Future OOC schedule

[youngterrier]

Today Jacksonville State announced a home and home series with Eastern Washington. For those who don't follow FCS as closely as they do Wofford football, those teams are perennial top 10 powers in FCS. In recent years, there's been serious push by various FCS powers to schedule tough, top 25 OOC games (kind of like what FBS schools do). I wish Wofford would embrace this philosophy. Admittedly, before last year we went through a stretch of seasons in which we weren't great, but that scheduling can help our playoff chances and the Socon's overall standing.

since I was a wee lad, we've only scheduled one or two decent OOC opponents, none outside of the state of South Carolina and only one outside of the Big South. This isn't a knock on the Big South; they've improved their conference tremendously over the course of the last few years, but the last time we played Charleston Southern in the regular season they were bottom feeders, even for the then-Big South's standards. Gardner has played us tough always, and I'm okay with keeping them as a sort of 20-miles-away rival (they've beaten us a couple times even), but that still leaves another slot for another team. Sometimes this slot is filled by PC (an option that won't last as they are contemplating going the non-scholarship route like Davidson), but often it's filled by D2 and NAIA teams.

I'd love to see us schedule a home and home with a team like Jacksonville State, or a team from the CAA or even a team from far away like Montana or a team from the MVFC.

We have to beat em all anyway and having a game against a quality opponent on the FCS level is better than a game against a sub-FCS team, because a win counts towards the playoffs and a loss could help for playoff standing as well (just look at how Furman looks with a 3 point loss to 6-1 Elon right now).

[lawdog]

I would like to see us play Harvard, Yale, Cornell, or a similar northeast team. It would be interesting and competitive, and would enhance our brand, recruiting, and name recognition. We have been playing those teams in baseball, basketball, and soccer for a while now.

[Terrier13]

I love the idea of scheduling competitive OOC games compared to the cupcakes like UVA-Wise that we've played in recent years. I know one concern for small D1 schools like Wofford is travel costs- I'd imagine travel to the northeast or Pacific Northwest would add up, especially if we're not playing an FBS school that's paying us to come out and play them. Perhaps an in region game against the likes of William & Mary or Richmond or Jacksonville State would be cheaper, despite the increased travel costs, than paying someone the likes of UVA-Wise to come play us. Speaking of, does someone in the know know if/how much we pay those D2 or small D1 schools to come play us?

[woffordgrad94]

Just a wish...Wofford can do a home and home with the ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS. They are in the MVFC and while they are by no means the caliber of North Dakota State, they generally have a very competitive program that I think is about equal to ours. We would likely get two excellent football games. And as an added bonus Normal, Illinois is a great city with great bars and beautiful women! I’ve been there on business on occasion.

[SmallTownTerrier]

I vote a Patriot League school... Lehigh MountainHawks... Academic institution and have had some success... I too do like the Ivy League idea... Furman played a Patriot League school this year in Colgate.

[woffordgrad94]

We have played Lehigh before. Back around 2000 or so a couple of times. They beat us pretty good a couple of times as I recall. But that was before our team turned the corner in D1 circa 2002-2003. I think playing them now could yield better results for us.

[Eyes of Old Main]

I'd like to see Wofford step up the OOC schedule some, but realistically, I'd settle for just no more D-II's.

I had hoped we might develop a standing permanent home and home with PC which would help both schools with scheduling, but it appears they may be headed in another direction. That being said, we've never dipped into the Pioneer League for games (except the time we scheduled Jacksonville and they backed out at the last minute). Those games could be one off home games against teams that while they aren't the most competitive, they do count as FCS wins. Western dismantled Davidson earlier this season, for example, and a game against them would be close for their travel and an opponent that our fans would identify with.

The key here for Wofford is travel costs. I think we are absolutely averse to shouldering anymore travel expense than we have to. There are plenty of intriguing matchups with Patriot (Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, etc.), CAA (Madison, Elon, W&M, Richmond, Delaware, etc.) and OVC (Tennessee Tech, EKU, Jacksonville State, etc.) teams, but just about all are beyond our usual footprint. I don't think our athletic department either has the extra resources or sees the extra benefit of traveling further when Big South games are closer. Competitively, this hurts Wofford and it also adds to the perception out there that we are a great program that rarely plays anyone which hurts at playoff time.

[SmallTownTerrier]

Playing anyone in the OVC is a waste of time outside of Jacksonville State... I agree with travel expenses to Northeast to play... The games that make the most sense are James Madison, Richmond, William & Mary as the colonial league is a step up from OVC and Big South most definitely.

[youngterrier]

I think the key to scheduling a home and home with a big time FCS power is the size of the other team's attendance.

NDSU makes a lot of money, in fact before their first national title winning coach left he had an incentive in his contract where he got a cut of the revenue of each game based upon attendance.

NDSU will play anyone anywhere and I don't think they care about money (within reason). I bet James Madison is similar and probably ~5 or so programs (Jacksonville State being one of them).

[Terrier NH Dude]

Ivy: Harvard (played 'em in hoops, baseball already), Dartmouth, Yale

CAA: UNH, RI, Maine, Richmond, James Madison

Will gladly host the tailgate in the Granite State.