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2007 Schedule

M

melt

Active Member
Apr 5, 2006
297
137
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Chicago, IL
Does anyone know what teams we are scheduled to play for our out-of-conference games in 2007? We're obviously playing Iowa, but are we playing Toledo again?

I noticed that Nebraska and Virginia Tech signed an agreement to play home and home games, and I'd like ISU to start scheduling some bigger name teams to play. Iowa is a big game, but UNLV and UNI sure aren't.
 
Not surprising... :-

I guess it doesn't really bother me since we aren't a national powerhouse yet that is questioned because we schedule cupcakes. The fact is, is that some of these teams that we schedule as "cupcakes" turn out to give us good games! (See Illinois State, Army 2005). It won't really bother me until we don't have to worry about teams like Kansas and Baylor beating us...
 
Last I checked, Toledo went to a bowl game last year, and UNI was Division 1-AA champs. This might just be me but those dont seem like "cupcake" games.
 
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Last I checked, Toledo went to a bowl game last year, and UNI was Division 1-AA champs. This might just be me but those dont seem like "cupcake" games.
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UNI was runner-up, but close. Even though they did make it to the championship game, being 1-AA will be looked at as a cupcake game no matter what. cstrunk is probably right, we shouldn't be looking at bigger games until we can prove that the little teams aren't a problem for us anymore. Maybe we can start scheduling games that will help recruiting though. Beating UNI won't help us at all, but playing teams like UCF, USF, Rice, or Houston would give us exposure in some big recruiting states.
 
Last year, our youth and inexperience almost cost us the Western Illinois and Army games. This fall, ISU will field a senior/junior dominated team and should be read to play at a high level early on. Playing Toledo and UNI will force the team to crank it up from the gitgo. Playing a 12 game season with no real cupcake games means the coaching staff will have give game experience to the second stringers so they can be available when the injuries take out starters by midseason.
 
Skldany has always been up to the task with rebuilding defenses, but he's got a hell of a task ahead of him.

As far as the first post in this thread, especially with this part of the South rotation, I'll gladly feast on cupcakes. I'd rather go 3-1 with 3 easy games and Iowa than 1-3 with one easy game. We aren't good enough to the point where we need to count on getting 5-6 conference wins to get bowl eligible. Toledo would probably be as tough as I'd go. That's just me, though.
 
I think some people are misinterpreting what I meant about cupcakes. Let me try to clear this up.

I don't necessarily think that Toledo and UNI are cupcakes, but let's be real here, they are not considered outstanding programs. This does not mean that they aren't good, but when people hear Iowa State beating Toledo or UNI, they pay no attention to it at all... but if they hear Iowa State beating a school like UCLA then they take notice. UCLA (or ANY well-known team) wouldn't even have to be that good, as long as they have good history and are a well-known team.

So yeah, we are not necessarily scheduling cupcakes. We are playing some very respectable teams in OUR eyes. But to the rest of the country? They don't care about teams like UNI or Toledo, or Army or Western Illinois or whatever. I would rather us play a team like Illinois or Arizona, sure they may not be that great, but they are major schools with, at different times, major programs. People would take more notice.

I also agree that we shouldn't be blamed for scheduling cupcakes, as right now it's good for our program. And with a schedule like ours this season (with OU, Texas, TT, Iowa) cupcakes are needed!
 
Yup, I agree. It's just at this point, any win is better than a loss to a big school, unless it was like Florida State, 2002. Our strength of schedule shouldn't really matter until we enter BCS conversation (which hopefully is soon enough). :)
 
I thought we were to go to UNLV in September of 07. What happened to that game? I was looking forward to a great road trip? Did I miss something?
 
Thanks! I will look forward to 08 then. I was sure I saw in for 07 once. But this will give me another year to look forward to it.
 
I don't think much good could come from playing a more difficult out of conference schedule. The kids would be beat up more going into conference play, and we would lose more games and qualify for less bowls. One good team (Iowa) is enough given that we are in the Big XII.
 
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the unlv game is this year
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I'm pretty sure they were talking about the game @ UNLV since he was looking forward to a nice road trip. We play UNLV at home this year.
 
Yep, I agree that Toledo and UNI may be a tougher match than the Hawks in the preseason.
 
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