🏈 A post from another thread that deserves a thread of its own. Continuing OOC discussions.

[TerryP]

This is a thanks to Mr. Pink for bringing up this question.

Good stuff Terry. I think I would have to agree with you on MSU's OOC schedule. I also, like most people here, enjoy the big games to start the season. It's been said before that talent can win you those early games before the team has a chance to "gel"... that plus the fact that we have that guy named Saban has lead us to 2 (soon to be 3) opening day wins against top 10 teams. If we had lost those games we may be singing a different tune, but as long as we're winning them i really really like them lol

IF we would have dropped one of these games, what would your opinion be on scheduling OOC games?

Bob Stoops made a comment back in 2009 that almost floored me. In fact, I made the comment that if I was an Oklahoma fan I'd not only be pissed off, but I'd likely be calling for he to take a step back and think whether he was cut out for the HC job.

It was 2009, and OU was on the national stage to start the season. At the same time you and I were sitting back basking in the win over a top 10 ranked VA Tech team. (I should have used another adjective: mauling, beat down, abuse...you get the picture.)

OU, on the other hand, was not. They were sitting back, some probably in a fetal position, because they were hiding from the lights pointed at their program after a 13-14 loss to Brigham Young in Arlington. Stoops said after the game "we'll not schedule any games like this again." His reasoning was the degree of difficulty in preparation when it is the first game of the season. (By the way, this was the same year that Beamer had talked about how a loss would affect his Hokie team versus Alabama BEFORE we even played the game.)

Coming back to the our program.

If we had lost one of the marquee games against the OOC opponents the last four years which one(s) would have made you pause and reflect on the state of our program?

In specific order:

Clemson. That would have ticked me off. I thought they were over-rated, and the subsequent 7-6 record pretty well reflected that. (OK, they only lost to teams with winning records if that makes a difference. No, I take that back. They had two wins over FCS teams, one over a 7-6 South Carolina and a win over a 9-5 BC team. Over rated.)

Penn State in ATL.
Va Tech.
And, the one game I would hate losing but it would tick me off would be last year vs Penn State on the road. Only because it was on the road and we were starting a first year QB.

If we had lost some of these games, would it have any effect on how you felt about scheduling OOC games that actually mean something?

 

[BamaFan615]

It wouldn't effect how I felt about the "big" OOC games. They're great in my book for two reasons. First, the most important reason...it's national exposure for your program. Plain and simple, that's what the top athletes come to play at big time programs for - to get on TV and get recognized. And then second it's a way to "springboard" your name in to the national title race early in the season...and if you lose you have all season to make up for it.

Terry - I had forgotten about Beamer's comments before that game. He was already in preparations on how he was going to motivate his team after this loss - before we even stepped foot on the field!

Honestly though - if we were going to lose ANY of these games, the one that would annoy me the most would be the one coming up against those damn Wolverines. I hope we mop them up and down the field.

 

[Crimson&WhiteGecko]

I love these big games at the beginning of the season simply because it changes the entire mentality of getting ready in the off season. The fact that you have to be ready by the first game places a lot of emphasis on practice at doing everything right, right now. Not after we beat up on sisters of the poor.

If we lost any of those games, I'm pretty certain it wouldn't change my position. I just see a prepared & hungry (hungry to beat up on somebody else) team when that first game starts.

 

[TerryP]

It wouldn't effect how I felt about the "big" OOC games. They're great in my book for two reasons. First, the most important reason...it's national exposure for your program. Plain and simple, that's what the top athletes come to play at big time programs for - to get on TV and get recognized. And then second it's a way to "springboard" your name in to the national title race early in the season...and if you lose you have all season to make up for it.

Terry - I had forgotten about Beamer's comments before that game. He was already in preparations on how he was going to motivate his team after this loss - before we even stepped foot on the field!

Honestly though - if we were going to lose ANY of these games, the one that would annoy me the most would be the one coming up against those damn Wolverines. I hope we mop them up and down the field.

Within minutes of hearing that comment I was talking with another member here: "can you believe he just said that?!?!"

Amazing. A coach of his "caliber" accepting defeat before his team is even out of fall camp?

We talked about teams quiting several decades ago when they stepped on the field.