Indiana coach Curt Cignetti calls his non-conference scheduling strategy as “adopting an SEC scheduling philosophy.” I call it garbage. Indiana’s non-conference schedule through 2029 has been finalized, FBschedules.com reported. During the next five years, the Hoosiers’ non-conference slate is – hold your nose – Austin Peay, Ball State, Colorado State, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Howard, […]
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti calls his non-conference scheduling strategy as “adopting an SEC scheduling philosophy.”
I call it garbage.
Indiana’s non-conference schedule through 2029 has been finalized, FBschedules.com reported. During the next five years, the Hoosiers’ non-conference slate is – hold your nose – Austin Peay, Ball State, Colorado State, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Howard, Indiana State twice, Kennesaw State twice, Miami (Ohio), ODU, UMass and Western Kentucky twice.
Apparently Bishop Sycamore High School wasn’t available.
Fifteen home games. Fifteen snoozers. I feel sorry for the poor souls in Indiana’s marketing department trying to sell tickets to these beauties.
In fact, my sources at the Bloomington Police Department tipped me off late last night about a recent crime spree that is being covered up in the local community. Here’s my exclusive report:
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A weird spree of break-ins have occurred to dozens of homes near the Indiana campus that has local residents and police officials baffled.
Despite the rash of break-ins, every resident reported nothing missing from their homes. In fact, just the opposite. Each “victim” said when they left home, they had two tickets to an Indiana non-conference game on their kitchen table. But when they returned, they now had four tickets.
Eye witnesses identified the intruder: an individual wearing a bison head, red and white striped pants and a red sweater. No arrests have been made. The Hoosiers begin a three-game home stretch later this month against ODU, Kennesaw State and Indiana State.
OK, I confess. That’s a new twist to an old joke and, of course, it’s not true. The intruder left eight tickets, not four.
Look, I actually admire the job Cignetti has done at Indiana. I really do. As he so eloquently reminded us at Big Ten media days: nobody’s done it better.
“Year one is in the books,” Cignetti said. “126 years of Indiana football. Best season in Indiana history. No. 1 out of 126.”
That’s what makes Indiana/Cignetti’s scheduling philosophy so frustrating for IU fans. For the first time in nearly 60 years, the Hoosiers are relevant again in football.
Last year, IU made the College Football Playoff and finished ranked No. 10, its highest final ranking since 1967. The Hoosiers, unranked at the start of last season, begin this year at No. 20.
They should be embracing their success by scheduling more challenging opponents out of Big Ten play. Not dumbing down the schedule.
And before anyone chimes in with “but the schedules are made several years ahead of time” argument, stop: Last month, Indiana canceled a future home-and-home series with Virginia – an ACC juggernaut with three winning seasons in the last 18 years – and paid the Cavs a $500,000 buyout fee. It was the Hoosiers’ only non-Big Ten contest remaining in the next five years against a power conference opponent.
IU replaced Virginia with home games against Howard and Miami, Ohio. Those contracts were not finalized several years ago, but just a few months ago. The IU-Howard contract was completed on May 27 and IU-Miami (Ohio) on July 11, FBschedules.com reported.
Cignetti’s “SEC scheduling” quip is because the SEC only plays eight conference games (compared to the Big Ten’s nine), SEC schools schedule Group of 6 and/or FCS schools to fill out their non-conference schedules. Every SEC team is required to play at least one Power Four opponent and some play two. Because of the different number of conference games, Cignetti believes his scheduling philosophy mirrors the SEC’s.
That all sounds great if we leave out the part where the Big Ten’s success doesn’t mirror the SEC’s. Like it or not, during the College Football Playoff era, the SEC has been better. Since 2014, the SEC has six national titles, the Big Ten three. Yes, two of the Big Ten’s titles have come in the past 20 months. However, the Big Ten has finished with more ranked teams in the final AP poll than the SEC only twice in the last 11 years.
Maybe Indiana shouldn’t be criticized for exclusively scheduling non-conference tomato cans – and my sincerest apologies to any tomato cans I offended – but perhaps Cignetti is onto something.
His conference: the mighty Big Ten and commissioner Tony Petitti is going to continue to huff and puff, until they can blow down the 12-team College Football Playoff and replace it with something else. The latest idea from the Big Ten is a format with at least twice as many teams.
In the Big Ten’s proposed 24 or 28-team playoff model, the Big Ten and SEC would each receive seven automatic bids into the playoff.
So maybe Cignetti is right. Who cares what the non-conference schedule looks like. Just finish in seventh place to receive a CFP golden ticket. Schedule Bishop Sycamore or the Indiana State Sycamores in the non-conference, it doesn’t really matter. After all, there are plenty of good seats available.
Category: General Sports
