Key non conference games

[DblT81]

Last season the B12 had a winning record against the SEC. The naysayers who want to believe the B12 is overrated had all kinds of excuses for that result.... "the B12s best beat the SEC's worst" (uhh, Texas beat Tenn IN KNOXVILLE! and Tech beat Vanderbilt and Colorado beat LSU--twice) among other gems.

Winning against top non conf opponents is key to increasing the RPI of the conference.

Here are some key matchups I saw:
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OU 11/10/2002 Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. [no comment needed here]
TT 11/10/2002 Louisiana Tech at Knoxville
TT 11/24/2002 WASHINGTON [Wash top 25? or Slac10 is all you need to know]
KSU 11/29/2002 Temple at Stanford, Calif. [Staley’s program rising,fan fave]
CU 11/30/2002 OHIO STATE or VILLANOVA Boulder [Big 10]
OU 11/30/2002 North Carolina possible Honolulu, Hawaii [ACC]
KSU 11/30/2002 at Stanford, Calif. [Powell and probably top ten team]
OU 12/01/2002 TBA Connecticut possible Honolulu, Hawaii [Defending champs]
ISU 12/04/2002 Iowa Iowa City, Iowa [Big 10]
UT 12/10/2002 TCU [Rising program]
OU 12/14/2002 TCU Ft. Worth, Texas [see above]
ISU 12/22/2002 Washington Seattle, Wash. [see above]
ISU 12/29/2002 Duke (South Padre Island Shootout) [THIS would be a sweet win]
UT 12/21/2002 TENNESSEE [revenge?]
CU 12/21/2002 SOUTHERN CAL [much better? Or Slac10]
UT 12/28/2002 @ LSU Baton Rouge, La. [SEC Dangerous]
MU 12/29/2002 Iowa Iowa City, Iowa [Big 10]
TT 01/02/2003 RUTGERS Lubbock [should be better]
OU 01/03/2003 Stanford Stanford, Calif. [see above]
KSU 01/05/2003 Iowa - Big 12/Big Ten Challenge Manhattan, Kan.
[Wish it was the better B10 teams-Purdue, Minn, Penn St]
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With the graduation of so much talent, how will the conference fare? Are these critical games to the continuing climb toward greater appreciation for the quality of the conference? Or are only games against top ten teams of any consequence so forget about the Iowa's and Washington's? Tennessee, Connecticut and Stanford are the only one's that matter?


[This message has been edited by DblT81 (edited 10-14-2002).]

[carolann]

Texas also plays at BYU and at New Mexico. BYU is the team that beat Iowa State in the NCAAs last year. New Mexico is another rising program that averages over 10,000 fans a game. I think TTU fans may remember the Lobos.

Are these critical games to the continuing climb toward greater appreciation for the quality of the conference? Or are only games against top ten teams of any consequence so forget about the Iowa's and Washington's? Tennessee, Connecticut and Stanford are the only one's that matter?

Teams such as TCU, New Mexico, BYU, USC, Creighton, and Drake are the most dangergous. These are good, and possibly hungry, opponents. You don't get that much credit for beating these teams but you get clobbered in the world of public opinion for losing.

[mred]

It looks like BYU returns pretty much every important player as well, so they could be a really good team this season.

[DblT81]

I orginally had the BYU and NM games on the list, but then I was thinking in terms of games that will be noticed by the pollsters, wcbb media, etc. Although I think both of those games will be tougher than maybe Iowa or Ohio State, the Big 10 schools made the list because they are in a major conference and are recognized by the right coasters who THINK they know all wcbb. BYU and UNM suffer from being too far west and not getting the respect they deserve.

I was trying to make a list of the games that will be noticed by those outside the conference rather than those that will be the toughest for B12 teams to play.

There are many others that I think are tough to play-Drake, maybe Rice, maybe Creighton, Colorado St. etc. However, the B12 won't get many respect points for beating those teams. Like CarolAnn said "You don't get that much credit for beating these teams but you get clobbered in the world of public opinion for losing."

[DblT81]

28 days

Sing it Aretha.......