Hey All,
Part of my rituals of summer involves analyzing college football schedules across the land. So please enjoy this latest edition of the summer reading program here at Notes on a Pac 12 Scorecard. We still miss you, Alan Malamud.
The tour around the BCS schedules begins with the AAC and the ACC.
AAC
Five Big Ones: Non-Conference
8/31 Temple at Notre Dame: The good news for Matt Rhule is that by taking the Temple job, he is now an honest-to-goodness FBS Head Coach. The bad news is that his first game as HC is on the road at Notre Dame. With QB Everett Golson dismissed from ND for "Academic Issues," Temple's chances for pulling the upset did improve from slim/none to highly doubtful. However, Tommy Rees should be wary of the Owls defense. I know they can run faster than the cops that Rees couldn't outrun a couple of years ago.
9/14 UCF at Penn State: This game provides a legitimate shot for the AAC to pick up their first big non-conference win. For the Nittany Lions a win here would be big as this is the last year that they will be anywhere near the Blue and White we all know. In 2014, PSU has to cut down to 65 scholarship players.
9/21 Arkansas at Rutgers: SEC teams don't travel out of their comfort zone for non-conference games. So, when one does venture out of the south, it's a big deal. This is the second game of a home-and-home series between the two schools. Rutgers upset the Razorbacks in Fayetteville last year, 35-26. Rutgers could beat the Hogs again if QB Gary Nova can duplicate last year's performance. In 2012, He lit up the Arkansas defense for 397 yards and five TDs through the air.
9/21 Michigan at Connecticut: This Wolverines beat UConn, 30-10 in 2010 at The Big House and should beat the Huskies by a similar margin in Storrs. For the Huskies, this game will be a measuring stick for how far the program has come since Paul Pasqualoni took over the program in 2011 after Randy Edsall bolted for Maryland. Eight starters return on offense for the Huskies, but an inexperienced front seven on defense will have problems stopping the Maize N' Blue.
9/28 South Carolina at UCF: Once again, SEC teams don't like leaving their comfort zone for non-conference games. So taking on an upset-minded UCF team on the road is worth noting. The Gamecocks should survive this trip easily if they are the National Title Contender they are being hailed as by the preseason media. If UCF pulls the upset, then the AAC gains instant credibility and media standing for the season.
Five Big Ones- Conference
10/5 UCF at Memphis: Welcome to the new AAC Memphis! You're first conference game is against one of the league's powers. The Tigers do have an experienced team coming back, but they are only in the second year of a rebuild program. This one will be a tough AAC baptism for the Tigers.
10/12 Memphis at Houston: After being welcomed to the league by UCF a week earlier, the Tigers now become Houston's first AAC opponent. The Cougars should easily break their AAC maiden in this one.
10/18 UCF at Louisville: The winner of this mid-October clash will have the inside track to the AAC Title and a BCS bid. Louisville is a strong team with 10 returning defensive starters and a nasty attitude. I think this is the team that nobody in the nation really wants to play right now. Their physically dominating win over Florida in the 2013 Sugar Bowl sent shockwaves throughout the land. For UCF a win here would really put the Golden Knights on the map and most likely make QB Blake Bortles a household name.
11/29 SMU at Houston: Even though the great Dan Jenkins once wrote that the decline of the Southwest Conference began when Houston was admitted to the league, I do like to see a game between old Southwest Conference foes. With the two offenses in this game, the scoreboard could blow out.
12/5 Louisville at Cincinnati: If the Cardinals live up to their billing, this is the last hurdle on their way to a BCS bowl. For the Bearcats, this game could be their back door shot at the AAC Title. Cincy has a bye before this game and we all now how teams can stumble with a BCS bid in their grasp.
AAC Schedule Quick Hits
Loving those cream puffs; Louisville's non-conference slate consists of Ohio U, Eastern Kentucky, SEC bottom-feeder Kentucky, and FIU.
Feeling Southwestern; SMU has four former Southwest Conference teams on their schedule. They take on Houston in league play. The Ponies also host Texas Tech and will take road trips to Texas A&M and TCU in their non-conference slate.
Talk about a bad travel agent; Nobody in their right mind would want to be in Fresno in August, (or really ever for that matter), but the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers will make only their second trip ever to California when they take on Fresno State on August 29th.
Tough Double; Houston makes consecutive road trips to Louisville and UCF on November 9th and 16th.
Rutgers goes west redux; The Scarlet Knights have only made two other regular season far western trips in the last 40 years. In 1999, they lost at CAL, 21-7. Then, back in 1974, they lost at Hawaii, 28-16. They took on the Rainbows that day in Honolulu Stadium because Aloha Stadium was still a year away from being completed.
A Big Ten audition; Cincinnati takes on Purdue and Illinois to start the season.
Time warp for the Owls; With Notre Dame, Fordham, and Army on their schedule, somebody should tell Temple it's not 1946.
The FCS, it's what's for dinner; Eight out of the 10 teams in the AAC will host an FCS team this season. Only UCF and Cincinatti have a full FBS slate.
Grudge Match; Emotions will run high when HC Randy Edsall and his Maryland squad visits UConn on 9/14. Randy might learn that he can't go home again.
History is a cyclical thing; Temple could be the last place team in both inaugural seasons of the same conference. Huh? Yeah, that sentence does not make sense, but it kind of does. Back in 1991, the Owls finished last in the first season of Big East football. They could easily finish last in the AAC this year. It kind of reminds of the player in baseball who ended up being traded for himself, but that tale is for another blog.
ACC
Five Big Ones: Non-Conference
8/29 North Carolina at South Carolina: The Tar Heels haven't played in Columbia since 1990 and haven't beaten the Gamecocks at home since 1983. UNC is coming off their one year bowl ban and could be a 10-win team under 2nd year HC Larry Fedora. An upset by the Tar Heels would ruin South Carolina's season before it really gets started.
8/31 Georgia at Clemson: National prestige begins and ends with this game. It's that simple. A victory validates the national title contender tag for the winner and relegates the loser to a season of trying to get back into the big picture. Tiger fans hope that QB Tahj Boyd leads the team to big win while starting his Heisman campiagn with a bang.
8/31 Virginia Tech v. Alabama at the Georgia Dome: The Hokies have a shot to knock off the two-time defending National Champions. It's not a great shot, but anything can happen in an opening game. VaTech must be better running the ball than last season where they averaged a paltry 3.7 yards per carry. Tech's two new starting OTs will get a baptism by fire from the Alabama defensive line. Look for the boys from Blacksburg to keep the game tight until the fourth quarter where Alabama's size and depth should take over.
9/7 Oregon at Virginia: There will be a Webfoot sighting in Charlottesville. This game is the first ever meeting between the two schools. If the Ducks get off to another one of their quick starts, the Cavaliers could find themselves in a deep hole in a matter of minutes. The Wahoos have never beaten a Pac 12 foe and that streak should continue.
11/30 Clemson @ South Carolina: What could be at stake in this game is staggering. Let's say both teams come into this game undefeated. That means that each team would be playing in what amounts to a BCS national title elimination game one week before they play in their respective conference title games. A team could go from heading out to Pasadena for shot at the crystal football to getting a bid to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in just 14 days.
Five Big Ones: Conference
9/2 Florida State @ Pitt: The Panthers will learn the lesson that Colorado and Utah have been taught in the Pac12. Expansion teams aren't brought in to win. The Seminoles should dominate this one from the outset. The two teams haven't met since 1983 when Foge Fazio was roaming the Pitt sidelines.
10/5 Clemson at Syracuse: Hey Syracuse, welcome to the ACC! The Tigers will easily win this battle of the Orange-clads. This game could make the 'Cuse faithful wish that they still had Temple to kick around.
10/5 North Carolina at Virginia Tech: If Miami is rendered irrelevant by the NCAA, then this game should decide the ACC Coastal Division. The Tar Heels would have been in last season's ACC title tilt if they weren't serving a one-year bowl ban. However, UNC is only 2-7 lifetime at Blacksburg so they'll have to be hitting on all cylinders to pull off the upset.
10/19 Florida State @ Clemson: Mark it down, the winner of this game will win the Atlantic Division and play in the ACC Championship Game. Whoever wins the battle up front will win this game. FSU is just loaded on both sides of the line. Clemson does have the home field advantage and could easily rise to the occasion to beat the Seminoles.
11/9 Virginia Tech @ Miami: This one should decide the winner of the Coastal Division of the ACC. I say should because who knows if the NCAA will drop their hammer on Miami even after they've botched the investigation? If the hammer falls, then this game has a drastically reduced impact. If the Hurricanes get off light, then this game will be big. As for the football aspect of it, the matchup between Miami's 10 returning starters on offense V. VaTech's nine returning starters on defense could be epic.
ACC Schedule Quick Hits
The Doug Flutie Double; On 11/2 and 11/9 VaTech hits the road to Boston College and Miami.
Talk about creampuffs; Clemson will play a pair of FCS schools by taking on South Carolina State and that bastion of football excellence, The Citadel, this year.
Devils dance the Virginia Reel; Duke plays back-to-back roadies at Virginia and VaTech on 10/19 and 10/26.
A technicality ; Officially 11 of the ACC's 14 teams have an FCS team on their schedule. However, the three that don't, Pitt, UNC, and Maryland all have Old Dominion on their slate. 2013 is Old Dominion's first season in the FBS.
SEC bookends; Clemson begins the season with Georgia and finishes the regular season with South Carolina.
BCx2; On 9/21 Florida State hosts Bethune-Cookman. The next week they travel to Boston College.
Keeping it going; Through years of independent schedules to their time in the Big East, the Pitt-Syracuse series lives on in the ACC. The two schools have met every season since 1955.
Winds of the Carolinas; VaTech will play North, Western, and East Carolina this season. I guess they couldn't get South Carolina on the slate to complete some form of compass point perfection.
The real thing v. unleaded: Knowing that Georgia Tech calls Atlanta home, I wonder if they'll take a few cases of regular Coca-Cola with them when they visit BYU on 10/12.
A-H-A-H-BYE-A-H-A-H; That's Maryland's ACC slate. Eight games perfectly balanced with a bye in the middle. All league schedules should be so clean.
Are you ready for some football, eh?
The league with 3 downs, the 110 yard field and the Rouge is back. That's right folks, the road to the 101st Grey Cup begins this week. Canadian Football League play opens up on Thursday when the Montreal Alouettes take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Until next time folks, remember that everyone looks good on paper.
-The Commissioner
