Fansided

Arizona State’s Todd Graham thinks scheduling is un-American

By Juan Basadre

Nov 28, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham in the huddle with players against the Arizona Wildcats during the 88th annual territorial cup at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham in the huddle with players against the Arizona Wildcats during the 88th annual territorial cup at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Arizona State Football head coach Todd Graham thinks weak non-conference scheduling is un-American

Next: 50 Greatest College Football Programs of All-Time

Most college football fans would agree that current non-conference games are a joke. Aside from the occasional upset or rivalry, most of these contests are not competitive.

However, this practice persists because it allows major college football programs to guarantee wins before in-conference play and has only become heightened with the new four team college playoff. More weak opponents has many fans up in arms, calling for changes in the number of conference games teams play per season. Arizona State Football Coach Todd Graham agrees.

"“We need to consider what the fans want, Fans don’t want to see you schedule four easy wins, then get two conference wins to get into a bowl game. That’s un-American.” Graham said according to AZfamily.com “Everybody should play nine conference games. Why nine games instead of eight? Because you play one more conference game that your fans want to see instead of scheduling a team that no one wants to see because you’re scheduling wins and don’t want to be out of the four-team playoff.”"

Its nice to hear that some of the coaches agree with the fans. And so do some conferences: the PAC-12 schedules nine conference games per year, compared to the SEC which only schedules eight. However, this doesn’t mean better out-of-conference contests.

This year Arizona State will play Division I-AA Cal Poly (7-5), Mountain West doormat New Mexico (4-8), and a neutral site game against, what should be a good SEC opponent, Texas A&M (8-5). As it stands, aside from Texas A&M, Arizona State will be benefiting from a weaker out-of-conference schedule in the hopes of making a run in the Pac-12 South and a bowl appearance.

But why should any team schedule a slew of top 25 teams for their out-of-conference games? There are no incentives to promote scheduling of these games and someone has to play teams like New Mexico or Cal Poly. Furthermore, other Pac-12 teams play similar non-conference opponents. For example, rival and 2015 Pac-12 south champion Arizona will face off against University of Texas San Antonio (4-8), the Mountain West’s Nevada (7-5) and Division 1-AA Northern Arizona (7-5). The same goes for USC (Arkansas State, Idaho, Notre-Dame) and UCLA (Virginia, UNLV, BYU), another contender for the South title.

It seems then that weak non-conference schedules are here to stay. And if you’re an Arizona State fan (or a fan of any team for that matter), you want an easy road to the conference that will hopefully help you set up a possible College Football Playoff seed. In fact, the only reason to set a strong out of conference schedule is to bolster your “strength of schedule” in order to boost your ranking in the top 25. A weak schedule left TCU and Baylor out of the playoff last year, and led to some controversy about the ranking of the top four teams.

It seems then that Arizona State and Todd Graham, in the pursuit of a prestigious bowl game, will be un-American, at least for the 2015 season.

Next: College Football's 25 Best Rivalries

More from FanSided

Home/College Football