Monday poll: Toughest non-conference Big 12 football schedule

[badger]

Baylor: SMU, Sam Houston State, @ UL-Monroe
ISU: Tulsa, @ Iowa, Western Illinois
KU: South Dakota State, Rice, @ Northern Illinois
KSU: Missouri State, Miami, North Texas
OU: @ UTEP, Florida A&M, Notre Dame
OSU: Savannah State, UL-LA, @ Arizona
TCU: Grambling State, Virginia, @ SMU
Tech: Northwestern State, @ Texas State, New Mexico
Texas: Wyoming, New Mexico, @ Ole Miss
WVU: Marshall, James Madison, Maryland

Also, please get your nominees in for abysmally bad non-conference opponent that doesn't belong on a Big 12 schedule. Nominees will be subjected to the Thursday poll.

Vote once and anonymously, because you cannot chance your vote once you've cast it!

[badger]

I voted Iowa State for their Tulsa matchup, as well as their annual corn bowl with their Hawkeye fiends. I think this poll has the potential to be the first that you all won't vote en masse for OU's option :P

[Mississippi Sooner]

I went with Iowa State, too, because, well, they're Iowa State.

Tech's non-conference schedule is shameful.

[olevetonahill]

Voted OU, ND is an Unknown at this time But we aint got a great record agin em.

[Lott's Bandana]

I went with Iowa State, too, because, well, they're Iowa State.

Tech's non-conference schedule is shameful.


I agree w/Cyclones, but if KSU was playing @Miami I would have gone with them, m'thinks.

If. Dog. Rabbit.

[badger]

I agree w/Cyclones, but if KSU was playing @Miami I would have gone with them, m'thinks.

If. Dog. Rabbit.

It was pretty amazing how KSU pulled off the victory at Miami last year. Bill Snyder must've really been cursing old man curses ("Tarnation!") at the fact that KSU was going to Miami instead of staying at home to play little sisters of the poor :D

Also, please nominate a specific opponent, not just a team's overall schedule.

[kbsooner21]

Iowa State. Almost looks like a bunch of SEC non conf schedules up there. Pretty pathetic overall.

[badger]

Here, let me show you how I want you all to do it --- quote the initial post and pick out the cupcakes. I'll give an example:


Baylor: Sam Houston State
ISU: Western Illinois
KU: South Dakota State
KSU: Missouri State
OU: Florida A&M
OSU: Savannah State
TCU: Grambling State
Tech: Northwestern State
Texas: Wyoming
WVU: James Madison

Seriously, if any of our Big 12ers lose to any of these guys, kick them out with a huge exit fee. I especially have to frown at WVU's choice of James Madison (although I realize that the Big 12 move probably made football scheduling rather difficult), because I remember a few years ago when Va Tech lost to them, it was hailed as the greatest achievement since "The Federalist Papers." Groan.

[agoo758]

Is diet oklahoma seriously playing Louisiana-Lafayette for a third year on a row??

Are they trying to get a glimpse of what it's like on the other side of the Bedlam series??

[MI Sooner]

Iowa State. Almost looks like a bunch of SEC non conf schedules up there. Pretty pathetic overall.

At least in recent years, the SEC has been scheduling much tougher than the Big 12. Unless ND or Iowa somehow sneak into the rankings, the Big 12 won't have a matchup against a (pre-season) ranked team. Bama plays Michigan, Florida plays Florida St., Auburn and South Carolina play Clemson, plus there are lots of other matchups against unranked BCS programs. Granted, teams in the Big 12 play 9 conference games, but I don't think Big 12 fans are in a position to take potshots against the SEC.

[badger]

Is diet oklahoma seriously playing Louisiana-Lafayette for a third year on a row??

Yes. (http://www.okstate.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/okst-m-footbl-sched.html)

61-34 (http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/football/ncaaf/game/Louisiana_OklahomaSt/2011/09/03#box-score) last year. 54-28 (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=302810309) the year before, but U-LA-LA was actually up 21-17 at the half. Joe's must've ran outta pints at that point :stunned:

[Mississippi Sooner]

Wasn't it also against Lafayette that they botched the victory formation?

[badger]

Wasn't it also against Lafayette that they botched the victory formation?

No, remember that botching victory formation nearly cost OSU a victory :stunned:

It was against Troy. Link (http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OSU/article.aspx?subjectid=93&articleid=20100911_231_0_STILLW378769)


With 54 seconds left, the Cowboys lined up in victory formation. It’s the simplest play in football - the quarterback takes the snap, touches his knee to the turf and watches the clock roll.

However, in a game replete with oddities and spectacular mistakes, nothing was simple. Cowboy quarterback Brandon Weeden, playing with a sprained right thumb, fumbled the snap. Troy linebacker Daniel Sheffield recovered at the Trojan 34-yard line. Troy was only 30 yards shy of reasonable field-goal range.

It's what started my taunt against resident Poke fans any time they tried to promote Old Man Weeden. :D

[SoonerMarkVA]

Oh, CRAP. I was thinking lamest, not toughest.

[Eielson]

I quickly looked at it and picked Texas. Whoops!

I thought New Mexico had a decent program that was at least close to on par with Tulsa. Didn't realize they went 1-11 last year. Then I gave them credit for going on the road against an SEC school. Didn't realize that school had fallen so far so fast. Went 0-8 in conference. Wyoming is probably one of the top two or three teams on this list based off of last year's performance, though.

[badger]

Oh yeah, one of my cupcake choices is DEFINITELY going to be New Mexico. Two words: Mike Locksley. He is no longer the coach (Bob Davie replaced him during the offseason) but Locksley drove that program straight into the ground and to the top of ESPN's Bottom 10 funny list.

1-11 in 2009. 1-11 in 2010. 0-4 in 2011 before they finally axed him (after a close loss... to Sam Houston State?!?!??!)

Unless you aren't a fan of the colors brown and yellow together (hehehehe), Wyoming is not a crappy program most years. They went (New Mexico) bowling last year.

All you need to know about Ole Miss is that during last year's loss to BYU, their online fans were lamenting that they had given up all of their "racist" traditions to appease diverse recruits, only to lose to an "all white football team." I think soda destroyed my computer monitor when I saw that message board ranting that day, hehe.

PS: It wasn't my meltdown fun, it was the original that the Bammer fans did. Link (http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2011/9/6/2403728/its-meltdown-time) has language that is NSFW.

[8timechamps]

Pretty pathetic OOC for all, but everyone's adapting the SEC OOC scheduling, as it doesn't really pay to schedule tough OOC opponents when you play in a tough league.

I picked OU, only because I'm a homer (with a little credit to ND).

However, Texas probably has the *ahem* toughest overall OOC schedule. Not a FCS team in the bunch. Granted none of them are any good.

[Salt City Sooner]

Have to go w/ ISU. Iowa's at the very least been Notre Dame's equal recently (plus they go to Kinnick for that game), which brings us to Tulsa vs. UTEP. One of those hasn't had a winning season since '05, & it ain't TU.

If TCU was still an OOC, this wouldn't be a contest.

[cccasooner2]

Texas hands down, if they ever scheduled tougher, it would be horns down. When you are near the bottom of the conference, you also want to claim your OOC games were tougher.

[SoonerBread]

Baylor: Sam Houston State
ISU: Western Illinois
KU: South Dakota State
KSU: Missouri State
OU: Florida A&M
OSU: Savannah State
TCU: Grambling State
Tech: Northwestern State
Texas: New Mexico
WVU: James Madison

Also, please get your nominees in for abysmally bad non-conference opponent that doesn't belong on a Big 12 schedule.


I'll go with Western Illinois. Even though I voted for ISU as having the toughest OOC schedule, the Leathernecks are horrific. It was a toss up between them and Missouri State for the team that doesn't belong on at B12 schedule, but Missouri State beat Western Illinois 31-17 last year, @ WIU.

Of note, Sam Houston State went 14-1 last year, losing only in the FCS Championship game. Of course, who knows or really cares how 2011 campares with 2012 for all the teams listed above. All I'm going on is how they did last year, and WIU was the worst of the bunch.

[cccasooner2]

I'll go with Western Illinois. Even though I voted for ISU as having the toughest OOC schedule, the Leathernecks are horrific. It was a toss up between them and Missouri State for the team that doesn't belong on at B12 schedule, but Missouri State beat Western Illinois 31-17 last year, @ WIU.

Of note, Sam Houston State went 14-1 last year, losing only in the FCS Championship game. Of course, who knows or really cares how 2011 campares with 2012 for all the teams listed above. All I'm going on is how they did last year, and WIU was the worst of the bunch.

I think you forgot to put this up: :gary:

[soonerwalt]

Does Savannah St. actually have football as a varsity sport???

[badger]

I think this is the first tie in the history of the offseason polls. Do I need to do a tiebreaker? :D

[BBQ Man]

This is pretty sad across the board for the conference. No more FCS schools! That looks horrible. We're better than that. I know we don't want to get beaten up before conference, but we could at least play a Sun Belt/MAC school, a C-USA school and a big name opponent every year.

[bluedogok]

Does Savannah St. actually have football as a varsity sport???
They have never been very good (.392 overall win percentage) when they had Shannon Sharpe they went 7-3 and 8-1, their best records ever.

Texas State is no longer I-AA having moved up to I-A this season along with UTSA, WAC for two years and then Texas State goes to the Sun Belt and UTSA to C-USA in 2013-14.

[cccasooner2]

I think this is the first tie in the history of the offseason polls. Do I need to do a tiebreaker? :D

A vote for Western Illinois should break it.

[cccasooner2]

Badger is ahead of the field. :)

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-06-19/big-12-ranking-non-conference-schedules-oklahoma-notre-dame-texas-osu