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Miller: Pac-10 Scheduling is Dumb

Well...maybe not dumb...just not like the conferences who are "winners."

He brings up several interesting points.  Here's a few:

-And it's become clear that teams are not penalized for scheduling weak opponents in order to pad their record, nor do teams -- or conferences -- get credit for ambitious scheduling.

-Six Big 12 teams play schedules ranked 50 or worse (carp: Based on Sagarin schedule rankings). Nebraska's 19th-ranked schedule is the toughest in the conference.

-The Pac-10 features schedules ranked 1, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 13. Only two are ranked 50 or worse.

-Two SEC teams have played schedules ranked in the top-20, while six are ranked 50 or worse.

He concludes with the Pac-10 should stop scheduling tough out of conference (OOC) opponents and the Pac-10 shouldn't play OOC games on the road (unless you are USC).

He says Oregon St. would be TTech if it played TTechs schedule.

So...this got me to thinking.  Why does the Pac-10 do this?  And when we say Pac-10, is this is a school-by-school thing or do the coaches and AD's all get together and decide on having tough OOC schedules for the good of the Pac-10?

Either way, I think the league does this to boost attendance at home, increase media exposure, and to attract top talent to the rest of the Pac-9.  The Pac-10 is, after all, inferior in status to the SEC and, depending on the year, the Big 12, Big 10, the ACC, and the Big Least.  At best it's #2...usually #3 or #4.  But the Pac-10 isn't the Mountainn West or WAC with traditionally soft in conference opponents.  These schools need tough OOC games.

Are we pleased with the results?  Cal lost at Tenn and Maryland recently and beat Mich. St. and Tennessee at home.  Do the benefits of the OOC schedule outweigh the exposure of high rankings?  I think the OG members of the Cal Golden Blogs (at the blogsome address) did an in-depth analysis of this last year sometime.  If so, do they have links?

Please discuss! 

Be nice. You can find the original CGB team at WriteForCalifornia.com.

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