a lot for ND in the offseason. The biggest complaints on the ND homerboards are the lack of variety and lack of marquee opponents on the schedule. I've given this matter a lot of thought, and I've come to a conclusion as to what I would do if I were ND's AD (and I'm not).
What I would do is utilize a 4-5-3 scheduling format. That's not related to 4-4-4, though. I'll explain below.
A. 4 permanent opponents on the schedule.
1&2. Navy and USC. Everyone seems to agree that those two are the sacred cows, albeit for differing reasons.
3. Michigan. This is tough for ND fan to admit, but deep down in places we don't like to talk about at parties, we want Skunkbear on that schedule. We need Skunkbear on that schedule.
4. Pitt. Yeah, I know this is something of a surprise, but if we're going to play 3 games per year vs. the Big East, it makes sense to me to have an annual matchup with our biggest rival in that conference.
B. 5 games that rotate between/among various finite groups of opponents, as follows:
1. Michigan State/Purdue. Probably the most controversial decision here. But these teams serve largely duplicative purposes on ND's schedule today. I recognize the importance each has had in ND's tradition, and for that matter I wouldn't cut either one off entirely. Alternatively, I'd reconsider leaving both on the schedule permanently if the Big Ten were to drop its September-only rule for scheduling ND.
2. A rotating marquee opponent. We already have Oklahoma coming on the schedule for '12 and '13. I'd work around that, beginning with the teams that have contacted us recently about a series (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Miami). Schedule a home-and-home with each, except Miami, whose series would include a neutral site game or two as well. Schedule one in every year, and you've already gotten through the first decade or so.
3. A rotating western team. There's been a lot of criticism on the ND boards about continuing to carry Stanford. Yet Stanford serves an important purpose -- in conjunction with USC, it guarantees us a road game on the west coast every year. What I would do is rotate through five teams: Arizona State, Cal, Stanford, UCLA and Hawaii. Each team would get two games per decade, home-and-home for each except Hawaii, who would get two home games vs. ND. Stagger the remaining home-and-homes with the USC game.
4&5. Two remaining Big East games. Rather than giving UConn an annual game, I would rotate the two remaining Big East games among the remaining Big East schools including UConn.
C. Three remaining games TBD.
This is where you would fit in any game that didn't fit in to one of the other categories. Want a fourth game vs. a marquee opponent? Want to schedule a school to whom you owe a favor? Want to schedule a home-and-home against Minnesota to include the dedication game for their new stadium? Want to schedule Air Force or Army? (I wouldn't schedule both of them in the same year, though.) This is the category where these games would go. In years when we played Hawaii, we'd get a fourth game in this category.
Anyhow, that's how I'd do it if I were in charge. Probably more information than you wanted to know.
