Toughest Nonconference Schedules in 2017

CuseJacket

CuseJacket

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GT comes in at #7, per ESPN's Chris Low: http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-gators-toughest-nonconference-schedules-2017
Sept. 4: vs. Tennessee
Sept. 9: Jacksonville State
Sept. 16: at UCF
Nov. 25: Georgia

The good news for the Yellow Jackets is that they have to leave the state of Georgia only once in their nonconference slate, and that's to face UCF. But they start the season against Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and then close the year at home against Georgia, a pair of SEC teams that need big seasons in 2017.
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iceeater1969

iceeater1969

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GTRanj said:
Why in the hell is that? I'm more concerned with beating Clemson and the rest of the ACC, best conference proven by the most recent bowl season
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If can at least play clemson tough (2106 half time we had 26 yards and they had 23 points) + win ut and ugag, duke unc etc will take care of themselves and it will be a great season. This is not a concept just for kool-aid drinkers. However it is far from a highly probable. Feels good to be realistically optimistic. Too much kool-aid gives u headaches
 
deeeznutz

deeeznutz

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We will normally always be high in non-conference SoS because of our philosophy to have another P5 game besides UGA every year...most teams only like to play 1 P5 team OOC. That said, it's also a little inflated because UGA and Tenn are consistently overrated in pre-season, so that factors in too. Of course, I haven't looked at the full list to see where we should rank but I'm definitely comfortable playing that schedule. Hey, a good season with high SoS could put us in the playoffs!
 

Philhutch80

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Consider this, GT has three teams from that list on their schedule this year alone. Betting that UGA and CU will be ranked. Pitt will need to pull out some magic to split with OSU and PSU.
 
Cam

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It's always important to beat uga, but I think it's very important we do so this year. Having 3 of the last 4 is going to be good for changing the perception of in state recruits. Having their Freshman, Junior, and Senior years seeing GT victorious could do a lot for winning some of those 50/50 battles.
 

takethepoints

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YJMD said:
Well...looking at that ranking...it strikes me that a lot of teams really play only powder puffs out of conference.
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Me for this.

Johnny Vaught made a career out of playing Bama and 9 cream puffs at Ole Miss and is universally considered the most successful coach in their history. Proving - for me, at least - the old adage that nobody cares about who you played to win 10 games three years after you do it. I'd like to win 10 games a year and I'd play as many non-P5 teams as it takes to do it.
 

Philhutch80

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Cam said:
It's always important to beat uga, but I think it's very important we do so this year. Having 3 of the last 4 is going to be good for changing the perception of in state recruits. Having their Freshman, Junior, and Senior years seeing GT victorious could do a lot for winning some of those 50/50 battles.
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It will help but no doubt that CKS is a 'soul sellingly' good recruiter and that is a challenge to match. But hey, we have done it before... 1990... 2014
My question is can we keep this level and intensity of recruiting up for the D where it has been desperately needed, and then again on the O as aside from Gailey's recruits and JT, high start ranked guys have not come into our offense. It is not to say they would not perform well in our offense. For example, what if Cam Akers had come here as a QB instead of going to FSU to be an RB? Guy has an arm and is as fast if not faster than JT plus he already weighs 25lbs more than JT did as a senior. Or someone like a Marcus Mariota style skillset ( lookin' at you Lucas Johnson! I know hes more pro style but its the skillset.) but with high rated stars at QB and at other skill positions would be awesome to see! Just my opinions, dont pop my bubble, lol.
 

YJMD

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MikeJackets said:
If a team is in a very good conference it's for the most part best to schedule tomato cans for the out of conference games.
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True. Really amplifies the legit P5 match-ups & inter-conference rivals. Seems like the SEC took most advantage of this by having their best teams play the big games. A lot of that success therefore is predicated on the predictability of their good teams since the meetings are determined in advance.
 

Sideways

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CuseJacket said:
GT comes in at #7, per ESPN's Chris Low: http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-gators-toughest-nonconference-schedules-2017
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To be sure, we have a tough schedule: UGA, Tennessee, Miami, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and UNC would be a handful for any program. As fans, we argue constantly about who we want to beat the most all the time. To me, it is often determined by how old you are. Old School guys, like me, want to beat any SEC team especially UGA. The young guns look at conference rivalries like Miami, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. I see a similar interplay with Florida fans: the older generation absolutely detests UGA and to a lesser extent Tennessee while the younger alumni are consumed with beating FSU who they view as an upstart that basically cheated their way out of mediocrity. My personal preference in order of importance:

1) UGA
2) Clemson
3) Tennessee
4) Virginia Tech
5) Miami

But that's just me. Others will, I am sure differ.
 

Sideways

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takethepoints said:
Me for this.

Johnny Vaught made a career out of playing Bama and 9 cream puffs at Ole Miss and is universally considered the most successful coach in their history. Proving - for me, at least - the old adage that nobody cares about who you played to win 10 games three years after you do it. I'd like to win 10 games a year and I'd play as many non-P5 teams as it takes to do it.
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In his day, Mississippi was a hot bed of football talent. Dodd once said that he tried to get one or two players out of that state every year and not once did he ever get a bad player from Mississippi. Mississippi did play a cream puff non conference schedule of Southern Mississippi, Memphis State, and Chattanooga among others but they also played LSU, Alabama, and Auburn every year which even in those days were a full plate for anyone. Dodd hated playing LSU but the choice was clear: Play LSU and make money or play Mississippi State and lose money. Being a sensible sort he went ahead and suffered the indignities of Saturday nights in Baton Rouge and on occasion would win and sometimes lose but always made money.
 

Skeptic

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Sideways said:
In his day, Mississippi was a hot bed of football talent. Dodd once said that he tried to get one or two players out of that state every year and not once did he ever get a bad player from Mississippi. Mississippi did play a cream puff non conference schedule of Southern Mississippi, Memphis State, and Chattanooga among others but they also played LSU, Alabama, and Auburn every year which even in those days were a full plate for anyone. Dodd hated playing LSU but the choice was clear: Play LSU and make money or play Mississippi State and lose money. Being a sensible sort he went ahead and suffered the indignities of Saturday nights in Baton Rouge and on occasion would win and sometimes lose but always made money.
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But those Saturday night LSU games were stirring affairs, weren't they? I wasn't aware he didn't like them, but they were really good when LSU had the title of the best losing football team in the country or some such.
 

Sideways

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Skeptic said:
But those Saturday night LSU games were stirring affairs, weren't they? I wasn't aware he didn't like them, but they were really good when LSU had the title of the best losing football team in the country or some such.
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Perhaps, a little hyperbole on my part but in the book Dodd's Luck he complained about the noise and playing at night which gave those "wild Cajuns" time to get liquored up and you can imagine the atmosphere. In the early 1950s, Tech won a game there and had a double digit lead late in the fourth quarter and they just turned the lights out. My dad took me to a game at LSU in the early 60s and they were throwing chicken bones and whiskey bottles at Tech players. It was that kind of a place.
 

MikeJackets

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Skeptic said:
But those Saturday night LSU games were stirring affairs, weren't they? I wasn't aware he didn't like them, but they were really good when LSU had the title of the best losing football team in the country or some such.
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Ole Miss had a hard time with Arkansas and Houston in the 1960s in out of conference games in the 1950s-1960s
 
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