I generally try to avoid reading the PennLive Fan Line, but sometimes I either cannot help myself or I open the link by accident. In any event, I was not all that surprised to see the complaints in the most recent Fan Line post this weekend, with a couple complaints about Penn State’s 2015 schedule.
“JUST READ the upcoming Penn State home football schedule for 2015. I hope the athletic director posts the sugar content of all those cupcakes above every entrance to Leave it to Beaver stadium, so all those fans can keep an eye on their blood sugar.”
How clever. A cupcake joke. And the “Leave it to Beaver” reference was… interesting.
“IS THERE A power five conference team that has a worse nonconference football schedule than Penn State? Buffalo, San Diego State, Army, Temple, just a terrible schedule.”
To be fair, not in the Big Ten. Penn State is the only Big Ten team without a single power conference opponent lined up for non-conference play in 2015. But, at least it is not what North Carolina State has scheduled. Boston College has two games against FCS opponents, but they also get Notre Dame (but that is because it is on the ACC’s rotating ND schedule).
“IF PENN STATE goes undefeated this year, they still won’t make the playoffs because of the nonconference schedule they play. Play somebody.”
This is somewhat validated by seeing what happened to TCU and Baylor last year, although both of those schools lost one game. I do not for one second believe Penn State will go undefeated in 2015, but I would bet anyone who says an undefeated Big Ten team would not be in the College Football Playoff. Under this rather unlikely scenario, Penn State would have also won road games at Ohio State and Michigan State, as well as a home game against Michigan.
Penn State will play non-conference games this fall at Temple in Philadelphia and at home against Army, Buffalo and San Diego State. These schools went a combined 22-26 last season, although it should be noted that was weighed down by Army’s 4-8 record. Temple broke even and San Diego State picked up a winning record. Buffalo was one game under .500 but had one very winnable game scratched due to massive snowfall in Buffalo. A 12th game was never rescheduled for Buffalo. But regardless of what happened in 2014, Penn State fans want attractive opponents. At least one.
When Penn State was hit with sanctions in 2012, Bill O’Brien floated some different ideas to get imaginations running wild and perhaps allow for expectations to be raised. O’Brien discussed the idea of playing big marquee games to keep excitement within the program. The idea of playing at Hawaii was tossed around to some degree. The 2014 season opener in Ireland against UCF came out of these discussions as well, but there was only so much that could be done to the rest of the schedule. Schedules are generally filled years in advance. Penn State already has some games scheduled through 2025!
Penn State and O’Brien were also tasked with trying to keep the program moving forward through lean years, and sometimes the best way to do that is having games that have a chance to be won. Going out and scheduling a road game at Alabama or Oregon would have been murder for Penn State. With the team not supposed to be going anywhere in the postseason, adding games that gave players a realistic chance to win and keep momentum moving forward was the best strategy. Winning six games against “inferior” competition still looks better than winning two or three against a tougher schedule.
Early last September Penn State completed its 2015 non-conference schedule with the addition of a game Army. At the time, Penn State was still staring at two more seasons without a postseason possibility (2014 and 2015). Finding games that could be won still had tremendous value. Penn State was also needing to fill a non-conference spot late in the scheduling game because Rutgers joined the Big Ten, thus removing a previously arranged non-conference game from the schedule. With non-conference schedules locked in for the most part, there were never many attractive options for Penn State to work with. So, for 2015, Penn State may have been stuck with slim pickings either way, but there was a purpose for that. Things have changed, but sometimes schedules cannot be changed. Keep in mind, even if Penn State wanted to change something on its schedule, that doesn’t mean anybody else does or has to. Buying out of contracts happens, but that is also simply throwing money away sometimes. This isn’t NCAA Football 14 with custom schedules. It’s more difficult than you might think.
The good news is changes are coming to Penn State’s non-conference schedules. The Pittsburgh series kicks up next season. Virginia Tech is lined up for home-and-home after that. West Virginia comes a couple of years later. Syracuse is supposed to be tossed in there somewhere, and perhaps the Pittsburgh series is extended beyond the four-game deal already in place. I would not be shocked if we hear Penn State’s name connected to one of the season-opening neutral site games in the years to come either. These games bring a nice payday, but can come at a price as well. It is best if Penn State is up to speed in all areas before committing to such a game.
So relax, Penn State football fan. The 2015 home schedule is not great, but try to have some perspective.
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