MSU Red Cedar Message Board

the "computers" will be done by then.

This isn't basketball. SOS has very little bearing in CFB.

The game is played by being the BCS conf. team with the best record at the end of the year. 13-0 trumps 12-1, etc. A tough schedule is good; murderer's row does nothing good for your team.

PSU will be in shambles for many years.

You're 2 years off on Terry

13- Redshirt
14- RS Frosh
15- RS Soph
16- RS Junior
17- RS Senior

Well, it'll be great publicity when the rest of the big conferences are being criticized for for their ridiculous creampuff nonsense. The media will be on our nuts and recruits want to play games against other big time programs. MSU will get lots of props around the country by playing teams like Alabama and Oregon in 4 consecutive years.

Just as long as we don't get absolutely throttled like in the cap one bowl, it will be great for us.

Plus, what makes it awesome is that they are campus sites. Tailgating and seeing teams like Alabama/Oregon in Spartan Stadium is going to be awesome.

We'll be the first 8-4 team ever to get a BCS at-large bid!!!!!!!!!!

The goal of a college football program is winning, period. Not showing how big your balls are by setting yourself up with a gauntlet schedule....you don't get shit for that if you can't win them all. Only winning matters. We are shooting ourselves in the foot by making it harder on ourselves than our competitors will be with their schedules.

They got an auto-bid, though.

Any chance of an NC bid pretty much goes out the window after your first loss now; 2-losses would likely keep you out in the new "top 4" play-off. A ridiculously tough non-conf doesn't prepare you for conf. play like it does in b-ball; the physicality is different in football.

Ideally I'd like to see the schedule go: cupcake warm-up, mid-level BCS conf. opponent, high level BCS conf. opponent, Cupcake cool-down before the start of conf. play.

I think the Big 10 schedule going forward is going to be tough enough without 2 major games in the non-conf. Take the '15 season: by rights, the 5th toughest big 10 game is going to be Iowa. There were years where Iowa was the #2 toughest game on MSU's schedule.

I agree with Chairman Meow; the goal of CFB is to win, not to show that you have the biggest balls in the room with a bat$*(&% crazy schedule.

For reference, look how worn out MSU looked this year after playing Michigan and Wisconsin at home, then traveling to Nebraska. Mind you, there was a Bye week prior to the UM game. MSU is not hurting for relevant national games; play 1 marquee non-conf. opponent and use the rest of the games to get the kinks out without really risking an L.

The final point, at least for the final years of the BCS, is that while you can earn an auto-bid at 8-4, doing so eliminates any chance you have at an at-large bid. If MSU doesn't lose to ND last year, they're likely in the Sugar Bowl ahead of UM. 4-0 in the non-conf is pretty much a requirement for an At-Large BCS bid, so why limit yourself to 1 bite at the apple?

Please understand that I'm not saying that MSU should go for all 3 directional Michigan schools + Jacksonville State every year; there should be at least one challenging game on there. At the same time, scheduling FSU, USC, Oregon and Bama in the same season that MSU has to play @UM, tOSU, Nebraska, @PSU, Iowa is just stupid.

Right now, MSU needs to get to a BCS game to cross it off the list. Yes, I understand that a BCS at-large doesn't have the same luster as winning the conference and playing in Pasadena. But from a program prestige standard, a BCS bowl (any BCS bowl) is the next thing on our to-do list. 2013 and 2014 have weak conference schedules and fairly tough non-conference schedules. Those would be great years for winning the B10. This year, the aim should be the Rose Bowl, or failing that, a BCS at-large.

Obviously, a lot can happen between now & then, but the 2014 off season could have quite the QB battle with Cook, O'Connor, & Terry all redshirted and ready to compete.

Depth = Awesome.

I think for the long term MSU needs to increase funding via tickets and donations and it needs to increase its profile nationally. Most assured path without depending on voters, computers, and other external blowhards is to schedule a good non-con.

MSU controls that and no matter what happen on the field against marquee brands, they'll sell the tickets, get the donations, and be in a big time game early in the year. If they lose, so what, there's still the B1G championship ahead of it, and perhaps they'll be a better team for the conference. If they win, sky is the limit.

The money gets turned into coaches salaries and facilities. The games are a great recruiting tool for kids to watch and circle their calendar for playing time. It wouldn't hurt either to get down to Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

I admit to not having a strong affinity for the Rose Bowl and generally view it as one of the BCS bowls, rather than a separate entity. Blasphemy, I know, but . . .

I try to look at it in terms of outsider's perspectives and what will build the most cred for the program. In that respect, any BCS bowl is better than none. As much as we might say that the Outback Bowl was as big as the Sugar, BCS bowls get a disproportionate amount of hype compared to the lower bowls. It's a selling point to the recruits. ESPN covers the BCS bowls differently than the other bowls; other sports networks "ranking the bowls" usually put the BCS bowls (save the Orange) ahead of the field in terms of quality match-ups, etc.

For a program that hasn't been to one while 8 other Big 10 programs have (Purdue, Northwestern, tOSU, UM, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Illinois), I'm not about to turn my nose up at an At-Large bid.