Kansas, ISU and the unbalanced schedule

[EatemupISU]

Every two years, when the schedule against the Big 12 south switches, we get to hear about what a brutal schedule ISU has. And its true: playing Texas, Oklahoma, and Tech is vastly more difficult than playing Baylor, A&M, and OK St. (as we know from last season and this).

BUT--did you know that Kansas is the only other team from the North that shares this same rotation? They are exactly opposite of us, so that next year they go back to the hard schedule and we get the easy one.

You have to believe that what we are seeing from KU this season is THE BLUEPRINT for ISU to win the North, and possibly contend for the BCS at some point. In fact, you can make the argument that what Kansas is doing now is exactly what should have happened to us in 2005 when we lost 3 overtime games and another close one to Baylor. (Ouch, that year hurt)

So let’s get an upset this Saturday, but regardless of what happens, let’s be incredibly PUMPED for 2008 and 2009. I think Chizik is going to surprise a lot of people.

 

[cycloneworld]

Why is it we play OU and Texas in the same 2 year rotation? Does the Big 12 conference set up that schedule/rotation?

 

[tejasclone]

Yes, what KU is doing this year is what we SHOULD have done in 2005. Yes, I think this rotation is the one we'll need to get over the hump and make it to a decent bowl. We had this same rotation in 2000 and 2001, 2004 and 2005...so it should come as no surprise that our best years have come with this rotation.

BUT...when ISU consistently becomes a threat in the Big 12, I want us to succeed with the best possible schedule. That means us winning the Big the years when we have to play AT TEXAS and AT OKLAHOMA. Then no one can take our success away, or cheapen it with allegations that we succeeded on the merit of a soft schedule. We compete in a fantastic conference...when we win it, I want it to be against Romulus instead of Remus.

 

[Stormin]

Why is it we play OU and Texas in the same 2 year rotation? Does the Big 12 conference set up that schedule/rotation?

No problem with the rotation and playing Texas and Oklahoma. But why back to back? Why both of them at home one year and the next year away? And why do we always play them in October? How about making them play in the cold once in a while?

 

[ISUFan22]

We're not the only team that gets the OU and Texas rotation in the same year. KU has both next year. However, KU plays at OU and hosts Texas. Also, the Texas game in Lawrence is on Nov. 15th.

 

[bos]

Im hoping someday it wont matter. We will just have the chance to win no matter what.

 

[cycloneworld]

No problem with the rotation and playing Texas and Oklahoma. But why back to back? Why both of them at home one year and the next year away? And why do we always play them in October? How about making them play in the cold once in a while?

Why can't they change it up and we play Baylor, OSU, and OU for 2 years and then Texas, Tech, and A&M another? That way we play either OU or Texas every year. I'm not saying that I want this to happen, I'm just asking why it can't.

 

[EatemupISU]

It would be nice to not have to play both Texas and Oklahoma on the road. Yet on the years when we play them both at home, you sure can't complain as that is a great schedule to sell season tickets!

 

[Rogue52]

Why don't the Big 12 teams take some initiative and dump all our non-conference games and have every Big 12 team play every other Big 12 team?

That would be fun and leave the Hawkeyes having to schedule another mid-major team for their nonconference schedule.

 

[jumbopackage]

Why would we NOT want to play the best teams in the conference? Sure it may not be a guaranteed W, but it's our chance to measure our program up against the best in the nation, and get a good measure of where we really are. Would there be ANY debate about KU being the #1 team in the nation if they had beaten OU, Texas and TTech this year (and I think they could well have)?

I don't think our team should EVER be upset to have to play Texas and Oklahoma, even on the road back to back. It's a chance for us to excel.

 

[ISUFan22]

Why don't the Big 12 teams take some initiative and dump all our non-conference games and have every Big 12 team play every other Big 12 team?

That would be intersting/fun. But here is just a few reasons why not..

Exposure
Tune-up games
Horrid schedule (hard to get a team through to the title game, hard enough as it is)
Mundane schedule

 

[LindenCy]

Why don't the Big 12 teams take some initiative and dump all our non-conference games and have every Big 12 team play every other Big 12 team?

That would be fun and leave the Hawkeyes having to schedule another mid-major team for their nonconference schedule.

That would be fine with me. 11 conference games and one NC. It would be brutal though...how about we dump the Texas teams and go back to the Big 8 :biggrin:? I would really love to see that.

 

[cycloneworld]

Why would we NOT want to play the best teams in the conference? Sure it may not be a guaranteed W, but it's our chance to measure our program up against the best in the nation, and get a good measure of where we really are. Would there be ANY debate about KU being the #1 team in the nation if they had beaten OU, Texas and TTech this year (and I think they could well have)?

I don't think our team should EVER be upset to have to play Texas and Oklahoma, even on the road back to back. It's a chance for us to excel.

That may be true but that only happens 1/2 of the time with us. The other 1/2 we play a "2007 Kansas"-type schedule.

 

[EatemupISU]

Why would we NOT want to play the best teams in the conference? Sure it may not be a guaranteed W, but it's our chance to measure our program up against the best in the nation, and get a good measure of where we really are.

Agreed! Not complaining about playing both Texas and OU, just pointing out the big opportunity ahead of us the next two years (ala Kansas this year)

Also, if we want to play the best every year, we need to go win the North. Then we'll get to play OU or Texas with the trophy on the line.

 

[Iastfan112]

The point of having NC games is to judge the strength of a conference in my opinion. Yes there are bowls as well but thats only 1 game having the NC games allows a wider scope for judgement as well exposing the league to the whole nation(people from Texas and Oklahoma may care about the game but expecting a Miami fan to isnt logical)

 

[ISUFan22]

Looking at this year's schedule, it looks like the rotation for each North team vs. the South teams is as follows...

Iowa State

Oklahoma
Texas
Texas Tech

Oklahoma State
Texas A&M
Baylor


Colorado

Oklahoma
Baylor
Texas Tech

Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma State


Kansas

Texas A&M
Oklahoma State
Baylor

Oklahoma
Texas
Texas Tech


Kansas State

Texas
Oklahoma State
Baylor

Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Texas A&M


Missouri

Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Texas A&M

Texas
Oklahoma State
Baylor


Nebraska

Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma State

Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Baylor

 

[clonomaniac]

The good thing about playing Texas and Oklahoma the same year:

Good TV exposure
Good competition
More opportunity to crack the top 25 ranking

The bad thing about playing them both the same year:

Well, you all know why it's bad, they are just tough.

Why not playing Texas or Oklahoma will hurt Kansas:

Say Kansas loses to Missouri, they will not play in the championship game, other one loss team(s) will be favored against them.

 

[tejasclone]

The point of having NC games is to judge the strength of a conference in my opinion. Yes there are bowls as well but thats only 1 game having the NC games allows a wider scope for judgement as well exposing the league to the whole nation(people from Texas and Oklahoma may care about the game but expecting a Miami fan to isnt logical)

I would love to see more premier interconference match-ups in the NC schedule, like Texas-Ohio State 2 years ago. I understand that most big schools don't want to do that because of the risk it poses to national title hopes, but I loved it that there were at least two big schools who weren't afraid of losing and wanted to prove that they could compete and win against the best.

I will look forward to the day when ISU doesn't have to play the Kent States and South Dakota States of the world and instead we can schedule home-and-homes with teams from the ACC, SEC, Pac-10, etc. And we can play more Big Ten teams than just Iowa... there are nearby natural rivalries with schools like Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc.

 

[clonomaniac]

I want to see ISU play an SEC team instead of Iowa year in and year out.

 

[LindenCy]

I would like to see a NC that looks something like this: Iowa, UNI/MAC team, Big East/ACC team, and a Big 10 team. In other words, play some better matchups, but don't kill us either. We should be playing Wisconsin or Illinois or Minnesota regularly. The regional matchups seem too obvious.