Don’t expect Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson to make any apologies for playing Middle Tennessee State. If he had his way, the Yellow Jackets’ schedule would have more games against teams from outside BCS automatic qualifier (AQ) conferences, teams such as Middle Tennessee, whom they’ll play Saturday night in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
This week, Johnson was asked, if he had his druthers, would he prefer three such games on Tech’s non-conference schedule rather than the two it usually has.
Said Johnson, “Probably, yeah. The [ACC] is tough enough.”
The coach will get his wish granted technically, but not in reality. Tech’s non-conference opponents for 2012-2014 include one AQ conference team, rival Georgia, though the 2013 schedule is not complete. However, the Yellow Jackets play BYU in 2012-14 and again in 2017. The independent Cougars aren’t in a AQ conference, but are on par with many schools in the six power FBS (formerly Division I-A) conferences.
In fact, athletic director Dan Radakovich contracted with BYU because he saw the Cougars as an attraction for season-ticket buyers for Tech’s even-year home schedule, when Georgia, Virginia Tech and Clemson are all road games.
The puzzle of balancing the preferences of the coaching staff and the ticket-buying public along with the limited market of possible opponents is not one easily solved for Radakovich.
“Scheduling is really one of the great challenges,” he said.
For Johnson, it’s not as hard. In the ACC, he sees Virginia Tech playing no AQ conference teams this season and Duke, N.C. State and Virginia with one game each against a team from an AQ conference.
He doesn’t feel the need to load the schedule with powerhouses. Johnson said his ideal is “you want to be favored in a couple and maybe one’s even and one you’ve got to play up.”
Tech will have two games with AQ schools this season, Georgia and Big 12-member Kansas, whom the Yellow Jackets play next Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Five other ACC teams also have two AQ conference teams (including Notre Dame) on their schedules. Miami and Wake Forest will play three AQ conference teams.
The Jackets are one of four ACC teams — Florida State, Miami and Wake Forest are the others — that has played or will play at least two games against AQ conference teams each year from 2007-11.
In that span, Wake Forest and Miami have 12 games against AQ conference schools, followed by FSU and Tech at 11. Virginia Tech has played the fewest with four. Further, Wake has scheduled the fewest FCS (formerly Division I-AA) opponents with three.
While fans might hold up the Demon Deacons as an example that schools can schedule tough — they’ve had home and homes with Nebraska and Stanford in recent years and start with Notre Dame this year — coach Jim Grobe has no trouble playing Elon and Gardner-Webb.
“I don’t think there’s much question about it, if you can play a couple teams right out of the blocks that you can afford to make a couple of mistakes against and still beat, that’s really what you want to be able to do,” Grobe said.
Georgia fans fuming over their loss to Boise State on Saturday would probably agree.
Radakovich, who consults with Johnson on the schedule, acknowledges the balance between lighter opponents and heavyweights, but also deals with the reality that schedule making does not always allow for maintaining a ratio.
“I don’t get caught up in those kind of circumstances because usually you don’t have that many options,” he said. “We are not the only school looking for games.”
The 2013 schedule is an example of the challenge Radakovich and associate athletic director Ryan Bamford face. Tech has one non-conference opening to fill, with Georgia, BYU and Elon already lined up. While most fans would prefer another giant, Radakovich said the difficulty is that most, if not all, AQ conference schools would want to schedule a home-and-home, and the Jackets don’t have another opening until 2016.
Radakovich said he has been in discussions with Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO Gary Stokan for the past year about the 2013 kickoff game at the Georgia Dome and expects talks to continue.
“There’s just a lot of options right now associated with that,” Radakovich said.
If he wants his coach’s opinion, he’ll be sure to have one.
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