[NU Sports] Our non-conference schedule (fwd)

[cherron604 at aol.com]

Mike's point clarifies our discussion - what is the purpose of non-conference games ?
 
- Fodder for a 4-0 start, drastically improve bowl-eligibility (Glenn Mason model)
- A reward for our far-flung alumni (ND has often mentioned this as part of their strategy)
- Tune-up for the regular season (obviously)
- Pleasant places for the fans to travel to
- 'Regional' recruiting events (attack a recruiting area with a game)
- 'Televised' recruiting events (increase name recognition by being televised)
 
A few points in defendse of these:
 
- If a 4-0 start can make a bowl much more likely, we have to remember that the extra weeks of practice (even for lousy bowls) can be considered a critical building block of good programs.
 
- #2 and #4 might be nice benefits, but they should fall behind the more solid football reasons
 
- We have to determine how n-c games impact recruiting - do we gain more by going into a talent-rich area and playing a game, or are we better served by playing games that are televised and getting a potential recruit's attention that way ?
 
- And having said that, we have to decide whether the easiest way to get a n-c game televised is a) play a 'name' opponent, or b) play those odd friday night WAC games, and every-night-of-the-week MAC games that ESPN loves.
 
Chuck Herron    Tech '85  
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: nolan at romaine.tssi.com
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Sent: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 12:50 PM
Subject: [NU Sports] Our non-conference schedule (fwd)


> That being said, I think the candidate schools are:
> Stanford 
> Vanderbilt
> Rice
> Duke
> Wake Forest 
> Boston College
> SMU?
> Tulane?
> Virgina?

I think that may be even MORE defeatist.  We can recruit against schools
in the Big 10 and against like Notre Dame, Florida, or USC.  No, we won't
win all those recruits, but neither do those schools.  We may not have
the football rep, but we've got the academic rep!

However, if all we play are no-name non-conference schools, don't expect 
to get those games on TV, so don't expect to get a recruiting boost from those
games, either.  
--
Mike Nolan

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