Rumor has it that we are near a 4 year deal with OSU

[Pork Twain]

I still want to know where people keep coming up with these rumors?  The only one's that have been talked about publicly were the Texas series, and then a little bit about OU when the Cotton Bowl game w/Texas looked like it was gone.

I don't see any way Frank would be dumb enough to schedule a series with OSU.  What would we have to gain from playing them?  If you are going to play a big name OOC team, play a BIG NAME OOC team.  We shouldn't be trying to schedule a series with a second rung team from a wanna-be conference.  Talking about OU or Texas is one thing... dropping to OSU/Mizzou/KU is just nuts.  You set yourself up to be upset by a low-teir team, or you get a win that doesn't really mean much.

Would you rather play SW Missouri St, ULM, Utah St or New Mexico St?  There is absolutely no benefit there whereas playing any Big-12 school will get us Texass sized attention.  If we kick the Shiite out of OU or OSU then the Texass kids love us.  If we play TCU, TT, Baylor, aTm then the Texass kids see us.  How is that not a winning combination?  Losing should not be an issue.  If we play at teh level the Hogs SHOULD then we win.  It's all about exposure.

OK, let me get this straight.... You think we should rank playing OSU up there with Texas, USC, Michigan, or any other powerhouse in the nation?  Now, if by OSU you mean Ohio State I may agree with you.

The NCAA has gone to a 12 game schedule.  EVERY power conference school that is worth anything will be trying to set their schedule up with 1 top-teir game, and 3 rent-a-wins.  OSU is not even close to being good enough to rate as a top-teir team, so why would we want to schedule them?  You schedule a Texas, USC, OU, Miami, Notre Dame, etc., etc., etc., and then you schedule 3 cupcakes.  It would be absurd for us to schedule a series with OSU because of the reasons I stated earlier, it's a no-win for us... either we get a pretty much meaningless win, or we get a really bad loss.  Not a smart move, and I for one don't believe the TCU series was a smart move for the same reason.

Look at USC's situation this year.  They scheduled us when we were both on an up-swing.  It looked like it would be a pretty good series for both of us at the time, and then our program fell apart.  We got killed last year.  Now, if we somehow manage to pull out a W on 9/2 what do you think that will do for USC?  They will be kicking themselves for having signed on for this series.  Just like OSU would be for us... last year USC got a meaningless W, and this year a really bad loss if it happens.

Maybe you should reread my post because that is nowhere near what I said.  I said I would much rather play a Big-12 team in the place of a Mountain West or Missouri Valley team.  I want to get that exposure in the Big-12.  In case you haven't heard the recruiting there is very fertile.  We play in the SEC and usually play 1-3 BCS teams every year.  We schedule Texass, OK, Neb, Miami, etc. and also throw in some lower level schools to get us even more exposure in the Big-12.

We were on an up-swing three years ago???  Most of our team was about to graduate.

[BigHog396]

I still want to know where people keep coming up with these rumors?  The only ones that have been talked about publicly were the Texas series, and then a little bit about OU when the Cotton Bowl game w/Texas looked like it was gone.

I don't see any way Frank would be dumb enough to schedule a series with OSU.  What would we have to gain from playing them?  If you are going to play a big name OOC team, play a BIG NAME OOC team.  We shouldn't be trying to schedule a series with a second rung team from a wanna-be conference.  Talking about OU or Texas is one thing... dropping to OSU/Mizzou/KU is just nuts.  You set yourself up to be upset by a low-tier team, or you get a win that doesn't really mean much.

Would you rather play SW Missouri St, ULM, Utah St or New Mexico St?  There is absolutely no benefit there whereas playing any Big-12 school will get us Texass sized attention.  If we kick the Shiite out of OU or OSU then the Texass kids love us.  If we play TCU, TT, Baylor, aTm then the Texass kids see us.  How is that not a winning combination?  Losing should not be an issue.  If we play at teh level the Hogs SHOULD then we win.  It's all about exposure.

OK, let me get this straight.... You think we should rank playing OSU up there with Texas, USC, Michigan, or any other powerhouse in the nation?  Now, if by OSU you mean Ohio State I may agree with you.

The NCAA has gone to a 12 game schedule.  EVERY power conference school that is worth anything will be trying to set their schedule up with 1 top-tier game, and 3 rent-a-wins.  OSU is not even close to being good enough to rate as a top-tier team, so why would we want to schedule them?  You schedule a Texas, USC, OU, Miami, Notre Dame, etc., etc., etc., and then you schedule 3 cupcakes.  It would be absurd for us to schedule a series with OSU because of the reasons I stated earlier, it's a no-win for us... either we get a pretty much meaningless win, or we get a really bad loss.  Not a smart move, and I for one don't believe the TCU series was a smart move for the same reason.

Look at USC's situation this year.  They scheduled us when we were both on an up-swing.  It looked like it would be a pretty good series for both of us at the time, and then our program fell apart.  We got killed last year.  Now, if we somehow manage to pull out a W on 9/2 what do you think that will do for USC?  They will be kicking themselves for having signed on for this series.  Just like OSU would be for us... last year USC got a meaningless W, and this year a really bad loss if it happens.

Maybe you should reread my post because that is nowhere near what I said.  I said I would much rather play a Big-12 team in the place of a Mountain West or Missouri Valley team.  I want to get that exposure in the Big-12.  In case you haven't heard the recruiting there is very fertile.  We play in the SEC and usually play 1-3 BCS teams every year.  We schedule Texass, OK, Neb, Miami, etc. and also throw in some lower level schools to get us even more exposure in the Big-12.

We were on an up-swing three years ago???  Most of our team was about to graduate.

I re-read your post, and I guess you missed the point.  If we are to have a game against one of the big boys (Texas, OU, USC types) you DON'T schedule an OSU in one of the other 3 OOC games.  You already have the exposure by playing the top-tier team, and you don't risk what could be a loss that screws up the season with no benefit if you beat the team.  That is exactly what the OSU situation would be if we were to be playing another top-tier team during that series.

Now, if you are saying that OSU should be the top-tier team that we play with 3 other patsies, you are missing the point of scheduling a series with a marquee program.  An OSU series would have little more than regional coverage, and beating them (or just playing them for that matter) doesn't mean diddly squat in the recruiting game.

If we are going to continue scheduling "marquee" matchups, which I believe we should, Okie St should not even be considered an option.  There are maybe 10-15 teams that we should be looking at, and if you are saying Okie St should be one of those you are simply nuts.  The only teams we should be looking at home-and-home's with should be along the lines of:  USC, Cal, Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU (Ohio State), Penn St, Miami, FSU, Texas, OU, Nebraska (if they get the ship turned around).  The only problem with that is many of those teams should have basically the same view about playing us that we SHOULD have about playing Okie St.

So, I guess the question is... are you saying we should play Okie St as our marquee matchup, or are you saying we should play them in addition to a truly marquee matchup?

[noprayerfornutt]

I'm all for playing Okie State.  It beats playing ULM.  The powers that be need to make sure some type of TV deal is there as well.

[Jim]

I'm saying dump the Missouri State's and La Monroe's and add the Okie State's and other (arguably) lower tiered Big 12 / Big 10 schools.  To me, you get better exposure playing an Iowa or Illinois or T-Tech than you do with a "cupcake" like SMSU.

A loss to a Citadel is far worse than a loss to a lower ended Big 12/10 school...

IMO.

[BigHog396]

So, lets see, our 12 game schedule should look something like this if you guys all seem to want to get rid of the ULM's of the world...

1.  Okie St
2.  Texas
3.  TCU
4.  K-State
5.  Alabama
6.  Georgia
7.  South Carolina
8.  Auburn
9.  Ole Miss
10.  Florida
11.  Miss St
12.  LSU

That's really smart guys.  Let's be unlike any other team in college football and not have a single rent-a-win (much less 3 rent-a-wins) so we have to be able to compete on level with the Dallas Cowboys to come up with an 8 win season.  Do you guys really have that little understanding of college football?

[ExArky]

I would be interested in an Arkansas-Virginia Tech series. The universities have similar geographic settings, similar game atmospheres, very similar stadiums with recent major renovations, both with strong regional followings but often seeming to lack national respect. Tech has been the bigger football power for the past decade or so, but Arkansas has the richer football tradition and better overall athletic program. It would give Arkansas some eastern exposure and Tech some Southern/Midwestern exposure.

[BigHog396]

I would be interested in an Arkansas-Virginia Tech series. The universities have similar geographic settings, similar game atmospheres, very similar stadiums with recent major renovations, both with strong regional followings but often seeming to lack national respect. Tech has been the bigger football power for the past decade or so, but Arkansas has the richer football tradition and better overall athletic program. It would give Arkansas some eastern exposure and Tech some Southern/Midwestern exposure.

I wasn't saying that I think the "marquee" games would only be against the teams I listed.  There are a few, such as VaTech that I would agree could be considered marquee.  Just not any second-tier BCS conference schools.

[Pork Twain]

So, lets see, our 12 game schedule should look something like this if you guys all seem to want to get rid of the ULM's of the world...

1.  Okie St
2.  Texas
3.  TCU
4.  K-State
5.  Alabama
6.  Georgia
7.  South Carolina
8.  Auburn
9.  Ole Miss
10.  Florida
11.  Miss St
12.  LSU

That's really smart guys.  Let's be unlike any other team in college football and not have a single rent-a-win (much less 3 rent-a-wins) so we have to be able to compete on level with the Dallas Cowboys to come up with an 8 win season.  Do you guys really have that little understanding of college football?

Sorry but I don't consider TCU, Baylor, Rice, TT, aTm as Marquee teams and I didn't say replace every non-conf team on our schedule with a Texass/Oklahomo team.  I would also like to play one big and one little Big-12 team every year.  Texass/Baylor and Oklahomo/TCU would make me happy.  I said I would rather play one of them than ULM or a Directional school.  That does not mean that I want our schedule to be entirely made up of Big-12 or SEC teams.

[BigHog396]

So, lets see, our 12 game schedule should look something like this if you guys all seem to want to get rid of the ULM's of the world...

1.  Okie St
2.  Texas
3.  TCU
4.  K-State
5.  Alabama
6.  Georgia
7.  South Carolina
8.  Auburn
9.  Ole Miss
10.  Florida
11.  Miss St
12.  LSU

That's really smart guys.  Let's be unlike any other team in college football and not have a single rent-a-win (much less 3 rent-a-wins) so we have to be able to compete on level with the Dallas Cowboys to come up with an 8 win season.  Do you guys really have that little understanding of college football?

Sorry but I don't consider TCU, Baylor, Rice, TT, aTm as Marquee teams and I didn't say replace every non-conf team on our schedule with a Texass/Oklahomo team.  I would also like to play one big and one little Big-12 team every year.  Texass/Baylor and Oklahomo/TCU would make me happy.  I said I would rather play one of them than ULM or a Directional school.  That does not mean that I want our schedule to be entirely made up of Big-12 or SEC teams.

Well then, back to my original point.  All of the major programs are basically trying to setup 1 power team, and 3 gimme's for their OOC opponents.  Why should we buck that trend and make it 1 power team, one second-tier BCS school, and 2 gimme's?  That would be setting us with the opportunity for a really bad loss to a TCU/OSU/T-Tech type every year.  That's just nuts with very few if any of the other big name schools looking at doing it.

I just don't see us adding OSU unless that game is considered our power opponent game.  OSU doesn't rate as a power opponent.  To me it would be stupid to schedule them when you can go for teams like Texas, OU, Notre Dame, USC, etc., etc., etc.  It may be an easy road trip, it may give us slightly more exposure than a ULM, and we may even win 3 of 4 against them.  BUT... that 1 loss would far out-weigh any benefit we would gain from the three wins.

With the technological age in which we live, a regionally covered game against a team like OSU doesn't gain you anything.  Any kids that could have been swayed by a game like that in the past now have enough exposure to us as possible with the internet and all of the cable sports programming.  A win against OSU would mean very little even in this region, but a loss would give us a black eye on a national level.