Sports Extra - Blogs - Will a playoff change college football scheduling

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | THUNDER | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

@TWSportsExtra

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

FOR THE RECORD

Scores, statistics and standings for local and national sports.

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

Editors
Michael Peters
Sports Editor
Patrick Prince
Asst. Sports Editor
Columnists
John Klein
Sr. Columnist
John E. Hoover
Columnist
Writers
Eric Bailey
OU sports, Big 12 sports
Guerin Emig
OU sports
Jimmie Tramel
OSU sports, ORU sports
Kelly Hines
OSU sports
Bill Haisten
TU sports, Thunder
Barry Lewis
High Schools, Drillers
Mike Brown
High Schools, Shock
Kelly Bostian
Outdoors

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Will a playoff change college football scheduling?
Published: 12/18/2012 6:40 PM
Last Modified: 12/18/2012 6:40 PM

Mike Gundy and Mike Holder have put the nebulous task of college football scheduling on the frontburner here in Oklahoma.

That's definitely not a bad thing.

As we've seen, college football scheduling can be complicated and delicate. But these days, as football more than ever controls the college landscape, it's one of the most important things an athletic director does.

(Jimmie Tramel has an extremely interesting story in Wednesday's paper on how schools, including Oklahoma State, go about making their football schedule. You should definitely check it out).

The scheduling balance could become even more pronounced when college football's playoff begins in 2014.

How will a committee differentiate between a handful of worthy candidates when picking the top four teams?

These days, the conference you keep seems to be the most important argument. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are on the good end of that discussion -- for now.

But times change and conference power fluctuates -- yes, even for the SEC.

How do you consistently make yourself part of the conversation? You can with nonconference scheduling.

Those who embrace an easier nonconference campaign point out that Oklahoma likely cost itself a BCS bowl game this season by losing to Notre Dame instead of scheduling and beating some faceless mid-major program.

But I think this argument is more powerful -- had Oklahoma beaten Notre Dame, the Sooners would likely be preparing for the BCS title game right now. Even after losing to Kansas State, sharing the Big 12 championship with the Wildcats and ending the season with the same record.

That, folks, is the power of a good nonconference schedule -- it can allow your overall resume to override even head-to-head competition.

That's what happened for the Sooners in 2008, when wins against Cincinnati, TCU and Washington trumped Texas' Red River win.

Or go back to 2005, when Texas used a road victory at Ohio State (which finished the season ranked fourth) in Week 2 to propel itself to the national championship.

There are plenty of good reasons to schedule easier games. Kansas State coach Bill Snyder used a generous scheduling philosophy to help build the Wildcats from doormat to power program.

But if you have national championship aspirations -- not just bowl game aspirations -- you eventually have to stretch yourself outside your conference schedule.

The lesson even applies to teams like Tulsa, which can play and win its share of marquee nonconference matchups to join the national conversation.

The proliferation of cupcake nonconference games is one of the greatest arguments against college football claiming "the greatest regular season in sports."

Hopefully that will be another problem the playoff can solve.

Reader Comments

Show: Newest First

Learn About Our Comment Policy

To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.

To sign in to your account, go to tulsaworld.com/signin.
To activate your print subscription for unlimited digital access and to post comments, go to tulsaworld.com/activate.
To purchase a subscription, go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe.

The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

Follow Michael Peters on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog

2/2013	1/2013	12/2012	11/2012	10/2012	9/2012
8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
8/2011	7/2011

Your bookmark will appear on your Profile page. Please give it a title, and short description so that visitors to your page will understand where the bookmark leads.
Bookmark Title :

Bookmark Text :