roadkill
Helluva Engineer
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It's not a static situation. If we are in the "build" phase, as I think we are now, given a choice I'd want to maximize our chance of winning the OOC games, going to bowls, and having a good enough record to have a shot at getting ranked. The most loyal fans will complain about the cupcakes, and sit through the beatdowns by vastly superior teams, but most will continue to buy tickets. This isn't who we are trying to attract. In a hypothetical scenario with an easier schedule this season where we go 7-6 and bowling, then 9-4 and ranked next year, excitement will build even if some of those wins were easy. On the other hand, if we lost two of those games each year because we scheduled tougher teams, we would miss the bowl the first year and in the second I could see some fans grumbling that we are "settling for mediocrity".That depends on what your goal is. If you want to be bowl eligible and go to a low level bowl, then a week non-conference schedule helps. If you want a shot at the playoffs, you need more.
To complicate that more, the OOC schedules are set years in advance. 2024 and 2025 are already set. 2026 only has space for what is normally an FCS game. There is a series with Alabama that is set for 2030-31. In 2030, GT could be coming off of four years of 10 plus wins and looking for an opportunity to be in the playoffs. If we cancel the Alabama games and have one regular season loss to Clemson, beating Alabama could have been enough to push us into the playoffs. Also, it is possible that in 2030 post-Saban Alabama will be considered a weak opponent.
I think they should try to schedule teams that give GT the biggest chance to be on the big stage, and that are interesting to the fans to build and maintain the fan base. It is all about "who do we want to be?". Is that a big fish, or a medium sized fish in a very small pond?
Unfortunately, as you stated, the schedules are already pretty locked up anyway.