I get the idea that we need to win all of our games to go to the NC game, but I also know that teams don’t go undefeated just because of a weak schedule. Even Hawaii last year, clearly not an NC contender, was a championship team, just at another level. They pulled games out at the last second no matter what was going on as long as they stayed in their talent division. Texas in ‘05 probably would have gone undefeated against any team’s schedule for as far back as I can remember. Maybe you win an NC with a 1-loss team once in a while, but I don’t think it’s a complete coincidence that we won the NC undefeated after playing tOSU at the shoe. As it’s been noted before, both times we played tOSU, we would have still been in the title hunt, just sitting back and hoping for one little break to get our chance. With a loss to Arkansas or @ UTEP this year, do you think we’d get the same treatment?

I understand that by wanting a tougher OOC schedule, I’m raising the likelihood that Texas will be sitting on one loss hoping for #1 or #2 to drop a game and let us into the NC, but think about a situation like Auburn in ‘03. That was likely their best team in a decade, the only one with a real title shot, and they beat everyone on their schedule. The problem the voters had was with their OOC schedule that went something like “Flour, Sugar, Butter, Bake”. So basically, Auburn got its hand caught in the cupcake jar, trying to fake their way into an NC appearance with a padded win total, and as luck would have it, it cost them their best team and their best shot at getting an NC. Sure you don’t know very specifically who will be good when you’re scheduling them, but you have barely any more foresight into how good your team will be, and even then you only really start to know four years in advance.

Tough scheduling is gambling on will you be better than team X in year X. Weak scheduling is gambling on will you be good enough in year X, and will no one else be as good with a quality OOC opponent. I understand that some people see the second option as better, but I am of the opinion that my best team at Texas beats your best team at whereverthefuckyoulive-ville most of the time, and if my best team wins all of its games and gets screwed out of an NC, then it’s me and my scheduling that cost us an NC, not a better team on a certain day. It just seems like coaches always talk about teaching kids about life with football, and apparently life is all about weedling your way towards what you want however you can, instead of saying “Hey, if you’re better than me this year, you win, hats off.”