Scheduling a Check-Up

Admittedly, I sometimes drop in at ND Nation to take in the talking points. Most of the time I chuckle at the arrogance of posters that undoubtedly assist in making Notre Dame the most hated school in college football, although Domers will proclaim it is the most loved. I guess it is if you count followers who couldn't decipher illegal motion from offsides. Back to point. Lately, besides the constant bashing of Kevin White and how he had his lunch handed to him by Michigan AD, Bill Martin, who went into contract negotiations with Addias against the 'supposed' most prestigious football program in the Nation, but came out with a deal that will force Notre Dame to, once again, stand behind the Leaders and Best, I noticed the topic of scheduling.

Most of the scheduling bickering from Domers relates to the new strategy Kevin White will implement for Notre Dame moving forward. However, lost in the usual whining sessions is the constant delusion that ND is somehow without equal when it comes to strength of schedule. The slanted reality of that board is as if there is everyone else just galloping through its annual cakewalk of opponents and then there is the mighty Notre Dame.

So I decided to look up some actual data, which is commonly over looked at ND Nation.

Now, my goal was obviously not to show that ND has a weak schedule, rather, it was to compare top teams across the Nation and their superb results against ND's mediocre results since the BCS was institued. I figured the data would ultimately knock me in the head with the fact that ND has suffered in mediocrity solely because its schedule is so difficult and that other programs have lathered in success simply because their schedule is weak.

Well, the results were mixed.

First, I included in my sample the Top 12 teams post BCS in win %. None of these teams were Notre Dame (#28). I also excluded the likes of Boise State, Louisville, and TCU, due to their conference affiliations. The data I used for my annual strength of schedule rankings is Sagarin, mainly because of his widely acceptable data methods.

The results show Notre Dame ranks very high against the most successful schools of the past nine years; however, this was expected, but I wasn't even close to being blown away by the results.

Top strength of schedule post BCS you ask? Florida State, with an average annual rank of 15. Notre Dame, meanwhile, came in 2nd place, just 1 spot ahead of USC and 4 ahead of Michigan. So here's how the breakdown looks:

Florida St - 15
Notre Dame - 16
USC - 17
Michigan - 20
Ohio State - 24
Florida - 26
Tennessee - 29
Oklahoma - 31
Geordia - 34
Texas - 36
Miami - 37
Wisconsin - 41
Va Tech - 50

Now, it's clear from this data the ND loyalists can rag on certain teams. I make my cut off as a Top 25 schedule. But, to suggest ND's scheduling is in a class in itself, is comical at best. Also keep in mind that this data only highlights the Top 12 most successful programs since 1998, it doesn't account for numerous other schools, many of which that would mirror ND's scheduling difficulty. But that is for a later study as my intuition, and point, was satisfied with this data sample.

What is also humorous is Domers constant bashing of Ohio State's weak scheduling, yet to my utter surprise, OSU has produced a Top 25 schedule over the past decade.

I understand that ND's 16 rank is higher than all the schools on this list, save Florida State, but you don't go around thumping your chest when 4 or 5 of the most successful programs are within shouting distance of ND's ranking. A quiet pat on the back would suffice.

Being proud of strict standards of scheduling is one thing, but filling up thread after thread with the delirious notion that everyone should strive for ND's scheduling standards should make even Rockne chuckle.

We can take this data even one step further and switch our source to the college football data warehouse to find the most recent quarter century SOS rankings (1975-1999) that has ND ranked #4 behind USC, Michigan, and Ohio State.

To carry this down, yet another path, is the repeated slandering from ND fans of the Big Ten's willingness to play MAC schools and how sacred ND could never stoop so low. Well, since 1990, the Service Academies, which annually find a place on Notre Dame's schedule, have posted a whopping 16-12 record again MAC schools. What this convinced me of was not that MAC schools are a challenge for Big Ten teams, rather ND plays MAC schools each year and disguises them with the Service Academy pedigree.

To end, we simply learn that many top programs in the Nation can easily stack its schedule next to ND's. Furthermore, with ND taking the approach of lining up San Diego State, Duke, and Baylor on future schedules, I will go out on a limb and suggest the scheduling gap will close even more in the upcoming years.

So, be proud ND fans and alum for a respectable scheduling strategy, but try not to be so smug about it because you don't stand alone on the top of this mountain.

DP