Jafus (Thinker)
Well-Known Member
Two cupcakes good for SU
By JOE SCHIEFELBEIN
Advocate sportswriter
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/063003/spo_joe001.shtml
A few weeks ago, a reader sent me an e-mail complaining Southern's 2003 football schedule meant the program had hit "rock bottom."
His concern centered on the addition of Allen University, a fledgling NAIA program, and Lincoln University, a Division II team, for back-to-back weeks in November.
Though I'm not crazy about an NAIA team on the schedule, I disagree.
First of all, "rock bottom" was in the pre-Pete Richardson era. Second, the schedule gives Southern its best chance to be competitive for the entire season.
The Jaguars have paid a steep price for horrendous, overzealous scheduling the last three seasons. Way too stout. Way too front-loaded. Way too many road games.
The schedule left them scrambling to get both healthy and better in the second half. The result? Though good enough to beat three-time conference champ Grambling in two of the last three Bayou Classics, the Jaguars still didn't make the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game.
Southern, to the reader, is supposed to be a kingpin, one of the big boys.
Well, the big boys don't overload their schedules. The haves, you see, need the have-nots. And the haves know you have to be smart in scheduling.
Take the Southeastern Conference, for example. A school like LSU has four nonconference foes. Of those, Western Illinois is a I-AA opponent. Of the I-A teams, Arizona is top-notch, Louisiana Tech has its good years but isn't in the same echelon as the SEC and UL-Monroe is, like always since making the jump to I-A, out of its class. So, on the cupcake factor, figure LSU for a solid two cupcakes. That's pretty much the formula.
Now, consider that SEC schools have 85 scholarships. Division I-AA schools like Southern have a maximum of 63.
Next, consider the schedule is 12 games long, with the possibility of a 13th if the Jaguars get to the SWAC title game. Plus, Southern plays nine conference games.
Of its four nonconference foes last season, Southern won only one, against Miles of the NAIA. Though competitive against Division I-A Tulane and two top-25 I-AA schools (Northwestern State and Nicholls State), Southern lost to all three and incurred injuries that hampered the team's development.
But the worst scheduling came with moving the Jackson State game to the Superdome. That took away an open date in September -- which would have been a key breather -- and put Southern in a seven-week torture test. Bad scheduling.
So, for this season, with two foes from lower divisions and one from a solid I-AA conference in North Carolina A&T, figure Southern for two solid cupcakes.
That's the right formula.
Southern also got six home games, a trip to Las Vegas and, smartly, a week off after that Vegas trip.
Far from "rock bottom," this is a schedule that gives Southern a chance to get back on the top of the rock.
By JOE SCHIEFELBEIN
Advocate sportswriter
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/063003/spo_joe001.shtml
A few weeks ago, a reader sent me an e-mail complaining Southern's 2003 football schedule meant the program had hit "rock bottom."
His concern centered on the addition of Allen University, a fledgling NAIA program, and Lincoln University, a Division II team, for back-to-back weeks in November.
Though I'm not crazy about an NAIA team on the schedule, I disagree.
First of all, "rock bottom" was in the pre-Pete Richardson era. Second, the schedule gives Southern its best chance to be competitive for the entire season.
The Jaguars have paid a steep price for horrendous, overzealous scheduling the last three seasons. Way too stout. Way too front-loaded. Way too many road games.
The schedule left them scrambling to get both healthy and better in the second half. The result? Though good enough to beat three-time conference champ Grambling in two of the last three Bayou Classics, the Jaguars still didn't make the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game.
Southern, to the reader, is supposed to be a kingpin, one of the big boys.
Well, the big boys don't overload their schedules. The haves, you see, need the have-nots. And the haves know you have to be smart in scheduling.
Take the Southeastern Conference, for example. A school like LSU has four nonconference foes. Of those, Western Illinois is a I-AA opponent. Of the I-A teams, Arizona is top-notch, Louisiana Tech has its good years but isn't in the same echelon as the SEC and UL-Monroe is, like always since making the jump to I-A, out of its class. So, on the cupcake factor, figure LSU for a solid two cupcakes. That's pretty much the formula.
Now, consider that SEC schools have 85 scholarships. Division I-AA schools like Southern have a maximum of 63.
Next, consider the schedule is 12 games long, with the possibility of a 13th if the Jaguars get to the SWAC title game. Plus, Southern plays nine conference games.
Of its four nonconference foes last season, Southern won only one, against Miles of the NAIA. Though competitive against Division I-A Tulane and two top-25 I-AA schools (Northwestern State and Nicholls State), Southern lost to all three and incurred injuries that hampered the team's development.
But the worst scheduling came with moving the Jackson State game to the Superdome. That took away an open date in September -- which would have been a key breather -- and put Southern in a seven-week torture test. Bad scheduling.
So, for this season, with two foes from lower divisions and one from a solid I-AA conference in North Carolina A&T, figure Southern for two solid cupcakes.
That's the right formula.
Southern also got six home games, a trip to Las Vegas and, smartly, a week off after that Vegas trip.
Far from "rock bottom," this is a schedule that gives Southern a chance to get back on the top of the rock.
