Non-conference opponents opinion

[DuckzRule]

I know that this topic may sound a bit weird considering most people usually don't care about non-conference scheduling, but here we are, I'm actually one of those people that likes knowing all the potential future matchups that programs in the NCAA schedule years in advance (in football at least), and Oregon's non-conference schedule is no exception.

First of all, if y'all followed FBSchedules, we are completely aware that our non-conference schedule starting this season through 2033 consist of local FCS opponents, Mountain West G5's and three consecutive Big 12 home and homes against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Baylor, followed by two Big Ten H&H's against Michigan State and Ohio State that are most likely cancelled due to our move towards the B1G, and here's where I give my opinion about two things: The schedules themselves and how could they be affected by the Big Ten move.

While I'm aware that the Ducks have made their best efforts to schedule great opponents and that the three consecutive Big 12 opponents should not be seen as cupcakes, I'm also a bit bored out by the amount of opponents from that same conference, which was the reason on why I didn't want UO to move to the Big 12 (Big Ten was fine for me as it would provide more stability and more uncommon foes), and fun fact, we are currently the only school in our conference that doesn't have a future game scheduled against a SEC program, tho I wish that, regardless of the new in-conference schedules, we do play more diverse opponents, in fact, the cancellations of the MSU and OSU series' could also give us ideas for programs that also need to fill more empty spots from 2029 onwards.

I know that most people here want to play Oregon State as much as possible, but I doubt the program wants to do anything with the Ducks due to the fact they feel left aside after realignment, and it's likely that they will play as a G5 opponent, which would mean that UO probably would schedule them as a G5 opponent to fill the schedules and some people say that it's unlikely Oregon visits Corvallis ever again.

As for the opponents that we can schedule to fill the spots left by our B1G move, I have multiple ideas: Notre Dame, LSU, Tennessee, Miami, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas, and maybe even Alabama, tho in the Tide's case, they would have to be scheduled in 2035 or beyond, unless they are willing to play three P5 opponents per year between 2029 and 2034.

Of course we have no idea on how the Big Ten will organize their schedules, if we stay at 9 games, perfect, we could schedule more programs in a diverse way, but if they go to 10 games, then it gets a little bit more tricky, maybe the FCS opponent matchups will get cancelled? (probably, since they are only allowed when a Big Ten opponent has 4 home conference games).

Either way, hopefully we get more clarity on how our non-conference schedule will look like in a couple years soon! Go Ducks!

[DuckzRule]

BTW I had the idea of posting this after seeing a thread in 247Sports (which I couldn't read due to me not being a VIP member) about the same topic.

[buckmarkduck]

BIG doesn’t let its teams play FBS. That said, playing in the BIG, will be tough enough without scheduling high level OOC teams. And the way the beavs have acted, I’d be happy to tell them to pound sand.

[DuckzRule]

BIG doesn’t let its teams play FBS. That said, playing in the BIG, will be tough enough without scheduling high level OOC teams. And the way the beavs have acted, I’d be happy to tell them to pound sand.

Don't you mean FCS? If they didn't let the members play FBS opponents they might as well not play at all lol.

Seriously speaking, I do feel that nothing of value will be lost if we can no longer play FCS games, except for the North Dakota State game that was cancelled due to the pandemic and got rescheduled for 2028, but will most likely get the boot for the second time...

[squintsdd]

Once the dust settles I can see Oregon state filling some of those gaps. Their fans would love the the possibility of beating Oregon year after year, and it's one of the oldest rivalry games in the country.

I don't mind playing big 12 teams. While they're not on par with the SEC or B1G, there are still high quality games to be played against them.

[SuperDuck]

Once the dust settles I can see Oregon state filling some of those gaps. Their fans would love the the possibility of beating Oregon year after year, and it's one of the oldest rivalry games in the country.

I don't mind playing big 12 teams. While they're not on par with the SEC or B1G, there are still high quality games to be played against them.

Honestly, as much I'd like to keep OSU on the schedule, it might be a good idea to give the series a break 3-4 years until they aren't as good. Johnathan Smith will likely be gone, too.

We'll have a hard enough schedule in the BIG and it doesn't make sense to schedule good teams every year non-conference.

I wonder if USC will continue their annual game with Notre Dame? Ohio State is playing Notre Dame in the second of a home and home series this year, but that's not an annual event.

[UOducksTK1]

Scheduled opponents on the western side of the states makes the most sense to em. We’ll already be traveling more than usual, so playing a mountain west team or an Oregon state/Wazzu/Cal/Stanford would work.

[buckmarkduck]

Scheduled opponents on the western side of the states makes the most sense to em. We’ll already be traveling more than usual, so playing a mountain west team or an Oregon state/Wazzu/Cal/Stanford would work.

What’s the benefit of playing any of them? Basically you want to play 12 games vs pac 12 and BIG opponents? The SEC, USC, most BIG teams aren’t doing that. The only thing it accomplishes is less odds of making the playoffs.

[StevensTechU]

If you're playing Wisconsin, USC, Iowa, and washington annually, plus one of Michigan, Penn State or Ohio State, and you can't schedule FCS teams per conference rules, you go to where your players are from. Schedule SDSU, Cal, SJSU, etc every chance you get.

[UOducksTK1]

Scheduled opponents on the western side of the states makes the most sense to em. We’ll already be traveling more than usual, so playing a mountain west team or an Oregon state/Wazzu/Cal/Stanford would work.

What’s the benefit of playing any of them? Basically you want to play 12 games vs pac 12 and BIG opponents? The SEC, USC, most BIG teams aren’t doing that. The only thing it accomplishes is less odds of making the playoffs.

Keep rivalries around, less travel for better student-sport life, etc.

Are you worried about losing to those schools? Also don’t have to make it home and home series. Can always just host them, especially if they end up in a conference like the mountain west.

[UofDuck]

I’ve always been of the opinion that even teams in the mighty SEC should play at least one OoC Power 5 team to get a better sense of each conference’s real legitimacy- before the sunshine pumpers start their conference spin. However, with the rise of the Super Conferences, I’m starting to rethink my opinion. There is now going to be so much talent within each conference, there is far less need. The conferences are also no longer regional, so there is a larger geo mix to them.

[GrantDuck]

Oregon State and the weakest west coast or Texas schools we can find.

[GrandpaDuck]

Home games only except WSU OSU CAL and STANFORD.

Need to establish a strong working relation with those 4 to minimize travel in non-Football sports. Travel for baseball, softball, soccer, basketball and volleyball is going to be bad and expensive for B1G conference games so forming an unofficial Western conference for nonconference games in other sports would be of huge benefit.

[DuckzRule]

For some reason we have added ANOTHER FCS opponent to our schedules.

https://fbschedules.com/oregon-adds-por ... -schedule/

[spacefrog13x]

I think the Big 10 rule is you can only schedule FCS teams in years you only have 4 conference home games