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Charles Fischer

B1G Scheduling: The Right Path of Retaining Rivalries and BIG Games

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I cannot give you the entire article from The Athletic, but you might be able to subscribe for a year at only a buck as I did recently. Some tidbits below to give you more of the scheduling logic used...

 

In Preserving History, Big Ten Scheduling Model Gets it Right

 

No growing conference has mastered navigating the confluence of providing electrifying high-profile national matchups yet perfectly retaining historical rivalries like the Big Ten. Thursday, as it unveiled conference opponents for the next five years, the Big Ten never wavered from its tenets or what made it special, even as it adds four schools from the West Coast. The conference that boasts the most revenue also does the best job of preserving its history.

 

 At 18 teams the league faced an either-or situation for its primary objectives. Every school could have one annual opponent, and then cycle through the rest twice every four years. But that would end important rivalries like Michigan–Michigan State and Minnesota-Iowa. Or, the rivalries can stay in place but extend the four-year frame beyond most playing careers. Wisely, the Big Ten chose the latter.

 

“It takes a five-year rotation to make sure that everybody plays at least once home and once a week against every other Big Ten opponent,” said Kerry Kenny, the Big Ten’s chief operating officer. “That was a principle that was really important the last time around to our ADs and our coaches and still remains at the forefront of those conversations."

 

“We also wanted to make sure that the 12 protected matchups that we have will occur all five times and then all the rotational opponents that occur between two and three times that there was balance. So that if somebody was playing somebody else three times that the cadence was away-home-away or home-away-home that it wasn’t repeat locations of the same matchup within this five-year snapshot.”

 

The Big Ten has shown the right path. Keep the games that matter and cycle through the other games on a regular basis.

 

New conference.jpg

 

What is above came from the article, and after reading it fully--I now understand how we cannot have another team listed as a rival (like USC) and play them every year.  Everybody has one rival for certain each year. Beginning next year--there will be a ton of blockbuster games every week, that you will want to watch as a fan.

 

Boy the schedule is tough going forward!  Danno--you better keep building, as we will need it to prosper in this new home!

 

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Mr. FishDuck

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Spot on, Charles. The Athletic, especially with the Ducks headed to the more covered by the site B1G, is worth the subscription.

 

The schedulers in the B1G 'get it.' Not only with preserving rivalries but also leaving plenty of opportunities for B1G heavyweight games.

 

To wit - Oregon in 2024 plays Ohio State, at Michigan, and at Wisconsin. GULP! Plus Michigan State, old foe Washington, and many other B1G teams with lots of history, including the histories of historic players.

 

Do subscribe to The Athletic, it's worth it. And, if you cannot access the B1G Network, find a way to do so. Prior to the Ducks making the move to the B1G, the BTN provided better coverage of Ducks sports than was ever the case on the Pac-12 Network. Millions and millions more people watch the BTM than watch Larry's Lost Network.

 

Puddles is flying to the correct nest, the B1G nest.

 

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What's worse for SUC fans. Getting beat by the Ducks every year or the prolonged dread before it happens?

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I would have preferred that Oregon played the other Pac-4 schools every season but at least it looks like Oregon will play Washington and at least one of the LA schools annually (I believe that there is at least 1 year when we play all 3).

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My concern is that we only play in LA three years in the five year rotation...and that sucks for recruiting.  But each school has to give up something to make it work...

 

GODUCKS.COM

Oregon will host Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State and Washington at Autzen Stadium in 2024.

 

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Mr. FishDuck

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On 10/7/2023 at 11:17 AM, Charles Fischer said:

My concern is that we only play in LA three years in the five year rotation...and that sucks for recruiting.

Exactly this.

 

At least now there are direct flights from Burbank to Eugene, so family and friends can realistically get to Autzen in 4 hrs door-to-door.

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On 10/7/2023 at 11:17 AM, Charles Fischer said:

My concern is that we only play in LA three years in the five year rotation...and that sucks for recruiting.  But each school has to give up something to make it work...

 

GODUCKS.COM

Oregon will host Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State and Washington at...

 

But we'll be in the LA market for TV every year which is what it is now. And Oregon is geographicly fairly close to southern California so I'm not as worried.

 

I would like to play USC and UCLA every year but I also understand why the schedule doesn't align that way. 

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With all our Midwest games, we will open up that recruiting area even more.  I'd say it is an even trade.

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On 10/7/2023 at 11:17 AM, Charles Fischer said:

My concern is that we only play in LA three years in the five year rotation...and that sucks for recruiting.  But each school has to give up something to make it work...

 

GODUCKS.COM

Oregon will host Illinois, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State and Washington at Autzen Stadium in 2024.

 

 

Is it different from the head-scratching Pac-12 scheduling? 

 

We don't play in Los Angeles this year and the last time Oregon played in LA was October 21, 2021!!!  Despite that, we have recruited Southern California pretty well over the past few years.  So well, in fact, that USC was hoping to leave Oregon behind...

 

At least with the move to the B1G, Oregon will maintain a regular presence in the Southern California market.

Edited by OregonDucks
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On 10/7/2023 at 4:24 PM, Tandaian said:

With all our Midwest games, we will open up that recruiting area even more.  I'd say it is an even trade.

 

+1 (and the East coast).  IIRC, Dan Lanning said in an interview that moving to the B1G will help with Oregon's national recruiting.

 

Oregon has been scheduling future home-and-home series with teams in or near Texas (e.g., Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Baylor) to maintain that pipeline.  Hope that continues with the move to the B1G.

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On 10/7/2023 at 4:24 PM, Tandaian said:

With all our Midwest games, we will open up that recruiting area even more.  I'd say it is an even trade.

Huge point.

 

Some Duck-Buddies in the mid-west have really taken time to explain to me how it will be easier to pull recruits from highly populous state in eastern time zones due to all the TV exposure, and the ease of parents going to their son's games.

 

It would be nice to pull tons of recruits from Ohio and Michigan the way those teams do on the west coast?

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Mr. FishDuck

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On 10/7/2023 at 7:43 PM, OregonDucks said:

 

+1 (and the East coast).  IIRC, Dan Lanning said in an interview that moving to the B1G will help with Oregon's national recruiting.

 

Oregon has been scheduling future home-and-home series with teams in or near Texas (e.g., Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Baylor) to maintain that pipeline.  Hope that continues with the move to the B1G.

Not sure bout the merit of scheduling this way. Come tomorrow when the new AP Poll is released, in 2024 Oregon will play #2 Michigan on the road, and #3 Ohio State at home.

 

Do not bite off more than you can chew.

 

Play Stanford or Cal OOC. Traditional rivalries and more games in the essential recruiting state of California. Do not play more than P4 opponents. And do not play G5 teams on the road. Ohio State does not go on the road to play MAC teams.

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USC and UCLA were never going to schedule Oregon once they left the conference. They were very upset the B1G decided to extend that invitation. They would have preferred Cal and Stanford. So I get the complaints toward the B1G schedule makers, but it's pretty hard integrating four new members. While trying to keep every existing rivalry within the now 18 programs.

 

Oregon vs Washington was preserved, as was USC vs UCLA. Iowa has like five rivalries, they are complaining about not facing Ohio State or Michigan every year. Penn State vs Ohio State had been a compelling game, that's gone. Nebraska was trying to get Oklahoma an invite, not because they are a fit. They aren't AAU, never have been. But Nebraska just wanted to play them every year. They even contemplated asking for Texas, even though they left the Big 12 because of the backstage politics, and that Horn Network. Now when I say Nebraska, I mean their fanbases, and media members. The people in charge aren't that stupid(hopefully). But leaving the Big 12 hurt their recruiting base. They haven't adapted. Ironically they tried something called Cali-Braska under Mike Riley. Wonder if they'll try to revive that.

 

Ask yourself what would be better, not ideal. Would you prefer to never play USC again, or this twice in five years thing? If this was a Trojan board, the answer would be obvious. 

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