AZ Bear said:
I don't see much upside in scheduling Oregon State as an OOC game. Not wild about Washington State either, especially later in the year -- no more dealing with late season weather in the Palouse!
Both of those teams (especially OSU) are usually better than the national perception of them (even though both were ranked this year). So, relatively tough to beat with relatively little national exposure. That seems like a bad deal to me. Pass.
I think we need to take advantage of what could/should be somewhat weaker depth, top to bottom, in the ACC vs. the Pac-12. The difference is very pronounced this year -- Pac-12 is way tougher. My use of the word "somewhat" is an attempt to factor in some weaker P-12 seasons in recent years.
Regardless, we need to start going to bowl games on a regular basis. They can be weaker bowls in the near term, as we build up our program. But bowl games mean 15 extra practices, 1 extra game, and more exposure and credibility (certainly compared to finishing 4-8 in a strong P-12 every year).
Toward this aim, I hate to say this but I think we should lighten up our OOC schedule. Keep the A-B-C format from our P-12 years, but the 4th game should be a likely win, but versus the least embarrassing-looking opponent we can get away with. I really like the idea of playing Rice -- we should beat them AND we get more recruiting exposure in Texas. (Nice pick there, JB Was a Chieftain!).
Cal has had one of the most difficult schedules in the country many, many times over the last 20+ years. Right now, I'd rather have the extra win than a bit more respect from whichever pundits would actually notice and comment on our schedule.
Who agrees and who disagrees on this point?
As our conference games (other than Stanford) will be with East Coast teams and SMU, I'd like to set up a series with SDSU and Hawaii for strategic purposes.
Thus my preferences are:
1. One B1G or SEC opponent (A)
2. A series against SDSU (B)
3. A series against Hawaii (C)
4. I would eliminate (or greatly reduce) the FCS opponents (play UC Davis or an HBC every couple of years) and add C opponents in good recruiting areas. In years we play at Hawaii and can play a 13th game (and in week zero) add another school from good recruiting areas with possible road trips: Rice, Houston, UNLV, Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Nevadaβ¦. Or maybe add a bottom tier SEC or B1G team like Vanderbilt or Northwestern.
