First of all, since my original post about the Television fiasco with the Arkansas State game, there has been plenty of talk about the quality of our scheduling and the ridiculousness that a ranked SEC Team can not get on Television. I take pride in speaking my mind on these issues and I am thrilled that I have found many that quietly agree.
Gabe I was listening to your segment on 920 today and I cant help but strongly disagree with your argument that there is no advantage to playing a competitive team in the Non-Conference. The fact of the matter is, playing 1 respectably named program or team ranked 15-25 in the non-conference helps a team like Missouri prepare for the SEC Schedule. Note: I am not asking for a Top 10 or Name Brand Program, as I know a lot of people like to create strawmen and twist the argument into that. Other SEC Teams schedule these games as a Dress Rehearsal for their conference slate so that they can work out the kinks against legitimate competition before a loss in conference hurts you more. You talk about big time SEC Programs have the attendance numbers if we want to fit in, well big time programs also dont duck and weave in their non-conference. I wont even include the rivalry games, but you have USC - Carolina, Tenn - OU, UGA - Clemson (last year), Alabama - Wisconsin, Auburn - Louisville, etc. It just makes no sense as to why you wouldnt want to prepare yourself for the conference as much as possible. Now, I will give credit where credit is due. WVU and Arizona State fit the bill for as what we should look for in Non-Conference scheduling. These are wins that will give you respect nationally. Purdue and Indiana are absolutely not what we should be looking for. We lost to Indiana, but imagine if we lost to a team of legitimacy instead. We probably go into championship Saturday with an outside chance at the playoffs, but that game haunted us the entire rest of the year. I just honestly see no downsides.
Gabe I was listening to your segment on 920 today and I cant help but strongly disagree with your argument that there is no advantage to playing a competitive team in the Non-Conference. The fact of the matter is, playing 1 respectably named program or team ranked 15-25 in the non-conference helps a team like Missouri prepare for the SEC Schedule. Note: I am not asking for a Top 10 or Name Brand Program, as I know a lot of people like to create strawmen and twist the argument into that. Other SEC Teams schedule these games as a Dress Rehearsal for their conference slate so that they can work out the kinks against legitimate competition before a loss in conference hurts you more. You talk about big time SEC Programs have the attendance numbers if we want to fit in, well big time programs also dont duck and weave in their non-conference. I wont even include the rivalry games, but you have USC - Carolina, Tenn - OU, UGA - Clemson (last year), Alabama - Wisconsin, Auburn - Louisville, etc. It just makes no sense as to why you wouldnt want to prepare yourself for the conference as much as possible. Now, I will give credit where credit is due. WVU and Arizona State fit the bill for as what we should look for in Non-Conference scheduling. These are wins that will give you respect nationally. Purdue and Indiana are absolutely not what we should be looking for. We lost to Indiana, but imagine if we lost to a team of legitimacy instead. We probably go into championship Saturday with an outside chance at the playoffs, but that game haunted us the entire rest of the year. I just honestly see no downsides.
