All day, I've been looking forward to tonight's Virginia Tech/Nebraska matchup, and realizing this has been what this season has been missing all along. A home game against a lower tier opponent is fine to open the season and work out the kinks, but let's be honest, too many cupcakes only make you fat and lazy.
Jeff Jamrog, Nebraska's director of football operations, agrees as well, and illustrates his f
ormula for scheduling non-conference opponents:
- A BCS conference foe
- Mix with competitive teams from "mid-majors" such as the WAC, Mountain West, and Conference USA.
- Make sure the Huskers play three non-conference home games each season to pay the bills
- Avoid 1-AA (aka "Football Championship Subdivision") opponents if at all possible.
Not a bad formula, but I'd suggest that if you could get two BCS conference foes, do it. The trick is getting other teams to agree to it. Here's what Bo Pelini says about it:
“I’ll play anybody. I don’t care,” Pelini said. “We’ll play the best people out there. Now, you can’t play four Top 10 opponents out of conference every year, because this conference is too good. You’d be dead. But we want to play quality people, and I think that’s where it’s headed.”
Right now, Nebraska is still working on a five game deal with Wyoming, but Wyoming apparently is hesitating. That deal would have the Huskers playing Wyoming in Denver in 2011, then three games in Lincoln, and a game in Laramie around 2016. Probably a good deal for everyone; not sure what the hang up is. Perhaps the Cowboys would rather play a home game in Laramie in 2011 instead of the money for a game in Denver. Or maybe two games in Denver. Like I've suggested, a game on a Saturday night or Sunday of Labor Day weekend in Denver would be very cool.
Watching Woody Paige blow his top at seeing the Sea of Red invading his turf would be the icing on the cake.
No comments:
Post a Comment