Scheduling Ole Miss is basically saying "we are throwing in the towel the CFP..."
- Thread starter ttowncoug
- Start date
Ok. Let me understand this rationale. We yearn for the playoffs, but we don't to play any potential playoff quality teams along the way? Tell us then what would your preferred 2025 schedule look like? Names for these potential 6 teams please.
This Ole Miss game is way more exciting to me than bending over for UW. Kiffin could leave (currently rumored to UF, although I like him at Ole Miss and would prefer he stays), they'll be playing a new QB (Dart leaves a 30+start hole), and with all the turnover in CFB now, it's not as "body bag" as it seems.
It would behoove the athletic department to attend this game to understand how tailgating is done correctly and bring as many elements back to Pullman to implement for an improved game day experience.
WSU has faced significant challenges historically, which makes its current situation less surprising. In the late '70s, the Cougars had four coaches in four years, while their in-state rival had the richest radio contract in the country and a recruiting budget ten times greater than WSU’s.
By the time students arrived on campus, the football season was already a quarter over, with early home games played in Spokane. The team shared practice fields with intramural sports, resulting in muddy conditions by October, and had to practice on cement at Martin Stadium, which led to injuries.
From the mid-'50s until 1982, WSU hadn’t seen UCLA, USC, or UW visit Pullman. In 1983, the Cougars started with a tough game against Michigan; if they had faced a weaker opponent like Idaho State, they might have gone 8-3 and bowl-bound. Instead, they finished 6-5 in '84 after facing Ohio State and Tennessee.
In 1989, WSU traveled to BYU, but in 1990, cash-strapped WSU sold back a scheduled home game against them.
Swimming upstream is nothing new for WSU. As conference alignments change, schools like USC might regret their decisions due to travel demands. WSU needs to stay relevant, even if that means considering schools like Sac State as potential conference additions. Every step to maintain competitiveness is vital.
We have to stay relevant any way we can.
The bigger issue is having a full schedule of games. What do you tell the roster if you habe less than 12 games for them to play?
At this point…. body bag, grab bag, dime bag…. take what you can get.
What some fail to understand is that scheduling high profile games against SEC opponents is going to be exciting to the guys on our team and could make them want to stay. They embrace the challenge....not fear it.
Good history lesson except that you kind of skipped between '83 and '84. But I get the point.
And let's not forget 1988 where we beat Illinois, Minnesota and clobbered Tennesse all on the road.
1988 Football Schedule - Washington State University Athletics
The official 1988 Football schedule for the Washington State University Cougars
wsucougars.com
WSU needs to put together a football schedule for 2025, which without a full conference and no agreement with the MWC is extremely difficult in such short order. We have seven games scheduled and we need five more. I think we were very fortunate to be able to schedule Ol Miss and for next year at least, we have to schedule who ever we can get.
I don't agree with this take at all. This was a homerun get for WSU. What was once looking like a disastrous schedule is rounding into an interesting one.
Home: Idaho, San Diego State, UW, and Oregon State
Away: Virginia, North Texas, Ole' Miss
Apart from Idaho, which makes a ton of sense in the season opener, we have 6 legitimate games. With these 4 home games alone, renewing season tickets should be an easy decision.
Not sure what you expected, but your post is confusing.
Agreed! This is about the best we can hope for at this point. A mid-tier SEC team, that could well be in a rebuild year. To stay relevant we have to play someone occasionally, not just wave a flag while they talk about other teams....
Yes, it will be profitable financially, but also likely a national audience. We will probably lose, but stuff happens.
I swear we beat 1 other good team that year too...Good history lesson except that you kind of skipped between '83 and '84. But I get the point.
And let's not forget 1988 where we beat Illinois, Minnesota and clobbered Tennesse all on the road.
1988 Football Schedule - Washington State University Athletics
The official 1988 Football schedule for the Washington State University Cougars
Not sure I would call them "mid-tier", at least this year. Ranked #9 (AP, behind 3 SEC teams) and #8 (Coaches, behind 4 SEC teams). Lower-upper maybe in a 16 team league?
Gee Trumpy brainiac, why don't you click on the 1988 schedule link I provided with my post?
Here I will point it out to you with my space laser.
Oh, and I didn't realize what a delusional freak you seem to be: To quote you from the other thread: "The same "dip shit party" that's trying to stop people from making little kids have sex changes"
I mean c'mon you poor brainwashed bastard. NO ONE is making little kids have sex changes. No one. Anywhere. Ever. WTF is wrong with you?
Hey buddy, don't despair. 9 relevant individuals replied to date, and you are batting 0-9. You are still batting better than most of my threads.
Of course when my Swami-like ideas and predictions come true, a pox seems to fall on these threads. Jealousy. Or awe.
Currently tied for 6th in the SEC (with 7 other teams). Historically mid/lower tier in the the SEC, but its a whole new world and the 6th team in the SEC can be 9th in the nation early in the season. I imagine they will drop as as the season progresses. Its definitely going to be a tough game, but UW was the national runner-up last year and Ole' Miss won't be anywhere near that.
I missed your link. My bad.
More I of what I was doing was continuing and agreeing on your post.
Chill pill and pull the stick out.
Or get another shot I guess. 🙂
Ole Miss is NOT a Body Bag game. Historically Ole Miss is behind Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee, and the Equivalent to Miss St, and Ahead of Kentucky, Arkansas that just beat Ole Miss last week.
Ole Miss just barely beat Kentucky 20-17 this season, and is among the weakest of the 5-1 teams, and has yet to play Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas, Auburn, Tennessee, the tougher teams yet, and when they do, will probably lose 1,2,3 more games, and finish about 7-5, 8-4, 9-3.
Also next season, WSU won't have the benefit of playing the PAC 8+, and won't have the benefit of the chance to become PAC 8+ Champion to goto CFP.
Also by scheduling Ole Miss a beatable, non body bag game, on the road, and by beating Ole Miss on Road, which easier to do then Beating Wisconsin on the Road, which Dickert, WSU did, then the CFP people will give credit to WSU for doing that, because they overrate Ole Miss, and so if WSU goes 11-1 next year, WSU will goto CFP if they beat UW, Ole Miss.
So scheduling Ole Miss, this coming next season, is semi probably a semi good thing.
I totally agree. When I first found out about Ole Miss, I said, "great". They have literally been irrelevant for a decade, or more, (when was the last time they were high up in the rankings?), and nobody talks about Ole Miss, except when you watch "The Blind Side".
They are totally beatable, and I'm expecting a win, like a Wisconsin and UW win.
This. We knew that we'd have scheduling challenges during the transition years. IMHO, we have to play at least one really relevant OOC game each year. This is a relevant game. Will we be underdogs? Of course. My biggest question is whether we are being paid properly for making this trip. Details remain to be revealed.
I still don't like it.Hey buddy, don't despair. 9 relevant individuals replied to date, and you are batting 0-9. You are still batting better than most of my threads.
Of course when my Swami-like ideas and predictions come true, a pox seems to fall on these threads. Jealousy. Or awe.
We play UW in Pullman. That's a tough game. Even if we have to cobble together a few FCS games to fill the schedule, would we rather go 12-0 with a CFP invite?
I'm not all down on the road trip to Ole Miss. I think the game is going to be fun.
Relevant or irrelevant, doesn’t matter. Just get games. The 10 traitors not only fcked WSU and OSU out of 9 figures, they fcked them out of games too. Non con skeds are made years in advance. If these larger leagues go to 10 conf games, that removes even more opp for WSU and OSU to find games.
It was a stroke of luck to land the Mtn W deal for this year. 2025 could need a miracle.
I rarely agree with Biggs, but I do on this one. Much as the MW hosed us financially on the scheduling agreement, it did bail out our 2024 season. Now it is October and we need 5 more games. As I've said, Stanford still has an opening. Looks like Cal has filled their schedule. So who do we schedule? I have yet to hear anyone throw out any ideas. Peruse the 2025 schedules (link below) for the FCS and FBS teams.
Late season games are really a problem. Perhaps a couple of the SEC teams, who often have late-season OOC patsies, could be convinced to dump them for WSU. However, after paying whatever cancellation penalties they may have, our payday would likely be not so great.
I've been harping on this for months now. And OSU is in the same boat, with 7 games. So we are competing with them for these mystery teams. Meanwhile, crickets from our phenomenal AD.
FBSchedules.com | College and Pro Football Schedules
A fan site for college football schedules (FBS and FCS), pro football schedules (NFL, UFL, and CFL), future schedules, and more.
fbschedules.com
Edit - I see UConn has an opening, and UMass only has 5 games scheduled. And I thought we were hurting. Sac St. has 2 open slots. Much as I hate the thought of playing more than one (Idaho) FCS team, we may end up with 3 or 4.
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Worst case scenario you play a home and home vs. OSU. That gets you two games.
I assume the future Pac-12 teams will be flexible next season and accommodate WSU and OSU. I'd like to see a game vs. Boise in Pullman. I think that rivalry is going to be good.
I assume the future Pac-12 teams will be flexible next season and accommodate WSU and OSU. I'd like to see a game vs. Boise in Pullman. I think that rivalry is going to be good.
I say do a home and home with Oregon State. Helps both of us.
EDIT- Can't believe TTown posted the exact same proposal as I was typing.
Notre Dame has a opening in 2025, there has been some rumblings on redit about them being a possibility. They won't come to Pullman, as much as I don't want a Seattle game. I'd rather play them in Seattle than South Bend. As Biggs has said, it's not like we have a lot of options, we need to fill the schedule with 12 games. UW, Ole Miss, Virgina, are P4 team which are already on the schedule, if they can get 2 more P4 Team, perhaps Stanford, heard Cal is full, that gets us to 9, be hard pressed to get to 12 games, 11 games would be a real accomplishment at this point, probably need another FCS school. There were rumors about the Sun Belt working with us, but now they are all concerned we will steal their teams, so they are reluctant to schedule.
Well I would say great minds think alike, but then we ARE talking about you two (obligatory personal insults omitted).
We already have OSU on the schedule so that would get us one game. A home and home is kind of pathetic but it has been done. And to another post, yes I see ND does have an opening.
Look, we (and OSU) are hurting big time. I would rather see us fill the schedule with FBS away games than home games with FCS teams. If we could get one more home game, maybe with a G5 team, that would give us 5. We have had 5 home games in the past.
This is not an informed take. Ole Miss was a top-10 team in 2021 and finished 11th last year. It has been ranked as high as 5th, 9th, 7th, and 8th, respectively, in the past four seasons. Ole Miss is a legit top-10 team right now, ranked 5th in FPI, and has a lot of money and resources and a good staff with one of the biggest NIL programs out there.
What Kiffin is doing there is closer to where Sark had Texas last year than it is a "middling program" that is going to fall apart next year. They'll have to replace a QB, which is significant, but they're probably a playoff team this year and will probably be ranked somewhere like 10th-15th to start next year if I had to guess. It has a well-regarded quasi-celebrity coach who can pull in transfers and will be a destination for some of the top portal QBs. My biggest concern with them is more about the monsters they have on defense.
(Ole Miss also was highly successful under Freeze as recently as 2015, but Freeze got busted and they had to vacate a lot of wins. Kiffin has them back to a high level.)
All that said, I agree this game isn't a punt on the CFP. It's winnable, like that Auburn game was in 2013 since that team, despite making it to the national championship game, had yet to get its QB to a place he could pass accurately. A win is just very unlikely. Even a decent loss wouldn't cripple a CFP run.
There are good reasons not to play too many games like this, though. Two weeks out of three (so far) flying across the country to play in environments that likely are hot and humid, owing to the Virginia trip two weeks prior. I normally would only want to play this kind of game occasionally and making sure WSU was getting paid a lot. Not a lot of options for 2025, though, and yeah, Loyal, everyone saw this coming once Wake backed out.
Mine is monsters on the LOS. OL and DL. They won't disappear in one year even if the coach and QB do.
Adding a G5 or even another FCS team to the home schedule is probably needed. That would get us to 5 home games. I don't think we could pull it off on such short notice, but if we had to use Lumen Field in Seattle to draw a bigger opponent, I'd be OK with that. I know the Seattle games are polarizing, but this is a unique situation. Can we beg Notre Dame, Army, Navy, Cal, or Stanford to play us there?
In addition to your point, Ole Miss has the most TFL in the country this season. They're a very stout opponent.
Source: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/467
Well we already have SDSU at home. The others have a full schedule for 2025. So good luck with that.
There is nothing negative about this. It’s an awesome inter conference matchup which will provide an amazing opportunity for our fans to travel. It’s probably a winnable game, although it’s a huge challenge. Nothing but upside for me.
I bitch a lot... about a lot of things...
In all of my opposition to doing things away from WSU and hating Seattle in general...
I could handle having Notre Dame there.
UMass and UConn both need a game next season. Others who need 1: Notre Dame, Kennesaw State, New Mexico State, Florida International, Temple, SMU, Stanford, Miami, Duke, Pitt, Wyoming, Rutgers. There are probably more that that, I came up with those pretty quickly. It might be a pillowy soft schedule, but we're not going to get in the CFP anyway, so it's more important that we fill the schedule.
If we play (and beat) UMass, UConn, and Temple in the same season, can we create and claim the Northeast championship?
If we play (and beat) UMass, UConn, and Temple in the same season, can we create and claim the Northeast championship?
At this point who cares? Be like Boise State for the last 20 years. Play a bunch of nobodies, maybe 1-2 tough games, stack up some wins and go about your day.
Hmmm. Wyoming or NMSU might work for an affordable home game, although we already get Wyoming this year. In any event, we need games. And with a Pac-8 or 9 in our future, we will need lots of OOC games going forward. Hopefully our God-like Commissioner (snort, snicker) will get her shit together on our next one or 2 teams.
2025 will be a mess no matter what. Big deal. A one-year bump in the road.
Some Ole Miss team that loses to historically SHETTY Arkansas, and ALMOST lost to, and only beat SHETTY Kentucky, 20 to 17.
Ole Miss is going to lose 1,2,3 more games, and be 7-5 at worst, 8-4, 9-3 at average, 10-2 at best.
Ole Miss will definitely not be going to the CFP, this season, and next season, Ole Miss probably will be 5-7, 6-5, 7-5 at best, because lose a SHET ton to graduation, transfer portal, and won't have a QB.
Then after that SHET year, Kiffin on hot seat, fired again next season when Ole Miss shet again.
Fair enough. I was wrong about their recent record and past performance. Of course I didn't look it up, but just felt, (really their image) that Ole Miss was off the radar this past decade, and I was wrong. Thanks.
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