AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2007 > September > 06
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Scheduling dreams and nightmares
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today, the topic of scheduling. Why? Tech is about to play Samford.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Good because, in theory, Tech should be able to play a lot of people. Bad because attendance will probably be lukewarm (40,000 tickets distributed as of Tuesday afternoon), and it would not appear to be a stiff test (although those follow with Boston College, a trip to Virginia, and Clemson).
In sum, I’m in favor of scheduling one Division I-AA team, or a non-BCS team most years, maybe even every year now that there are 12 games per.
But I’d also like to jack up the rest of the non-conference schedule (two other games besides the Samford and Georgia every year), at least with one of the two remaining dates.
In 2008 and 2009, Tech has non-conference home games with Jacksonville State. In ‘08, they also have invited Mississippi State, and in ‘09 Georgia will come back, of course. In ‘08, they go to Army and Georgia. In ‘09, they go to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. In ‘10, when Tech is slated to have seven home games, South Carolina State, Ole Miss and Middle Tennessee State will come to Atlanta.
Tech will pay back that trip to Ole Miss down the road, but their only road non-conference game in ‘10 is at Georgia.
For my two cents, having a Notre Dame come to town, or Auburn a few years ago, etc., looks like a win-win as long as Tech has competitive teams. The national exposure from the Notre Dame game last year was huge, the campus atmosphere very hard to describe. Excluding Georgia, there’s nothing remotely like these games on foreseeable schedules.
Can’t get a Notre Dame on the schedule very often, of course, without some sort of lopsided payback, including trips to South Bend in 1997, which almost worked out, and 2007, which did.
But I like the idea of Tech playing big boys three out of four years out of conference (easy for me to say, huh?) other than Georgia. No offense to Mississippi State, or Ole Miss, but two future trips to Mississippi? A trip next year to Army, to Middle Tennessee State in 2011?
There have been talks with Alabama, of course, and I wonder about the reality — especially given Tech’s former residence in the SEC — of playing one SEC team other than Georgia EVERY YEAR home and away. It’s happening next year with Miss. State here, and at Georgia. It’s happening and then some in ‘09 with Georgia here and trips to Miss. State and Vandy. In ‘10 with Ole Miss.
I get the SEC thing, but wonder if Tennessee home and away might not be more appealing? Impossible? I’m not saying the idea wasn’t approached. Maybe it was.
South Carolina?
Florida?
LSU?
It’s difficult to re-arrange schedules once they’re made, but it’s been done (see Tech’s game with Louisville dropped).
In the years where one of these SEC teams other than Georgia is on the schedule, and that’s the case for the foreseeable future, if that game is at home, wouldn’t it be nice to have a road trip to, say, a Big East or Big Ten school? If that second SEC game is on the road, to have Purdue, Iowa, Louisville, West Virginia, Rutgers, somebody like that come to Atlanta? Then, the other home game is the D I-AA, or second-tier team.
Would a home and two games away series with Michigan-Ohio State-Penn State-Wisconsin be worthwhile?
Hey, not for a moment am I suggesting that scheduling is easy because it’s a nightmare. We’ve written about how tough it is, and Dan Radakovich’s philosophy, and others have written it, too.
But anybody ever dream about these kinds of matchups?
Matt
