Breaking News: The Schedule Is Still Bland, But With Byes!
by KevinHD on Jun 17, 2008 9:36 AM EDT
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PrintThe Big Ten, in what was surely a painful decision, allowed member football teams to play games after Thanksgiving in spite of the concern that it could take away from the only game they really care about: The OSU-Michigan season finale. The first round of schedules that take this into effect were released today. While Penn State does have a bye week this year (November 1st, between OSU and Iowa), that disappears in 2009 before becoming a scheduling staple beginning in 2010 .
The 2009 bye is a quark that resulted because of the way the calendar falls. Starting early allows everyone to fit the 12 games plus one bye week into their Big Ten schedule. This isn't unique to Penn State, everyone in the conference landed an off week this year.
While I understand that the players probably could use the bye week, as a fan I have two problems with it. First off, and the most obvious, is the fact that there won't be a Penn State game on October 1st. This is not ideal. Secondly, however, is the situation where one school has two weeks to prepare for a game while the other doesn't. You will find people who will argue having two weeks is both good and bad, but I have a hard time believing any coach in D1a would tell you honestly they would prefer the shorter prep time. It allows banged up players to heal, gives the entire staff more time to review film, and gives the team more time to work on systems that may be implemented based on the matchup.
I would love to see a situation where the entire conference took the same week off, thus eliminating the above described problem while still providing the players with a needed break. This isn't likely to happen however.
Other random scheduling notes:
- Penn State may be done in the Metrodome. The 2008 schedule is the second year Minnesota is absent from the PSU schedule, and the new outdoor stadium is scheduled to be completed by the 2009 season. The Metrodome might be the worst venue in sports so I have to admit this is rather pleasing.
- Michigan will roll off the schedule in 2011. This means we will have three years to try and bury the streak.
- In case you forgot, our out of conference matchups against BCS schools are still the rather uninspiring lineup of Virginia, Syracuse and Alabama.
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upcoming schedules
I really think the upcoming schedules are alright, some intriguing games and 2 years of no michigan coming up (hopefully they will be/remain bad until then). If we manage to schedule some interesting (non directional) teams in our TBA slots the schedules could be great.
2009-2012:
2009
Sept. 5 TBA
Sept. 12 Syracuse
Sept. 19 Temple
Sept. 26 Iowa
Oct. 3 at Illinois
Oct. 10 Eastern Illinois
Oct. 17 Minnesota
Oct. 24 at Michigan
Oct. 31 at Northwestern
Nov. 7 Ohio State
Nov. 14 Indiana
Nov. 21 at Michigan State
2010
Sept. 4 Youngstown State
Sept. 11 at Alabama
Sept. 18 Kent State
Sept. 25 Temple
Oct. 2 at Iowa
Oct. 9 Illinois
Oct. 16 OPEN
Oct. 23 at Minnesota
Oct. 30 Michigan
Nov. 6 Northwestern
Nov. 13 at Ohio State
Nov. 20 at Indiana
Nov. 27 Michigan State
2011
Sept. 3 TBA
Sept. 10 Alabama
Sept. 17 at Temple
Sept. 24 TBA
Oct. 1 at Illinois
Oct. 8 Ohio State
Oct. 15 Iowa
Oct. 22 at Northwestern
Oct. 29 Purdue
Nov. 5 OPEN
Nov. 12 Wisconsin
Nov. 19 at Minnesota
Nov. 26 at Michigan State
2012
Sept. 1 TBA
Sept. 8 at Virginia
Sept. 15 Temple
Sept. 22 TBA
Sept. 29 Illinois
Oct. 6 at Ohio State
Oct. 13 at Iowa
Oct. 20 Northwestern
Oct. 27 at Purdue
Nov. 3 OPEN
Nov. 10 at Wisconsin
Nov. 17 Minnesota
Nov. 24 Michigan State
Boom goes the dynamite.
as long as TBA does not equal MAC
Than I agree, but I don’t know if that will be the case. The goal has always been to make sure there are eight home games; this is how you end up with some very dull Augusts. UVA and Cuse just don’t get me going, and while Alabama is interesting for historical reasons, when you sit down and look at the team Bama currently is…
I guess my fear is that the Bama series could end up like the ND one, fun when the news breaks, interesting the week before, but in the end simply aren’t that great of games. That’s just my opinion.
while there weren't MNC implications
splitting the series with 2006 being an exciting game and 2007 being a fun game to watch (for PSU fans) I thought playing ND was great.
Boom goes the dynamite.
I suppose I’m still a little bitter about what happened in 2006…confused too. I don’t understand how we ended up playing that bad and then beating Tenn in the same year. I’m also still pissed about that fake punt they ran.
2007 was spoiled, I thought, because ND was so bad I was a lot more concerned about losing than excited about the prospect of winning.
In the end, though, I’m going to contradict myself. ND and Bama are the kinds of games we need to schedule, and if they don’t turn out the way I like, well that’s not really the fault of the AD.
For "rivalry" purposes
I think the Ohio State game should stay in begining of October.
For the Glory; National Champions 1982, 1986, 1994
Anyone notice the end to the 2011 schedule?
Nov. 19 at Minnesota
Nov. 26 at Michigan State
The Minny game will be at their new outdoor stadium and of course MSU is outdoor as well. Bring your hat, scarf, and gloves!! BRRRRRRRRRRR
Patiently waiting for the return of Penn State Football
changing team
I’m curious to know if Minn is working to recruit a different type of team. Body mass will be at a premium in that state after Nov 1.
Good point
Minny usually has smaller and more athletic lines. The outdoor venue may prompt them to change their philosophy.
Patiently waiting for the return of Penn State Football
by ReadingNitFan on Jun 17, 2008 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Alabama
No excitement for a home and home with the tide? That, IMO, is exactly the kind of game PSU should try to have on the schedule every year.
by GLORYOFOLDSTATE on Jun 17, 2008 11:11 AM EDT reply actions
I'm probably being a little over-critical
Bama will be a good series, but only if they can get the ship stright by then. PSU-Bama, if Bama continues to pull in 6-7, 7-6 seasons, isn’t going to do it for me. However, based on the way saban has been recruiting, even taking into account the inflated rankings do to oversigning…chances are they will shape up.
Eastern Michigan gone?
I have to admit I was most confused by the TBA in the first week of ‘09, since I had heard from multiple sources that Eastern Michigan was our season opener. Any word on if this game got dropped? ‘Twould be nice to maybe sneak in another Oregon State in the Eagles’ place, no?
Exactly
Hopefully we can get a solid game that will test our guys early on. A win over Cuse and Temple won’t really show where our program is headed.
Does anyone see Joe Pa making it until the home game with Alabama? I don’t, unless we get back to back BCS bowl wins or something. Its weird to think that the end is actually going to be soon. Hopefully the future is bright.
They said, "I don't know his name, but he aims like Wayne Gretzky"
That's funny, 'cause I don't play hockey, I play HORSE on the mic and watch them all copy-Cannibal Ox
Kevin
Did you change email addresses? Your address from The Big 11th isn’t working anymore.
"Who gives a fuck about an oxford comma?"
that's because I'm a bit of an idiot
and misspelled "eleventh". And other words, but like a good third grade student I’m working on it….
Email link should be fixed.
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