Florida State Football Schedule: Analyzing FSU's Opponents' Opponents
by Bud Elliott on Feb 5, 2010 4:12 PM EST
in FSU Football
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PrintI stole this idea from an article Todd wrote last season at RollBamaRoll.com Everyone knows Florida State's schedule by now. It will surely be one of the nation's 10 toughest, as it was the last several years. But something I have an interest in is the teams FSU's opponents play before facing the 'Noles. UF has a major advantage every year through scheduling a cupcake before facing FSU, while the 'Noles often have to wrap up the ACC slate. I am not analyzing team strength here, but rather scheduling factors.
- 9/4 FSU opens at home against Samford (not Stanford). Neither team will have played a game.
- 9/11 FSU is @ Oklahoma. It should be an incredible game. OU plays Utah State the week before. Neither team with a significant advantage here.
- 9/17 FSU hosts BYU. It is unknown who BYU faces before they travel to play FSU. BYU has the scheduling advantage here as it is an obvious letdown situation for FSU
- 9/25 FSU hosts Wake Forest to open the conference season. Wake will be coming off a road trip to Stanford. Major advantage to FSU here.
- 10/02 FSU is @ Virginia. This is advantage UVA because of who FSU has on deck (Miami) and because UVA got VMI at home the week before.
- 10/09 FSU is @ Miami. While FSU will be off a road game, Miami must play @ Clemson the week before. That's scheduling advantage Florida State, as Clemson is a top 25 team with a tremendous defense and well, UVA isn't that good.
- 10/16 FSU hosts Boston College. BC is off a road game @ NC State, and FSU is the last leg of a brutal stretch that sees BC play Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and @ NC State, in back to back weekends.
- Both NC State and FSU receive bye weeks before playing the October 28th Thursday night contest in North Carolina.
- On 11/6, FSU hosts North Carolina. UNC gets William and Mary before traveling to Tallahassee, but FSU gets 10 days rest following the Thursday night game.
- 11/13 FSU hosts Clemson. Clemson will have hosted NC State prior to coming to Tallahassee. Little scheduling advantage can be discerned here.
- 11/20 FSU is @ Maryland. Maryland will have played @ UVA the week before. But FSU will have played UNC and Clemson back to back, and could be looking ahead to the game against UF.
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Sanford or Samford? And will his sons be there?
2010 AD = 1 AB for FSU
see now I wish I could delete this comment
2010 AD = 1 AB for FSU
I think the BYU "let down" will depend on the out come of the OU game.
if it is a really close game then yes, but a beat down either way, i think FSU will be alright.
2010 AD = 1 AB for FSU
BYU this year should have been a letdown game
after the horrendous performance against J State. But it was shown that there was too much athletic advantage for it to happen. I’m more worried by WF the week after after a blowout win against BYU
"Kill a fly with an axe"
Big difference this year
Playing a sloppy game at home in crappy weather against j st is not nearly as difficult as playing on the road at Oklahoma. I know we have BYU at home, but having that right after a trip to Norman is pretty tough IMO.
could be true
for both your posts
"Kill a fly with an axe"
by SteadfastNole on Feb 5, 2010 4:33 PM EST up reply actions
I think we likely overlook BYU this year...
… due to the results last year. I hope not, but it’s likely.
That could happen, BUT
depends on what happens against OU. If we get smoked by OU I think our guys will be fired up. If we win or play close against OU then we could overlook them
Huge difference it mental preparation this year with the new staff
It will be like nothing we’ve ever seen. I expect the team and players to be way more focused and mentally tough
"Kill a fly with an axe"
by SteadfastNole on Feb 5, 2010 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
The only teams we might overlook are Samford & MD
Jimbo & Co. will not take anything for granted. neither should a 7-6 team.
Keys
- getting to play BC at home after their brutal 3-game stretch
- bye week for the Thursday night game
- 10 days to prepare for UNC
And this all happens on the back-end of the season, allowing extra time to heal, etc. when we need it most.
Call me crazy, but it seems like in the past we didn’t breaks like this with our schedule. I think we got the week of before the Thursday night game last year, but I want to say we hadn’t before. I don’t know, it just seems like although it is a tough schedule overall, the way it is laid out seems to be favorable for us. I can’t say that’s been the case in the past, or maybe I am just “mis-remembering”
If in the past you mean over the last half decade
Then I totally agree.
I like how our bye week comes late.
For those that still refuse to recognize the importance of proper scheduling, here is a refresher from part of thread found at
My Letter to the FSU Athletic Department: Schedules
by DutchFSU
We have talked about this subject before, but I always wondered why we do not take a page out the Turds book and schedule a breather before playing UF.
Let’s take a look at who they play the week before the FSU game since 2002.
2009-the week before playing FSU, they played FIU.
2008-the week before playing FSU, they played The Citadel
2007-the week before playing FSU, they played FAU
2006-the week before playing FSU, they played Western Carolina
2005-the week before playing FSU, they played NO ONE-bye week-prior game So. Carolina
2004-the week before playing FSU, they played NO ONE-bye week-prior game So. Carolina
2003-the week before playing FSU, they played NO ONE-bye week-prior game So. Carolina
2002-the week before playing FSU, they played NO ONE-bye week-prior game So. CarolinaThis gives your team a chance to get healthy before the huge in-state rivalry game, and the conference championship game the following week, hopefully.
>——-:——:———>Spear ’em then Scalp ’em
by FrankDNole on Dec 7, 2009 10:39 AM EST
To further Frank’s point
With the expection of 2008 it seems we are in a dogfight the week before the most important game of the year
2009-the week before playing UF, we played Maryland – WIN 29-26
2008-the week before playing UF, we played Maryland – WIN 37-3
2007-the week before playing UF, we played – Maryland – WIN 24-16
2006-the week before playing UF, we played Western Michigan – WIN 28-20
2005-the week before playing UF, we played Clemson – LOSS 35 -14
2004-the week before playing UF, we played NCST – WIN 17-10
2003-the week before playing UF, we played NCST – WIN 50-44
2002-the week before playing UF, we played NCST – LOSS 17-7It’s a beautiful day in Tallahassee
by RaysnNoles on Dec 7, 2009 11:04 AM EST
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
the word you are looking for is "Archived" files
by Mr. Seminole on Feb 5, 2010 10:58 PM EST up reply actions
We have that already.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one gets to the Father but through Me"
This year, the week before UF travels to Tally to play FSU on 11/27, they play
11/20 Appalachian State (Div. 1 AA)
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
Ah, that school name brings back fond memories...
ANY chance it could happen again? Florida looking ahead, perhaps?
I bleed Garnet and piss Gold.
Darn, it looks like he was a senior in 2009.
Too bad we don’t play App State this year.
2010 ~ The Year of the Spear
As was discussed in the initial scheduling thread, I think it’s time for the ACC to get smarter about this.
If the media is going to continue to hype FSU/UF, Clemson/South Carolina, and GT/Georgia as season defining games for the conferences, it would make sense for at least those 3 teams to get scheduling breaks at the end of the season.
Miami played OOC the last week of the season last year, so maybe they could pair GT and Miami, and Clemson and FSU. The GT/Miami game and FSU/Clemson game could always be played early on, which would allow those teams to play cupcakes before their rivalry games.
Miami does it again this year. USF, too.
Maybe that will become a long-term series… Stirred up rivalry game or something.
I bleed Garnet and piss Gold.
Why Frank... I don't know what to say.
Does this mean I have cred now? (/sarcasm)
Seriously, though… This is a point I am passionate about, and I think that the ACC as a whole is very short sighted in this department. If you look at the All-ACC schedule I posted, you can see that no ACC team has a week off in November, nor do any teams play anyone OOC prior to rivalry weekend.
I suppose their mindset is that “conference standings battles” would win out in the ratings game or some such thing. Possible for TV time, but not a great asset for the teams when they go on the last week of the schedule to play brutal OOC rivals. The ones that have rivals, anyway…
Someone in the FSU staff told me via email that “the conference wants to be fair to all teams involved.” And that, right there, is why they made the wrong decision.
I bleed Garnet and piss Gold.
ACC schedule
Does everyone in the ACC play conference games so late in the season? I’m curious if this is because of a late conference start, or just bad scheduling by the conference. Instead of just looking to play a patsy, I would rather shoot for the moon and try and get a bye before UF. Play the patsy on the front end or in the middle and slide the bye back.
Only four play conference games in the final week
It’s not unusual. Most SEC, Big 12, and Pac10 teams do it.
I agree that BYU looks to have the advantage...
since FSU plays AT OU the week before, but a 95% day in Tally will be a MAJOR shock to BYU and might negate that advantage.
95% humidity might be right though
"Kill a fly with an axe"
by SteadfastNole on Feb 5, 2010 5:03 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed.
I didn’t even know Hall’s replacement would be a true frosh. I might bump my guess to +3.5 TDs. They really don’t stand a chance.
Average high in September is 89. And with our humidity, that will feel like 109 to those mountain boys. Altitude advantages are for girls. They’ll find out what’s coming.
When I think about BYU ...
… the first thing that comes to mind is Greg Reid’s pick 6 to start the second half.
I love our schedule leading up to Miami versus theirs
They play at OSU, at Pitt and in Death Valley. Have to think they will be tired and beaten up.
What about Florida?
Seems that you missed the FLORIDA game! Who has the upper hand. I think we do. We are supposed to play them earlier in the year with a depleted defence and a new born baby quarterback! BCS BOWL BABY!
UF has the advantage
They will play a complete cupcake before us like they always do, while we have an ACC game to play.
by osceolafan850 on Feb 5, 2010 6:34 PM EST up reply actions
See my comment above.11/20 Appalachian State (Div. 1 AA)
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
Other than UF, I see Clemson as the toughest game on the schedule. OU’s team this year is too young in all the wrong places for them to be successful…
"If lessons were learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education." -Murray Warmath
I'd never look past Miami
What makes Clemson so dangerous this year?
Also, I see we play USF again in 2012. Am i mistaken in thinking that we played them this year?
"Kill a fly with an axe"
by SteadfastNole on Feb 5, 2010 5:34 PM EST up reply actions
Clemson @ FSU
Clemson brings back a lot of experience on defense. I expect our defense to be very good.
Ellington and Harper are not going to be CJ Spiller, but they are both very good. Ellington looks like CJ when he runs. Very quick and shifty. The offensive line is intact for basically the 3rd year in a row. The place where we will be very green is in the receiving core.
I think with this game being at Doak FSU should win.
recieving core green???
please explain this…
Thank God for the men and women who stand tall in the night to protect this great country we love so much
Green as in inexperienced.
We lost Jacoby Ford, Michael Palmer, and CJ Spiller who were our entire receiving core. We have 2 true freshman and 1 redshirt freshman that will more than likely get a lot of playing time. That is pretty green to me.
ahhhh
had to read above again. Your a tiger….yes your O will be lacking depth in the WR podition. I do believe the tigers will have a good base to fall back on in the running game. I totally expect you guys to totally run your offense around Harper. And dabo is a helluva coach and im sure hell have you guys ready for the game.
Thank God for the men and women who stand tall in the night to protect this great country we love so much
No problem
I thought you might have been under the impression that I was talking about FSU, but wasn’t sure. Your receiving core definitely isn’t green.
Virginia game
Not only does Virginia face VMI the week before us, but they have an open date the week before that. Now if Virginia is as bad as they have been the last couple of seasons, VMI will be a game they can’t overlook. If Virginia has improved, they basically have 3 weeks preparation for us. On top of that we could be looking ahead to Miami.
Just looking at this schedule this way confirms the need for more cupcakes.
We have several rough stretches and no real down time during the season.
Not the AD's fault this time
The OU game, which is the OOC that shouldn’t be there, is put between Samford and a weakened BYU team. The only rough stretch really is the the last 4 games, where 3 of the 4 should be tough physical matches. That couldn’t be helped as it was done by the ACC offices. 2 or 3 years ago this OOC slate looked tougher than it does now, so that is a plus. On the negative side though we should be playing FIU@home instead of going to Norman.
by osceolafan850 on Feb 5, 2010 7:53 PM EST up reply actions
SPEAKING OF BYU.....................
A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS COME TO MIND. WE TAKE THEM FOR A “GIMMIE” AND YET IN ANOTHER THREAD WE WHINE ABOUT PLAYING THE BULLS???
DO FANS, COACHES, PLAYERS REMEMBER LAST YEAR THE TALK OF HOW POLITE THEIR FANS WERE EVEN THROUGH BEING STOMPED?
FINALLY, WAS JUST SENT THE FOLLOWING E- MAIL. EVERYONE SHOULD ATCH IT…….GO NOLES
Just prior to the start of the Air Force-BYU football game, Sept. 22, 2009, this video was broadcast in the BYU stadium in Provo, Utah. Later, the USAF Academy Superintendent, Lt.Gen Gould, showed this clip to the faculty and staff. He told everyone that BYU ran it minutes before the kickoff at the game. He was clearly moved by it, as were those who watched it. BYU is a class act.
BYU vs. AIR FORCE
http://www..youtube.com/watch_popup?v=72OhOWFMf84
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P.S oops on caps………..the old fart forgot
by OLDNOLE60 on Feb 5, 2010 8:18 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Now thats class
Dont see that much anymore, but isnt it true. Thanks to all the service members! God bless!
Thank God for the men and women who stand tall in the night to protect this great country we love so much
I am one that doesn't believe the military should be paraded or mixed with football.
It happens all too often for my comfort level.
by Mr. Seminole on Feb 5, 2010 11:11 PM EST up reply actions
I am not a big fan of it either
" Fisher’s approach to building a winner is lifted from Saban’s playbook. Right down to the terminology such as becoming more "process oriented" as opposed to "results oriented."
" Nick and I are friends," he said. "That guy is one of the best football coaches I’ve ever been around. God knows he’s brilliant. … A lot of the things he believes are a lot of things I believe. We’re very similar!
The process begins!
There are guys that want to serve our country as officers in the armed forces AND would like to play ball at the college level.
Why deny them the right…?
"If lessons were learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education." -Murray Warmath
This video makes me want to get that AF game off our schedule ASAP
I really don’t want to cheer against our armed forces.
Thanks Hnt.
I thought it special as i have/ had 2 sons serving. One, a 13 yeqr tech/sgt. at Moody near Valdosta. The other, out now, did the ARMY thing and spent 04-05 in Iraq.
AS a35 year plus nole fan and Dad to 3 new Nole fans(grin) I can say w/o hesitation Life sometimes intrudes.
GO NOLES….cmon JIMBO and crew, get em all “coached up”.
Grandpa, any chance Coley can be the first to start recruiting any of the 3 new Noles? That the new trend you know.
>-----:----:------>Spear 'em then Scalp 'em
Impossible
The thursday night games are conference games and a part of the TV contract I believe. No way the ACC lets any of their marquee programs get out of playing thrusday night games.
by osceolafan850 on Feb 5, 2010 11:23 PM EST up reply actions
possible
add a few cream puffs in the schedule and we’re looking at 10 wins a season with the new structure/process in effect…..im in, $$ included…..
Why not just OU for FIU and keep BYU on?
We will probably kill BYU but have it look as stronger than playing North Texas
"I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one gets to the Father but through Me"
Oh, slightly greater risk of losing is not worth the benefit of having the minor bump in SOS.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one gets to the Father but through Me"
Future Schedules
FSUn – I would think that the 2010 schedule is set in stone or am I wrong? I looked at the future schedules and for the life of me I dont understand why FSU scheduled so many out of conference games against top 25 teams. Home and home series with Air Force, OU and West Virginia is a great way to go 8-4 or 7-5. Jimbo probably saw these future schedules and said “WTF is going on here!”
More like 10-11
win team. I think the players buy in to JF and respond with BYU-like efforts all year long istead of just a week or so. Is it Spring yet? ;-)
"You're either carrying a spear, or running from it"
by BigSpearDiplomacy on Feb 6, 2010 1:55 PM EST up reply actions
Our "defense" hasn't proved it can be called a defense yet.
I’m not as optomistic until that happens.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one gets to the Father but through Me"
It hasn't had a chance yet....
Let’s give this staff the benefit of the doubt—I still think a top-50 defense is achievable…..and that means 10 wins is very possible.
(including ACCCG & Orange Bowl possibilities)
Oderint Dum Metuant
True, true they haven't had the chance.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life...no one gets to the Father but through Me"
I don't see a scheduling issue...
Idk I just might have an overly competitive coaching mentality with a distaste for politics and whatnot but I like having tough schedules. I like to face UF, OU, UM, Clemson etc. Everyone on here claims to love Jimbo’s idea of putting process over end result yet everyone would rather beat north texas to get to a nice final record than risking a chance at losing to OU?
You say we don’t have anything to prove anymore but we haven’t even managed to win the nationally considered weak ACC, we have a new and unproved coaching staff, we can’t beat UM consistently, lost to UF an insanely unacceptable 6 years straight and could barely handle a Jacksonville St. team at home last year. We have a ton to prove IMO.
To be honest, I’d be flat out ashamed to beat FIU/NT/Duke/Virgina all year, play one good rival at the end then get a shot at the NC off our prestige. I’m not a buckeye, I’m a nole…
I am very tempted to agree with this. FSU made their name playing the big boys of college football, and I’d really hate to see that go away completely. Look at Florida, they NEVER play big out of conference games and I feel like their fans are missing out on one of the great experiences in college football. At the same time, the rest of college football isn’t playing by those scheduling rules anymore, and there is no reason for us to make our lives tougher than they have to be.
I hope that in the future we will keep the occasional high profile inter-sectional game, but just be smarter about scheduling them. Pick programs who are historically good like Colorado or Texas AM, but who are beatable at the moment. Or save the Oklahoma type games for when we know we should have an excellent team.
One thing we should keep in mind is that if we don’t play a challenging schedule, we leave ourselves open to being left out of the NC Game even with an undefeated season. I don’t think that will be an issue for many years, if ever, but we will have no one to blame but ourselves if it bites us.
Untrue
3 cupcakes and UF would give us a plenty tough schedule.
Schedule strength does not come into play for the NC game is you are a major program. It’s all about image.
Unlikely maybe, but you can't completely dismiss the possibility.
It would depend on the way things played out in the season. If there were 3 undefeated major teams, schedule strength could definitely come into play. Normally one would expect the SEC Champion’s schedule to be more than difficult enough to make the NC Game, yet it wasn’t enough for Auburn in 2004. The undefeated champion of the ACC certainly couldn’t count on better treatment than the undefeated champion of the SEC.
This is a small point, like I said I don’t expect it to be an issue for many years if at all, but I would hate to see our fans reduced to complaining about we were “screwed” when in reality we cost ourselves the chance by weakening the schedule too much.
Ultimately I would agree that we need to dial down the scheduling, I just think we should all realize the full consequences of that decision.
I'm not talking about how to win the BCS
Everyone knows the BCS system is a joke, so I’m not interested in backing into a championship game. What you’re saying is ‘we can back in cause we won a lot 10 years ago’. I don’t care, as a team that has had its reputation ripped off the field by ‘big three contender USF’, it takes a coward to start scheduling cupcakes for fear of losing. The reason Ohio State has no respect in college football anymore is exactly this reason. Cupcakes + weak conference = beat by SEC team in the NC. Its an exact formula by now. Sure we can not schedule as tough as we do but to fall into the satisfactory 10-2 season every year by playing weak out of conference games without a strong conference to back us up isn’t how champions are made, plain and simple.
No, the reason OSU has no respect (and they have more respect than we do)
is that they lost to LSU and UF.
It’s about playing the system.
We have nothing to prove. I've written extensively on this topic.
Sorry, 3 cupcakes and UF gets it done. It’s about playing the game. Teams do not get credit for playing tough schedules. I’ve written extensively about this. You might get some moral feeling inside but it hurts the team and the program.
Tiny programs have something to prove. We do not. UF, 3 cupcakes, Miami, Clemson, BC, NC State, Wake, then GTech/ UNC/ VTech
Still a top 30 schedule.
Doesn't playing UF a week before a potential ACC champ game hurt us also?
Would replacing UF with an OSU or PSU plus 3 cupcakes hurt our image in the eyes of the voters? UM doesn’t play them on an annual basis.
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