The future of scheduling in college football is changing. And those changes will likely lead to huge opportunities for the Houston Cougars.
Wednesday, Houston announced a home-at-home series with the University of Oklahoma. The Sooners will come to Houston in 2016 to open the season at NRG Stadium, and the Cougars will return the favor by going to Norman in 2019.
.@UHCougarFB announces two-game series with @OU_Football. http://t.co/ODjsLwTOyh pic.twitter.com/PNV56rkNvL
— Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) September 10, 2014
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“We have been and will remain committed to scheduling competitive non-conference opponents and that includes games in the city of Houston to reward our passionate fan base,” said Mack Rhoades, Houston’s athletic director.
I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.
When college football unveiled its new playoff system, there was an extra emphasis placed on strength of schedule. Just like in the NCAA basketball tournament, who you beat may now be just as important as racking up a bunch of no-name wins to impress the selection committee. You saw the Big Ten Conference expand to nine conference games and told teams they could no longer schedule FCS schools. The SEC will likely follow suit because playing within that conference automatically raises S.O.S.
The birth of the College Football Playoff essentially sent teams from the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) scrambling to boost their resumes.
Just take a look at Oklahoma, for example. Earlier this year, the Sooners announced a series with Ohio State for 2016 and 2017. In the next 12 years they also will play teams like UCLA, Nebraska, LSU, and Michigan. Sure, we don’t know how good a team like Nebraska will be in 2021, but I bet the Huskers will provide a better boost to OU’s strength of schedule than North Texas.
And look who is there to welcome those challenges with open arms? Teams just like Houston. Before Wednesday’s announcement there were already future matchups scheduled with Louisville, Vanderbilt, Arizona and Kansas. Notice a theme? Instead of dodging possible upsets, the Power 5 teams will be falling all over themselves trying to get quality opponents scheduled.
The Houston Athletic Department should be ready to have the phones ringing off the hook. Think about it: there are several Big 12 teams in the immediate area. Houston is within shouting distance of SEC territory. With the recruiting battle becoming a nationwide showdown, who wouldn’t want to take a trip to Houston and do a little scouting while they’re in the state? It could provide those teams a wealth of exposure.
For Houston, this should not be viewed as the big boys coming in to get an easy win. This provides just as big of an opportunity for the Cougars to show off their facilities, their city, and their ability to play with those “big boys”. It could help usher in a new era of Houston football.
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