Want to Win a Title? Schedule Creampuffs, Stoops Says

Congratulations to Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, who is the only Division I-A coach man enough to acknowledge the obvious: Perennial national title contenders continue to load their nonconference schedules with creampuff opponents and pay no penalty for doing so.

This fall, Oklahoma plays host to Utah State, Florida State and Air Force and plays at Cincinnati.

Then look at the nonleague schedule of Alabama: San Jose State, Georgia State and Penn State at home and Duke on the road.

No wonder Alabama is favored to repeat as BCS champion.

Stoops is right. There are no penalties for playing a creampuff nonconference schedule. Instead, teams are punished — not rewarded — for playing a quality nonconference schedule.

Here's what he told John Henderson of the Denver Post:

"Look at the AP poll last year. We beat Oklahoma State at the end of the year, 27-0, and beat another ranked team in Stanford. Well, Oklahoman State's ranked ahead of us. Why? At the end of the day when they go ranking teams, look at how it's ranked every year. AP as well as the coaches all look at the loss column and if one team has one less loss than you they're ranked ahead of you.

"Oklahoma State was ranked ahead of us. We just played. Please don't make it look like I'm worried about Oklahoma State. But in the end I don't know if you're rewarded for it. You're not. Everybody talks about it early. By the end of the year everyone's talking about wins and losses and you're ranked accordingly."

Stoops also expressed his displeasure with players leaving early for the NFL. The players, he says, pay a penalty. Henderson writes:

"[Stoops] walked to his desk and pulled a single sheet from a three-ring binder. It listed the average signing bonuses of all seven rounds from the 2009 draft: first round — $13 million; second — $2.1 million; third — $720,000; fourth — $460,000; fifth — $171,500; sixth — $$96,900; seventh — $47,000.

" 'Here's what people don't get,' he said. 'The average career in the NFL is 3 1/2 years. You need to maximize in that 3 1/2-year window to make as much as you can make because this money doesn't come back to you.

" 'If you settle for this,' as he points to $2.1 million, 'and you had a chance to be that,' as he points to $13 million, 'you're not making that up.' "

Comments

[Iowa Guy]

Going by the preseason poll Alabama has games against the #3, #14, #16, #19, and #23 ranked teams. Oklahoma plays #4 and #20.

Bob Stoops can complain all he wants. Oklahoma plays a much easier slate than Alabama. No objective person can argue that.

[T-Bone]

Maybe if Stoops stopped getting blown out in national championship games or losing to Boise State, people might start taking his teams serious again.

[Optimus Primed]

Yes, because pre-season rankings have never proven to be biased and are always a very solid indicator of SOS.

[Chris]

Going by the preseason poll Alabama has games against the #3, #14, #16, #19, and #23 ranked teams. Oklahoma plays #4 and #20.

Bob Stoops can complain all he wants. Oklahoma plays a much easier slate than Alabama. No objective person can argue that.

----

I'll second that.

[Brent]

What is your issue with Alabama? It seems that almost every comment you have regarding the Tide is negative. I have no problem with Alabama or any other team playing a creampuff schedule as long as one non-conference game is against a tough opponent. 'Bama has played Florida State, Clemson and Virginia Tech the past three seasons and will play Penn State this year. Ohio State plays Miami, Fla., Marshall, Eastern Michigan and Ohio. How about the Florida Gators? They don't even leave the state to play non-conference games. Florida State, Appalachian State, Miami (OH) and South Florida. It's not like Oklahoma is playing a murderer's row of non-conference opponents. Texas plays Rice, Florida Atlantic, UCLA and Wyoming. Virginia Tech plays James Madison, Boise State, East Carolina and Central Michigan.

[Jimec]

Here we go again.

[il cativo]

The Longhorns have taken Stoops' advice and are trying to upgrade their own schedule by seeking an alternative to the Sooners this October.

[Scott]

Stoops didn't say anything about Alabama, and let's be fair. Oklahoma won a title game, got blown out in a title game, lost one to LSU by 7 in New Orleans, and lost another to Florida by 10 in Miami. If losing to Boise State by 1 in overtime is reason not to take a different team at the same school seriously, then speaking of Alabama...

But really, Stoops misses a bigger point in scheduling, which is why it's unfortunate the columnist singled out Alabama. The problem teams aren't Alabama who plays Penn State at home, or really the teams that play nothing but cream puffs (Kansas State, Texas Tech). Teams that play nothing but cream puffs are usually appropriately penalized for it in pollsters minds. The problem teams are the ones that play a couple of cream puffs and a couple average teams, but no real tests. It makes no Difference if Alabama plays Georgia State or Air Force at home. They stand just about the same chance of losing either game. Bringing in Penn State or Florida State should bear definite fruit because you could lose those games. You probably won't, but you could. You'll lose to Air Force at home just slightly more than you're going to lose to Georgia State at home. So, who cares which of the two is on your schedule? The other deal is that the average teams have as much if not more to do with the Top 10's scheduling as the teams in the Top 10. Average BCS Conference Teams want Home and Home's, and programs aren't going to give that up for a team that isn't going to help put them on TV or otherwise help recoup the loss of the home game. So seriously, it's not like Alabama didn't schedule Kansas in their non-conference because they were afraid of losing the game, so they got San Jose State instead. They scheduled San Jose State because the two games are basically the same except that San Jose State is a lot cheaper.

[James]

What do bob stoops and weed have in common?

Put em in a bowl and they get smoked.
I'm just saying if my post-season record looked as bad as his, I'd worry a lil more about that than other peoples non-conference schedules.

Roll Tide!