The difficult, central reality of college football scheduling is the balancing act between aspiration and success. When other teams and conferences avoid tougher schedules but win more national championships and get more College Football Playoff berths, fans of a specific team or conference are split down the middle. On one hand, they hate that an opposing conference plays easier games. On the other hand, they wish they were winning national titles and making College Football Playoff semifinal games.
This is the reality Big Ten and Pac-12 fans share. They don’t like the SEC. They hate how the SEC plays cupcake opponents in the nonconference schedule, which is the result of playing only eight league games and not nine.
Yet, they know the SEC cleans up when it’s time to award playoff berths, and then when it’s time to present the national championship trophy in January.
Pac-12 fans have certainly wished the conference would play eight nonconference games instead of nine. Having nine games has played a major role in creating a seven-year College Football Playoff drought. The Pac-12 has not made the playoff since 2016.
Hawkeyes Wire editor Josh Helmer talked to us about these scheduling issues and the conflicts they create. Here’s the conversation below:
[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092282]