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2025 Schedule

Cap99

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Sep 7, 2001
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Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
 
Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
Yes, Notre Dame should drop lowly Purdue and agree to play us. Can you imagine the state with an IU / ND game in September, where everyone in the state is essentially a fan of one or the other? Other possible worthy substitutions would be Louisville or someone like BYU or Iowa State. Time to get the powder puff teams off the schedule. And why not an SEC school?
 
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If I’m a betting man I’d bet money teams are going to adopt a model similar to ours. No P5 OOC games. No need to do what Purdue did by going out west. No need for a Wisconsin vs Bama game in august. That’s just dumb scheduling now that you have a 12 team playoff. I bet even the SEC moves to 9 conference games. Do we keep the ND game coming in a few years? ND needs it but we do not.
 
Yes, Notre Dame should drop lowly Purdue and agree to play us. Can you imagine the state with an IU / ND game in September, where everyone in the state is essentially a fan of one or the other? Other possible worthy substitutions would be Louisville or someone like BYU or Iowa State. Time to get the powder puff teams off the schedule. And why not an SEC school?
We do have them in a few years. 2030.
 
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Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.
Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
NO way we get left out at 11-1 unless OSU just absolutely dismantles us.
 
If I’m a betting man I’d bet money teams are going to adopt a model similar to ours. No P5 OOC games. No need to do what Purdue did by going out west. No need for a Wisconsin vs Bama game in august. That’s just dumb scheduling now that you have a 12 team playoff. I bet even the SEC moves to 9 conference games. Do we keep the ND game coming in a few years? ND needs it but we do not.
It's absolutely NOT dumb scheduling.

We're potentially going to be left out of the Top 12 by "not playing anyone", like I've been saying for years. "We're gonna have that one year, where the stars align, and our weak non-conference is gonna keep us from the table". It might happen, and I KNEW it would.

I kinda...almost... get the lameness of the schedule if we're just hoping for 6-6 and the Detroit Bowl. But as a season ticket holder, the three "throwaway" games are an absolute waste of time, and money. Just like our basketball schedule this year.

We all hate 20k stadiums and fans leaving at half, right? Quit scheduling cupcakes...OR...schedule Miami (OH) or Ohio (Athens) as a 2 for 1 so we at least get a driveable road game to a cool campus for our cupcake.

Bring back the Bourbon Barrel Labor Day weekend.
 
AND there are a bunch of upsets in the conference championship games. O$U would have to beat us by like 60 as well. 11-1 and we are dancing. Do we say dancing? Or is that just for March Madness? What is the correct verbiage for going to the CFP?
Yeah...still gotta watch for those, but watching Clem, A&M, and ISU go down Sat night has me breathing much easier.
 
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It's absolutely NOT dumb scheduling.

We're potentially going to be left out of the Top 12 by "not playing anyone", like I've been saying for years. "We're gonna have that one year, where the stars align, and our weak non-conference is gonna keep us from the table". It might happen, and I KNEW it would.

I kinda...almost... get the lameness of the schedule if we're just hoping for 6-6 and the Detroit Bowl. But as a season ticket holder, the three "throwaway" games are an absolute waste of time, and money. Just like our basketball schedule this year.

We all hate 20k stadiums and fans leaving at half, right? Quit scheduling cupcakes...OR...schedule Miami (OH) or Ohio (Athens) as a 2 for 1 so we at least get a driveable road game to a cool campus for our cupcake.

Bring back the Bourbon Barrel Labor Day weekend.
Who says? Michigan has had a terribly easy schedule.(last year)Ohio state? Voted easiest P4 schedule by espn. There will be zero need being in the SEC or B1G to schedule like that. The SEC schedules one P4 ooc because they only play 8 conference games. We don’t need that extra P4 game. Also scheduling tougher MAC/sunbelt schools is ok but no need in a p4 game.
 
Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.

Absolutely the wrong approach...

Our schedule next year will allow us to slowly (relatively) rebuild and recalibrate a TEAM that will have been decimated by graduation...

This "we have to play Top 10 teams early in the out of conference schedule" stuff will only ensure that we won't even be in the CFP conversation rather than helping get us in it...

Each one of these Big Ten games (even against the .500 or below teams) is the physical equivalent of being in a car wreck for our players... Adding to that wear and tear only increases the odds that we'll lose key players for much of the season...

I'm old enough to remember when we played KY regularly and the only certainty, win or lose, was that we'd lose a couple of key guys to injury for most of the rest of the season and lose subsequent games as a result...

The proof is in the pudding for keeping our schedule exactly the way it is... Why we would immediately ignore that and do the opposite seems more than a little foolish to me...

As long as we Win out..., they can't keep us out.
 
Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
Could not disagree any more with this take.

Illinois, Wisconsin, @ Iowa, @ Oregon, & @ Penn State on the schedule. Could all reasonably be ranked at some point next year.

This year was an outlier with the conference scheduling lining up particularly favorably, which no one could have had any idea about when the schedule was set because the contracts were inked before the B1G expanded to 18 and changed it's whole scheduling model.

Our OOC improves over the next few years, don't fret. Our scheduling isn't an outlier either, many/most schools schedule cupcakes. I assume we'll improve the OOC a touch over time, but no point in unnecessarily running a longer gauntlet.

 
Who says? Michigan has had a terribly easy schedule.(last year)Ohio state? Voted easiest P4 schedule by espn. There will be zero need being in the SEC or B1G to schedule like that. The SEC schedules one P4 ooc because they only play 8 conference games. We don’t need that extra P4 game. Also scheduling tougher MAC/sunbelt schools is ok but no need in a p4 game.
Yeah...if we had their "cred", and still could sell out Memorial scheduling cupcakes, I might agree...kinda. I'd still be pissed wasting three games on non-competitive home games no one cares about.

Those guys still sell what...80-90k tickets bringing in cupcakes, and can still qualify for the top 12. Even then, they still schedule at least one marquee game.

Hell, I'd be happy with a Bourbon Barrel Labor Day tradition. We lose? So what. We have 11 weeks to get it back, AND we open with a sold out game packed with hype. Could be like a mini TX/OU or FL/GA. Rent out Louisville Stadium if we need to...or Cincy...50/50 stands like the old basketball game on Opening Weekend (if we didn't want to do home and home). Would be a blast.
 
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Yes, Notre Dame should drop lowly Purdue and agree to play us. Can you imagine the state with an IU / ND game in September, where everyone in the state is essentially a fan of one or the other? Other possible worthy substitutions would be Louisville or someone like BYU or Iowa State. Time to get the powder puff teams off the schedule. And why not an SEC school?
ND would be smart to drop Northern Illinois and put us in place. Win or loose they would be better off and so would we.
 
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Absolutely the wrong approach...

Our schedule next year will allow us to slowly (relatively) rebuild and recalibrate a TEAM that will have been decimated by graduation...

This "we have to play Top 10 teams early in the out of conference schedule" stuff will only ensure that we won't even be in the CFP conversation rather than helping get us in it...

Each one of these Big Ten games (even against the .500 or below teams) is the physical equivalent of being in a car wreck for our players... Adding to that wear and tear only increases the odds that we'll lose key players for much of the season...

I'm old enough to remember when we played KY regularly and the only certainty, win or lose, was that we'd lose a couple of key guys to injury for most of the rest of the season and lose subsequent games as a result...

The proof is in the pudding for keeping our schedule exactly the way it is... Why we would immediately ignore that and do the opposite seems more than a little foolish to me...

As long as we Win out..., they can't keep us out.
Did you go to the Western Illinois game?
 
Its unfortunate the UK rivalry has fallen by the wayside for almost 20 years now. It's one they really ought to get back on the schedule. At the minimum, its a P4 school on our schedule, and an SEC one at that. Stoops has kept them reasonably competitive for years now, so its a solid piece on the schedule. Do 2 on, 2 off or like every other year.

Throw a regualr MAC team on there and then a mid-low Sun Belt or C-USA team on there as well and there's your OOC.
 
Here's next years schedule...


The last nine are as tough a bunch of opponents as you'll ever want to see and the last five are all on the road...

Making that schedule more difficult is pure lunacy...

By the way..., Kennesaw State just beat Liberty a couple of weeks ago and Old Dominion only lost to South Carolina by 4 at South Carolina... I have a feeling we'll see more competitive games early next season than we'd prefer...

Here's our current depth chart... :


That's a lot of Seniors who'll be replaced by youngsters and new Portal guys trying to find their way to up their game to this level and learn to work together... Giving them a fighting chance to do so before throwing them directly to the lions is smart scheduling...

It's refreshing that we're no longer scheduling poorly... Let's Not return to that foolishness...
 
Who says? Michigan has had a terribly easy schedule.(last year)Ohio state? Voted easiest P4 schedule by espn. There will be zero need being in the SEC or B1G to schedule like that. The SEC schedules one P4 ooc because they only play 8 conference games. We don’t need that extra P4 game. Also scheduling tougher MAC/sunbelt schools is ok but no need in a p4 game.
Michigan beat top 10 teams in OSU and PSU last year and demolished everyone else. It was a no-brainer that they were selected to the playoffs. If we win out, it will be a no-brainer that we make the playoffs. If not, our resume would not remotely compare to Michigan's of last year.
 
Did you go to the Western Illinois game?

Unfortunately I'll probably never be able to go to another live game in the foreseeable future (immuno-comprised)..., but had I been able to I would have gone and Enjoyed it immensely...

I like seeing the backups out there.. Gives me a feel for what we might see in the future...
 
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Michigan beat top 10 teams in OSU and PSU last year and demolished everyone else. It was a no-brainer that they were selected to the playoffs. If we win out, it will be a no-brainer that we make the playoffs. If not, our resume would not remotely compare to Michigan's of last year.
That’s my point. They got those wins at the end of the year. If we win out then we have wins at osu and Oregon in Indy. Exact same scenario. You will not need those early wins in a conference like ours.
 
Here's next years schedule...


The last nine are as tough a bunch of opponents as you'll ever want to see and the last five are all on the road...

Making that schedule more difficult is pure lunacy...

By the way..., Kennesaw State just beat Liberty a couple of weeks ago and Old Dominion only lost to South Carolina by 4 at South Carolina... I have a feeling we'll see more competitive games early next season than we'd prefer...

Here's our current depth chart... :


That's a lot of Seniors who'll be replaced by youngsters and new Portal guys trying to find their way to up their game to this level and learn to work together... Giving them a fighting chance to do so before throwing them directly to the lions is smart scheduling...

It's refreshing that we're no longer scheduling poorly... Let's Not return to that foolishness...
For what it’s worth I think those conference game dates are tbd so the last five games probably aren’t on the road. Thankfully!
 
Yeah...if we had their "cred", and still could sell out Memorial scheduling cupcakes, I might agree...kinda. I'd still be pissed wasting three games on non-competitive home games no one cares about.

Those guys still sell what...80-90k tickets bringing in cupcakes, and can still qualify for the top 12. Even then, they still schedule at least one marquee game.

Hell, I'd be happy with a Bourbon Barrel Labor Day tradition. We lose? So what. We have 11 weeks to get it back, AND we open with a sold out game packed with hype. Could be like a mini TX/OU or FL/GA. Rent out Louisville Stadium if we need to...or Cincy...50/50 stands like the old basketball game on Opening Weekend (if we didn't want to do home and home). Would be a blast.
The cred is one thing..schedule is another. They earned that right to sell out cupcakes. You think if this team comes off a top 12 CFP finish won’t sell tickets next year? Well…they will.
 
Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
We play at Oregon, at Iowa, and at Penn State...and you want to make the schedule MORE difficult??

Man, I'm glad you're not the AD.
 
Unfortunately I'll probably never be able to go to another live game in the foreseeable future (immuno-comprised)..., but had I been able to I would have gone and Enjoyed it immensely...

I like seeing the backups out there.. Gives me a feel for what we might see in the future...
Yeah...I can dig that.

That said, as a ticket purchaser, it seemed like a complete waste of time and money.

Yes, we were spoiled by 8 home games this year...but I hate seeing that place as dead as it was during that game. Was like a Spring game or basketball exhibition...was lame.

Players don't dig it either. Living in this town (Bloomington), you get to talk to these guys all the time out and about. They (like the chant heard at Memorial a lot this year) actually DO want Bama and Texas. They want to play legit games, in front of crowds, with buzz.
 
For what it’s worth I think those conference game dates are tbd so the last five games probably aren’t on the road. Thankfully!

I hope you're right but it appears to me that only the exact time and date are to be determined rather that the sequence...

You're probably correct (I hope)...
 
I hope you're right but it appears to me that only the exact time and date are to be determined rather that the sequence...

You're probably correct (I hope)...
He is right.

That's the way that site does for every season going forward, for example, jump ahead to the 2026 schedule and it has Purdue in the middle of the slate of games because it's home that year. And then the 4 conference away games after. That's not how it's going to go, obviously.
 
We play at Oregon, at Iowa, and at Penn State...and you want to make the schedule MORE difficult??
,
Man, I'm glad you're not the AD.

If we go 10-2 next year losing @Oregon and @PSU (which is a real possibility because of how difficult it is to win at those places), we would still have a chance at the CFP and it would be better if we had a pre-conf. win against UK or Louisville instead of Kennesaw State or Indiana State.

We have to decide if the bar for the program is the CFP or simply a bowl game, and schedule accordingly. You guys seem to be OK with the latter.
 
If we go 10-2 next year losing @Oregon and @PSU (which is a real possibility because of how difficult it is to win at those places), we would still have a chance at the CFP and it would be better if we had a pre-conf. win against UK or Louisville instead of Kennesaw State or Indiana State.

We have to decide if the bar for the program is the CFP or simply a bowl game, and schedule accordingly. You guys seem to be OK with the latter.
Lose 3 and you are out no matter who you played.
 
This program needs stability for the next 2-3 years, and you can have some control with the schedule. Let's see if CCC stays for one, and let's see if QB's thrive every year in his system also. I am all for scheduling MAC teams the next few years, if that gives us a base line.
I have all the confidence in the world with CCC, but we are not at the big boy table
 
If we go 10-2 next year losing @Oregon and @PSU (which is a real possibility because of how difficult it is to win at those places), we would still have a chance at the CFP and it would be better if we had a pre-conf. win against UK or Louisville instead of Kennesaw State or Indiana State.

We have to decide if the bar for the program is the CFP or simply a bowl game, and schedule accordingly. You guys seem to be OK with the latter.
2 losses is going to likely be the mendoza line for CFP at large consideration. Why add potential losses to that with games in the OOC like the one you mention? 9 conference games, in one of the top 2 conferences in the country, will be more than enough for the SOS concerns, most years.

Best point I can think of...

Hypothetically we played Louisville this year instead of Western Illinois, beat them and finish 11-1 with a loss to OSU. A win over Louisville likely strengthens our case, but if they're going to choose a 2 loss SEC team over us, because they have wins over teams like Bama or Georgia or Texas...that Lousville win isn't going to trump anything.

Conversely...what if we would have lost to Louisville. An 11-1 record, for IU, with one of them being Western Illinois...is A LOT better than 10-2, with a loss to Louisville. If we were sitting at 8-1 right now, with a loss to Louisville, we'd barely be ranked. There would still be a lot of hype, but very, very little CFP talk.

I'll take the 3 dubs, and let the B10 schedule fall where it may...10 times out of 10. The future Notre Dame games are a huge exception, and that's more about just having the opportunity to beat them and make fun of the reversible jacket fans.
 
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If we go 10-2 next year losing @Oregon and @PSU (which is a real possibility because of how difficult it is to win at those places), we would still have a chance at the CFP and it would be better if we had a pre-conf. win against UK or Louisville instead of Kennesaw State or Indiana State.

We have to decide if the bar for the program is the CFP or simply a bowl game, and schedule accordingly. You guys seem to be OK with the latter.

Ohio State played Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall this year.

Michigan played East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green last year.
 
The cred is one thing..schedule is another. They earned that right to sell out cupcakes. You think if this team comes off a top 12 CFP finish won’t sell tickets next year? Well…they will.
I agree with this...and I'm optimistic that we're witnessing the birth of football "fandom" at Indiana University.

That "fandom" will sell tickets and put butts in seats...without respect to the quality of the opponent.
 
Opener probably sells out and the next two cupcakes idk maybe sell around 50K for those games (ticket usage may not be great, we’ll see). Better opponents would sell a few thousand more tickets, but not a material amount that is going to change our finances. Imo best to focus on a schedule that will position us best for the postseason.
 
That’s my point. They got those wins at the end of the year. If we win out then we have wins at osu and Oregon in Indy. Exact same scenario. You will not need those early wins in a conference like ours.

If we win out, we are in the CFP - no ifs, ands, or buts. My original post deals with the scenario that we go 11-1 losing to OSU. In that scenario, we would have no quality wins. Michigan had 2 top 10 wins last year in the regular season - we would have no top 30 wins under the scenario I posed. So I don't get how MIchigan's situation last year proves anything relative to the scenario I posed.
 
If we win out, we are in the CFP - no ifs, ands, or buts. My original post deals with the scenario that we go 11-1 losing to OSU. In that scenario, we would have no quality wins. Michigan had 2 top 10 wins last year in the regular season - we would have no top 30 wins under the scenario I posed. So I don't get how MIchigan's situation last year proves anything relative to the scenario I posed.
I'll agree that we currently don't have any marquee wins. I wouldn't go so far as to say no quality wins. It's not like IU has played only BAD teams. The best teams on the schedule have been average, but they've also been VERY good wins as far as quality of win, even compared to how teams like Oregon & OSU have beaten common opponents.

From my POV, we're going to have finished the year having beaten a bunch of middle of the road B1G teams. Currently, of 18 B1G teams, the conference standings, much like myself, are fat in the middle.
2 teams at 6-0
0 teams with 5 wins
2 teams at 4-1
2 teams at 4-2
4 teams at 3-3
4 teams at 2-4
1 team at 2-5
2 teams at 1-4
Purdue at 0-5

Just to put the data out there for discussion fodder:

Maryland: 4-4 (1-4) Remaining games: @Oregon, Rutgers, Iowa, @PSU Likely finish - 5-7 or 6-6
Northwestern: 4-5 (2-4) Remaining games: Ohio St., @Michigan, Illinois Likely finish - 5-7 or 6-6
Mich. St: 4-5 (2-4) Remaining games: @Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers. Likely finish - 6-6
Nebraska: 5-4 (2-4) Remaining games: @USC, Wisconsin, @Iowa Likely finish - 6-6 or 7-5
UCLA: 3-5 (2-4) Remaining games: Iowa, @Washington, USC, Fresno St. Likely finish - 4-8 or 5-7
Washington: 5-4 (3-3) Remaining games: @PSU, UCLA, @ Oregon. Likely finish - 6-6

Michigan 5-4 (3-3) Remaining games: @IU, Northwestern, @OSU Likely finish w/ hopeful IU win, 6-6
 
Unless we win out in the regular season this year, there is a reasonable chance that we will find ourselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the CFP. The argument against us will be that we simply would not have any good wins unless we beat O$U. We will see how it plays out, but to end up 11-1 and not get into the playoffs would be absolutely devastating. There is nothing we can do about this this year except keep winning (or hope that the committee values the decisiveness of our victories in the event that we do not win out).

However, Dolson needs to act immediately in order to prevent us from being in a similar situation next year. In my opinion our schedule next year is shaping up to be pretty weak as well. We do play Oregon and PSU on the road but don't have to play OSU or Michigan. The lesson to be learned from this year is that we cannot rely on the conference schedule alone to supply us with a difficult enough schedule to get into the CFP. Therefore, Dolson needs to look into beefing up our non-conference schedule. The lineup of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State is an absolute abomination. No hyperbole at all here - this may be one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the recent history of college football. We need to rid ourselves of the remnants of Tom Allen's Cupcake Shop ASAP.

Get to work, Scott! Our guys deserve better.
No way. Keep the schedule. We'll be fine. I like to win, don't you?
 
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