PERSPECTIVE: NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULES

Is it just me or has the first two weeks of the college football season felt different this year than in has the last few years? I am talking about the existence of quality non-conference games. September had almost become a pre-season for college football with few good teams playing each other. They scheduled Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams or bottom of the barrel Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams to feast on. This year has been different. In the first two weeks alone, we have seen the following match ups that were actually meaningful:

Week 1

• BYU vs. Oklahoma
• Oklahoma State vs. Georgia
• Miami vs. Florida State
• Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
• Boise State vs. Oregon
• Missouri vs. Illinois

Week 2

• USC vs. Ohio State
• Michigan vs. Notre Dame
• Oklahoma State vs. Houston
• Fresno State vs. Wisconsin
• UCLA vs. Tennessee

With the advent of the BCS, it has become evident that an undefeated conference champion from the SEC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10, or ACC is guaranteed a spot in the national title game (barring a situation like 2004 when 3 conference champions were undefeated). The schools in this conference found it unnecessary to schedule quality opponents out of conference because of the perceived strength of their conference schedule. Teams not part of the six conferences must go undefeated to even be recognized by the BCS because of the perceived weakness of the other conferences. The end result has been boring match ups to start the year. Fortunately, it appears that the outcries from fans have started to turn around the trend to schedule overmatched opponents. Personally, I would like to see a rule implemented that no FBS team can play a FCS team.