Why do powerhouse college football teams schedule cupcakes if they are SO good?

Bryce D: Why do powerhouse college football teams schedule cupcakes if they are SO good?
Aren’t you tired of powerhouse college football teams scheduling cupcakes just so they can make sure they get in a BCS game? If they are so good, why don’t they prove it by having a strong out of conference schedule? Who else has disgust for this way of scheduling in college football?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Earle of Bruce
They don’t get a preseason like the pros, so I don’t mind teams that schedule a couple of cupcakes. It’s when they refuse to play even one tough game out of conference that I get annoyed.

Answer by Mike K
$ $ $
Getting that cash money for scheduling cupcakes.
Also, no big team like Ohio State is gonna schedule out of conference games against teams like Texas or USC (University of Spoiled Children) or Florida because both teams know the consequences of losing. And neither team wants to take that risk. Kinda wimpy if you ask me, but hey, that’s why I’m just a fan and they’re on the sidelines on Saturdays.

Also, to mark on the BYU/Oklahoma game. Good for BYU, but it’s too bad they’ll never sniff a national championship hope. They better wish that every BCS conference team finishes with 2 losses.

That’s been scheduled far in advanced though, at least 2 years in advanced. If you take a look at wikipedia and their NCAA football schedule, you’ll see that there are games scheduled for the 2011 season already. I’m sure both programs knew they would be good, but I’m sure they didn’t envision this big of a game.

Answer by ramswo85™
they do it so that they can build confidence into their team. a perfect example is Oklahoma. they lose and their confidence sky rockets down. In college its all about momentum, and u can’t build that by playing a top 25 team evry week and expect to win evry time

Answer by The Dude Incarnate
You’re totally right dude, but it’s us fans who are also guilty. We continue to pay for tickets to watch Florida beat Little Sisters of Mercy by 70 points and then we go around and brag about how great the team is (and base rankings on it???). If we stop buying tickets maybe they’d change, but that’s not likely.

One way to partially solve the problem would be at least to make them play teams in their own division (like no Division IAA opponents, or whatever the screwed-up NCAA calls that division now.

Answer by 1-0
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. And every powerhouse team does it. It’s not like it’s just a few teams or one conference in particular…every single “Big 6” team schedules these games, so in that way it’s kind of fair. And if a team were to play too many cupcakes and make it to a BCS bowl, they would likely lose to the other team that played better teams, thus the whole situation works itself out anyway. Not to mention that “strength of schedule” is one of the 3 major determining factors is making the weekly AP rankings & bowl selections…

Answer by deacon_frost06
dude.. try playing 9 games vs SEC teams then 3 other games vs other teams with an 85 player limit and see how long you can go before depth kills you

and while u may not like it.. it’s good for college football as a whole.. see when Jackson State took on Miss State and got romped.. the Jackson state program took home a $ 600,000.00 paycheck

Answer by Way Smarter Than You
The short answer in most cases is money. Schools make big bucks for each home game. The more home games they play the more money they make. The more difficult the opponent the more likely it becomes that the opponent will require a home and home arrangement. Scheudling is about two things: revenue and recruiting. Those two factors are probably the main consideration in 90% or more of all scheduling decisions.

Frankly, I find it comforting. If Michigan doesn’t schedule App State we never have that kind of upset. Kids from small schools have an opportunity to make a big play in front of 60K+ fans and get on Sports Center. Small schools get to earn money that essential for the survival of their program. It works out for best in my opinion.

Answer by Jeremy S
Unlike basketball or baseball where one victory means a relatively small amount to the entire season, just ONE single loss can ruin an entire season. This becomes an even bigger problem when you schedule a semi decent team and come out flat. Losing that game can be extremely hard to recover from. So to battle this problem, as shown by this last weekend you see games where Florida is a 73 point game favorite (in effect a preseason for the major programs).