Future NC State Football Out of Conference Schedule

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This recent article out of Richmond sparked us to update our perpetual following of NC State’s Out of Conference football scheduling.

A few quick bullets:
* The question marks beside Tennessee 2013 is a function of our not knowing if the scheduling of the 2012 game in Atlanta serves to consolidate and replace the two games with Tennessee (2012, 2013) that were already scheduled.
* Damn we have some tough teams on the future schedule when you consider the emergence of Cincinnati under the leadership of Brian Kelly.
* Not sure if I see State ever actually traveling to South Alabama in 2015.

NC State’s current Non-Conference Football Opponents:

2010: Cincinnati, @ ECU, Western Carolina, @ Central Florida

2011: @Cincinnati, South Alabama, Liberty

2012: Tennessee (Atlanta), @ UConn, South Alabama

2013: @ Pittsburgh, @Tennessee?, ECU, Richmond

2014: Oklahoma State, @ South Florida

2015: @ Oklahoma State, @ South Alabama

2016: @ ECU

2017: @ LSU

2020: LSU

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42 Responses to Future NC State Football Out of Conference Schedule

  1. GAWolf 09/24/2009 at 11:01 AM #

    Unless I misread SFN’s entry, we’re getting two for the price of one on that Southern Alabama series. Two homes for one away against, as someone pointed out, what would likely be one of the worst D1 teams. 2011, 2012 are at home. 2015 is there. To totally break that down, would we not want to play THERE when they were fledgling D1 as opposed to giving them several more years to get up to par with talent? Silly, but something to thing about.

    VAWolf: The flip to OOC schedule doesn’t matter what bowl State plays in is also true. If the games don’t matter, why not try to knock off some decent teams for that truly special season once in a blue moon. If we Herb-like back our way into the ACC Title game with a mediocre conference record in a bad ACC, we win and go to the BCS bowl regardless of OOC record. If we lose the ACC Title game under the same scenario, will winning cupcake games place us in a better bowl than losing to major football programs? I’m actually asking… I don’t know the answer.

    Truthfully, we’re to major traditional powerhouse teams what ECU is to us. It’s really a no win situation. They risk losing to us in a down year (or us an up year), and they don’t get a huge feather in their hats for beating us. Is that not why we’re seeing so many major programs back out of deals with us? Or is it mostly poor management?

  2. choppack1 09/24/2009 at 11:11 AM #

    GAWolf – I think that’s at least partially the case. Certainly, no major BCS program – aside from USC would really want to play us. We’re a dangerous program that has upended some traditional powers – Texas, FSU, Notre Dame and VaTech – when they were decent teams.

    I do think part of the “management” issue is the inability to schedule similar schools. While we can’t necessarily get a lot of interest from the big boys, I’d think that Wazzou State’s, Oregon State’s, OK State’s, Arizona, Miss State, Purdue, Iowa State, Michigan State – etc – would be pretty interested in us. It looks like this is happening to a certain extent though.

    I think in your ideal schedule, you’d have 1-AA team, a non-BCS middling D1 team, 1 mid-tier BCS team (from list above) and a “stretch” opponent – (an expected Top 25 opponent from a BCS confrence.)

  3. Alpha Wolf 09/24/2009 at 11:34 AM #

    “Unless I misread SFN’s entry, we’re getting two for the price of one on that Southern Alabama series. ”

    We? I’m quite sure we’ll have to buy a ticket — probably $50 each by then — to go to the game.

    Ask yourself, which game did you get more excited and nervous about the afternoon you tailgated beside CFS — SoCar or Murray State? Which game had more play in the national media — which recruits watch, not Pack Pass, BTW, SoCar or Gardner Webb?

    Have one and only one low-level tune up for the year. The rest of the time play teams that can actually help your SOS and get your fanbase all geared up to come and see. Two is soaking the customer.

  4. YANCSSB 09/24/2009 at 11:40 AM #

    Good grief…hard to imagine we’ve scheduled football games out far enough into the future that I’ll be 40 when they take place!

    That trip to LSU would be an awesome 40th birthday present, though.

  5. VaWolf82 09/24/2009 at 12:15 PM #

    If the games don’t matter, why not try to knock off some decent teams for that truly special season once in a blue moon.

    This brings up a slightly different question…..What does it take to make a season “truly special”. For me, a special season would be playing in and winning a high profile bowl (Orange, Peach, Gator). If the OOC opponents that year were ECU, Richmond, Southern Miss, and Vandy, would that somehow lessen the “quality” of that season? It wouldn’t for me.

    Let me be clear that I am not arguing for or against any particular OOC slate (except that we should never play more than one I-AA team). It’s just that many of the reasons for wanting a substantially harder OOC don’t make any sense. If someone says, “I would rather watch a game against UT than ECU….that is perfectly understandable. However, the claims that a harder OOC schedule would somehow magically elevate State’s program are complete nonsense.

  6. GAWolf 09/24/2009 at 12:38 PM #

    I said we get two for one only in that we’re (NC State) are getting two home games for the one return trip. Typically it’s home and home for D1 teams.

  7. GAWolf 09/24/2009 at 12:42 PM #

    Playing the big boys “anywhere anytime” was at least part of Bowden’s effort to elevate the FSU program in the early 90’s.

  8. choppack1 09/24/2009 at 12:44 PM #

    Thanks YANSSB – I’ll be 50 when LSU plays here. My boy – (who isn’t 2 yet) – will be 12.

    I’m pretty willing to wager that this LSU series doesn’t take place in the years mentioned above. It will likely go the way of our great series w/Notre Dame.

  9. VaWolf82 09/24/2009 at 12:59 PM #

    Playing the big boys “anywhere anytime” was at least part of Bowden’s effort to elevate the FSU program in the early 90’s.

    If scheduling was all that was req’d to get a top program, then why hasn’t it been enough to keep FSU where it was in the 80’s/90’s?

    I don’t see any points of similarity between FSU in the 80’s/90’s and NC State of today.
    – TV contracts are different
    – National exposure to teams in BCS conferences are different
    – Bowl alignments/assignments are different
    – Most importantly, the talent level is waaaaaay different.

    If State was going 7-1/8-0 in the ACC and being left out of MNC discussions, then screaming for tougher OOC schedules would be justified. Until then, a tougher OOC schedule doesn’t really help State in any way that I can see. It certainly didn’t help Bunting any during his early years at UNC.

  10. bradleyb123 09/24/2009 at 1:13 PM #

    ^^^ “OOC games have no effect on what bowl State plays in. What matters is the ACC record and how well State fans travel. The second part we’ve got nailed, now we just need to do better in the conference.”

    This is true if you’re not interested in ever winning a national championship. If we go undefeated, and we beat four lousy OOC opponents, we’ll probably be on the outside looking in on the championship game.

    I know, it’s lofty. But that’s the only way we’ll ever hope to win a national championship. We’ll have to schedule some tough games and win them, and finish unbeaten. Then and only then will we have a shot.

  11. GAWolf 09/24/2009 at 1:56 PM #

    VAWolf: I wasn’t comparing NC State to FSU. I was simply reiterating what I’ve heard Bowden say in many interviews. I don’t really care one way or another about our scheduling… or rather I don’t see that either method is necessarily any better. I see the pros and cons for both sides of this issue, and thus I am left undecided. I’m just stating some opinions/facts for each.

  12. GAWolf 09/24/2009 at 1:59 PM #

    Bradley: Some would argue that the parity in college sports today drives the liklyhood of more than two teams from all of the BCS schools being undefeated to a very, very slim probability. Therefore, I think the argument is that if we go undefeated in OOC play and in the ACC (a BCS conference), 9 out of 10 times we’ll play for the national championship regardless of who is on the OOC schedule.

  13. Broccoman 09/24/2009 at 2:34 PM #

    before talking BCS champs, win the ACC first.

    I don’t think ECU is a bad matchup. I don’t like them, they’re not my first choice to play, but why not put a whooping on them every other year?

    One tune-up game is fine. Other two games should be one mid-major or middling BCS team, and one top-25 team.

  14. Wufpacker 09/24/2009 at 3:22 PM #

    I have to agree with VaWolf on the subject of the OOC scheduling.

    Also, if we’re on the outside looking in, with an undefeated record, that would be more due to the (perceived?) relatively weak conference that we play in. Even with an extremely impressive OOC schedule, the in conference competition, as it stands currently, would still keep us on the outside.

  15. Trout 09/24/2009 at 4:45 PM #

    Liberty on the schedule for 2011:

    http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm?PID=10869&newsID=4343&TeamID=

    The Flames are slated to continue their run against FBS foes in years to come, as Liberty has Ball State (2010), N.C. State (2011), Wake Forest (2012), Kent State (2013), Virginia (2014) and Virginia Tech (2015) currently on future schedules.

  16. bradleyb123 09/24/2009 at 5:07 PM #

    ^^^ “Bradley: Some would argue that the parity in college sports today drives the liklyhood of more than two teams from all of the BCS schools being undefeated to a very, very slim probability. Therefore, I think the argument is that if we go undefeated in OOC play and in the ACC (a BCS conference), 9 out of 10 times we’ll play for the national championship regardless of who is on the OOC schedule.”

    My point was that our OOC schedule could help us. If it comes down to three teams with the same record, and one of those teams has Murray State and Gardner-Webb on their schedule, it can only hurt our chances.

  17. 1.21 Jigawatts 09/24/2009 at 6:47 PM #

    Okay let me get this straight, according to South Alabama’s website

    http://www.usajaguars.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8300&ATCLID=1349510

    2011 (which is the first year we play them) is their first FBS Transition Year. 2013 (the year after we play them for the second time) will be their first FBS Year.

    So if I’m understanding this correctly we’ve just scheduled our 2nd FCS school for 2011, 2 years in advance.

    WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING??? Now I have to cough up about $40/ticket to see another year of 2 crappy teams?!?

    And even if South Alabama counts as an FBS game it’s still 2 crappy home games that I’m getting soaked for.

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