Something to remember when our rival’s fans try to lord their superior schedule over us next year:
North Carolina will play Georgia Southern in football next season on Oct. 10, a team official confirmed, filling it’s 12-game schedule with a second Division I-AA team.
The opening in the Tar Heels’ schedule occurred when coach Butch Davis opted to cancel a home-and-home series with Colorado. – Robbi Pickeral
I hate games like this, because basically they are interesting as watching pre-season NFL contests. Yes, the games count in the win-loss column for the year, but the outcomes are virtually pre-determined before kickoff. There’s no nervous tailgating, no excitement leading up to going into the stadium, and all too often not much energy in the crowd once inside the game. No matter, however, the games produce a nice payday for both schools.
The reason I mention NFL pre-season is not only because the atmosphere is nearly identical, these games also require season ticket holders to purchase these games are part of their package. To me, that seems like a “soak the customer” kind of deal and I truly wish that the BCS would strongly discourage these games and strongly encourage intersectional matchups between teams that rarely if ever see each other on the field unless they happen to pair up in a post-season bowl game. Further, it would be better if BCS schools preferred other BCS schools in their OOC matchups. That sort of game is actually interesting, and playing Western Kentucky just isn’t.
The BCS conferences could certainly do that by penalizing schools in the BCS standings for playing 1-AA teams, which would have a cascade effect from the top down to schools like NC State and UNC. It’s already happened once, when Auburn ended up being the only undefeated SEC team to not play for the BCS Title, largely because of a horrifically weak out-of-conference schedule. If that ethic filtered down, and a school’s overall schedule was considered for BCS and mid-tier bowl games, we might see an improvement. The conference home offices would almost demand it.
Honestly, would you rather see a home and home with a South Carolina, a Texas A&M or Minnesota or would you rather see McNeese State and William and Mary?
No matter, college sports are all about money and the fan is only the source of that money and his or her opinions mean little so long as they keep reaching into their wallets. Speaking of wallets, the prices for tickets for football in 2009 have been announced:
Lifetime Right Season Tickets –
$329
Priority Annual Season Tickets –
$329*
Faculty Staff
(Limit of 4) – $264*
Varsity Club
(Limit of 4) – $264*
Season ticket price breakdown:
Season Individual
Ticket Price         Game Price
South Carolina……….. $52………… $52
Murray State ………… $31………… $35
Gardner Webb ………. $30………… $35
Pittsburgh ……………. $41………… $45
North Carolina ………. $52………… $52
Maryland …………….. $41………… $45
Clemson ……………… $41………… $45
Duke …………………… $41………… $45
UPDATE 2:Â here is a list of teams needing games from College Football Palace:
School | Conf. Games |
Games Needed |
Confirmed OOC Games | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ACC | ||||
Clemson | 8 | 1 | Middle Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, at South Carolina | |
Big East | ||||
Louisville | 7 | 2 | at Kentucky, at Utah, Southern Mississippi | |
Rutgers | 7 | 2 | at Maryland, Florida International, at Army | |
South Florida | 7 | 1 | Wofford, at Western Kentucky, at Florida State, Miami | |
Syracuse | 7 | 2 | Minnesota, at Penn State, Northwestern | |
Big Ten | ||||
Wisconsin | 8 | 1 | Northern Illinois, Fresno State, Wofford, at Hawai’i | |
Big XII | ||||
Kansas State | 8 | 1 | Massachusetts, at Louisiana-Lafayette, at UCLA | |
Missouri | 8 | 1 | vs Illinois, Bowling Green, at Nevada | |
MAC | ||||
Akron | 8 | 1 | South Dakota, at Penn State, Indiana | |
MWC | ||||
Air Force | 8 | 1 | at Minnesota, at Navy, Army | |
SEC | ||||
Kentucky | 8 | 1 | Louisville, Louisiana-Monroe, Eastern Kentucky | |
Mississippi | 8 | 1 | at Memphis, Southeastern Louisiana, UAB | |
Sun Belt | ||||
Arkansas State | 8 | 2 | at Nebraska, at Iowa | |
Florida Atlantic | 8 | 1 | at South Carolina, at Nebraska, at UAB |