June 28, 2004
Cupcake city - Breaking down the schedules
If you had the time to look at all the major conference schedules (and no one should have that much time really) you would find that the "majors" are seeing an awful lot of the "minors" these days.
Who schedules the most cupcakes? Here's a rundown of Division I-A schools that scheduled Division I-AA teams this year:
ACC - 6 cupcake games
Big East - 6 cupcake games
SEC - 5 cupcake games
Big XII - 4 cupcake games
Conf USA - 3 cupcake games
Mountain West - 2 cupcake games
Big Ten - 2 cupcake games
Pac 10 - 1 cupcake game
Comments:
posted on June 29, 2004 2:20 PM — 24.214.245.208 — link — abuse?Ben Prather said:
As for the Sun Belt having so many 1-AA games...
two teams are starting the transistion to 1-A, and will be in the Sun Belt, namely Florida Atlantic and Florida International University. These two schools play 3 or 4 Sun Belt teams, accounting for 6-8 1-AA games. These games should not count against the Sun Belt as cupcakes. (Some might argue playing a Sun Belt team should count as a cupcake...)"(and no one should have that much time really)" Shesh its kinda scary that I know that. I am working on a side project, developing a website to support my personal computer rankings. As part of that project, I built a copy of next years schedule from the conference listings.
Maurice said:
posted on June 30, 2004 4:41 PM — 208.17.179.33 — link — abuse?
IT IS ALL ABOUT THE $$$$$. Money talks who cares if Big schools schedules an one double A school. The Payday for a Div 1-AA school will be the largest all year.
I support Big schools playing at least one D 1-AA
school. Money talks everything else walksCoug It said:
posted on June 30, 2004 10:10 PM — 4.12.29.71 — link — abuse?
Hmm? Ben, could you send me a copy of the I-A schedule? I've been looking for one for a while. It'd be nice to have one.
I-AA games aren't necessarily cupcakes. Who's an easier foe? Buffalo, or Colgate? I think any team that finished with a 3-9, 2-10, 1-11, 0-12/13 season is probably an easier target than a top-tier I-AA school.
posted on July 4, 2004 8:19 PM — 24.125.64.120 — link — abuse?
In defense of that "most embarrassing" matchup between VT and FAMU, it was scheduled (a) after Temple backed out of their planned 2004 visit and (b) when FAMU was planning to move up to I-A this season.
posted on July 5, 2004 11:43 AM — 24.214.245.208 — link — abuse?
"Cupcake games" are good for college football. Most of the good teams have one on their schedule. It almost seems like a mark of self confidence, that we can schedule one noname and not have to worry about how that will effect our rankings. By scheduling a cupcake game a team is saying our conference is so strong and we are so recognized, one game isn't going to hurt us.
And everyone wins.
The cupcake team gets recognition for a week they normally wouldn't get, dollars they normally wouln't get and the opportunity to play against a quality opponent.
The recognized team gets a scrimage game. The top teams don't get as much opportunity to get their underclassmen into games as mid-major teams do. When FSU or Miami recruit someone, they will likely sit out their first two years. When Utah or Boise State recruit the same talent level they will likely start their first or second year. Cupcake games give them an opportunity to let the underclassmen play, usually for a half. This gametime experience helps in the building process year in, year out.
Long Live the Cupcakes! ( I'm getting hungry, Think I'll go eat one )
Darryl said:
posted on July 5, 2004 8:59 PM — 24.129.221.172 — link — abuse?
Cupcakes? Cupcrap, the teams that schedule I-AA teams couldn't play a quality opponent is the first week, because if they did they would lose. The last time Florida played a good team with in the first two weeks of the season, they lost. Granted it was Miami, but the fact remains real teams like FSU, Miami, and all the Big 10(11) teams dont need cupcakes, because they know they are good.
Naz said:
posted on August 7, 2004 1:24 AM — 66.56.123.6 — link — abuse?
speaking from WF's point of view, the ACC should only have 5 1-AA games this year. NC A&T was added to the Deacs schedule because Air Force screwed up their schedule and asked if we could let them out of their game in winston this year. we moved it back a couple of years and then scrambled to find a replacement. Grobe came from AF and studied under DeBerry, so we were kind.
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Ben Prather said:
posted on June 29, 2004 1:38 PM — 24.214.245.208 — link — abuse?I liked the top 10 intreging games of next season. Starting and ending the list with Utah was a nice touch I thought. 4 MWC games was a nice wrinkle too.