The Oregon Ducks have added a trio of FCS teams to their future football schedules, the school announced yesterday.
Oregon will host the South Dakota Coyotes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on Aug. 30, 2014. It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.
The addition of South Dakota completes Oregon’s 2014 non-conference schedule. The Ducks also host Wyoming on Sept. 6 and Michigan State on Sept. 13.
Oregon has also scheduled two other first-time FCS opponents. The Ducks will host the UC Davis Aggies on Sept. 3, 2016 and the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Sept. 2, 2017.
The FCS additions mean that Oregon only needs one more non-conference opponent to complete their schedules in 2016 and 2017. Oregon also hosts Virginia in 2016 and travels to Wyoming in 2017.
With the addition of three FCS schools, one as far out as 2017, it’s apparent that the Pac-12 is not going to back away from scheduling lower level opponents. Currently, the Big Ten remains the only conference that has made any kind of statement regarding ending or scaling down games against the FCS.
While most FCS schools can hurt a team’s strength of schedule, some of the stronger ones can actually help. A look at the 2012 Sagarin Ratings shows several FCS schools in the Top 100.
In those ratings, Southern Utah finished the 2012 season 144th, which was higher than FBS teams New Mexico, Army, Tulane, Colorado, UNLV, Hawaii, South Alabama, Idaho, Akron, and UMass. Even UC Davis (160th) ranked higher than five FBS teams. South Dakota, ranked 175th, was higher than only UMass.
If a computer ranking is used in some fashion for the upcoming College Football Playoff, FCS schools can still be scheduled as long as it’s done wisely.
Football Schedules
View Comments (23)
Go ahead, Ducks. Put a bunch of icing on your cake before a real team smashes you.
Almost all the FBS teams schedule an FCS team or, in some cases, an equivalent or worse FBS team. What's the big deal?
Well, at least it's a bit tougher than Oregon St. scheduling Nicholls State two years in a row ... but not by much!
Oregon, Do you have enough lipstick for all these pigs?
Oh, they're just padding the schedule for when the NCAA hits them with sanctions, lol!
When did Oregon join the SEC?
LOL!!!
That's awesome!!!
hahaha
7 in a Row including Auburn's victory over Oregon
7 -1 dont forget you lost a championship game too..which means you were gifted one trophy. love the when did they join the sec ,absolutely love it. quit your bitching sec, play somebody midseason!
embarrassing as I really hope the strength of schedule component penalizes you for playing an FCS opponent. I guess Oregon does not want to be like UCLA and USC who have never played an FCS opponent.
Oregon has beat them both the past seasons...lol, if they have the talent it doesn't matter who they play, UCLA and USC are programs that are falling and decreasing while Oregon is increasing, so shut the !@&? up, and have a nice day(:
Some of those FBS teams have been ranked lower than some of the FCS teams the other teams have been playing and Oregon has been winning the head to head games lately too. So, what is your point here?
Oh. So the College Football Playoff will still be a beauty pageant? Surprise.
40 years ago, it was OREGON looking for payday games. During the early 70's, Oregon played Oklahoma, Nebraska & Michigan.....each team was #1 in the country when Oregon showed up.....times have changed! GO DUCKS!
Chip Kelly is gone ! The Trojans will be back on top soon enough ! FIGHT ON !!!!!!!!
I'm a SHSU alum, and we finished the season ranked #63 according to Sagarin - higher than NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Purdue, Cal, Auburn, USF, Virginia, UConn, etc. The author is right that it can be beneficial to schedule the right FCS teams, but look at all of the teams that have been bitten in the ass by it (Michigan, VaTech, Minnesota, etc). Schedule NDSU, SHSU, EWU, or Montana/State and it could help boost the SOS over a school like Eastern Michigan, UMass, NMSU, Idaho, etc.