This is from a poster on another chat board. Who wins each week in an Irish oppnent vs. a Gator Opponent ? Revealing..... 8) Fun little exercise for you. The most dominant team in the country is Florida, National Champs. Here is their schedule vs. the Irish's supposedly "cake" schedule. Be curious as to how many weeks Florida has an easier opponent than Notre Dame. Nevada = Charleston Southern Washington St = Troy Navy = Florida International Connecticut = Mississippi State Stanford = Vanderbilt Washington = Arkansas Purdue = Kentucky Boston College = Tennessee Michigan State = South Carolina Pittsburgh = Florida State Michigan = Georgia USC = LSU
If this is meant to be a week by week comparison, it is off. I'm not sure about the other weeks but I know for sure that Florida doesn't play Tennessee in week 8. But taken for what it is, this is how I'd see 'em. Nevada > Charleston Southern Washington State = Troy Navy > FIU UConn > Miss. St. (Not by a lot) Stanford = Vandy Washington < Arkansas (and it ain't even close!!!) Purdue = Kentucky Boston College = Tennessee (man, it pains me to say that) Michigan St. = South Carolina Pitt = FSU Michigan <Georgia> LSU (not by a lot) That puts us at Notre Dame with the edge on 3 opponents and Florida witht the edge on 2 opponents. I'd say they have fairly comparable schedules. Of course, this doesn't take into consideration home/road games, rivalries, etc.
I don't say this to belittle Notre Dame. Even the ND faithful would admit that their recent success is not at the level of Florida's. Therefore, if the opponents of Notre Dame are at least equal to that of Florida's, is that not to be considered a tougher schedule? Should Notre Dame not be commended for playing as tough a schedule as Florida? Also, given the amount of chest beating that has come from the Florida camp (read Dave), does it not appear that Florida IS playing a weak schedule in comparison? Just a few observations.
Aquila, I would agree with you on all but two. I would give Vandy v. Stanford to Stanford ( Vandy should be down this year and Stanford up ) and I think Michigan State would clobber South Carolina.
I'm not sure why but the site will not let me correct the formatting issue where I have USC > LSU. Anyway, I think Vandy could surprise people again. They have 9 starters back on D and their entire offensive line. They could battle for a bowl berth. I don't know that much about Stanford, admittedly, but I think it's basically even between the two who are both much better academically than they are in football.. As far as Michigan St. goes, I just don't buy the hype. Maybe it has to do with my bias against the Big 10 but it seems the Spartans bust a lot more than they boom. Granted South Carolina is very similar in that regard, but they have to get better sometime under Spurrier, don't they???
Interesting exercise. George, I see that you are comparing like teams, not listing the week-to-week games. Actually, I'm more inclined to agree with Aquila's assessment, but overall I believe you've made your point very clearly. The toughness of the opponents on ND's and FL's schedules is no worse than equal and may tip ever so slightly in ND's favor.
I have gone on record several times as saying that this year's Florida schedule is much easier in appearance than usual which is just another reason why UF will be such prohibitive favorites to return to the title game. This is really no news folks. Otherwise...it's a pretty fair comparison but I am not so sure about Stanford over Vandy and I also do give MSU the edge over SC. The bottom line is that neither ND or UF have schedules to write home about this season.
I'm not going to worry about who plays the tougher schedule to tell you the truth. Good luck to the Gators they play a good schedule comparable to the other top teams, maybe a little easier than some and a little harder than others. ND's schedule is what it is and we just need to worry about wining a lot of games and the rest will fall into place. I find that at least around (Houston Texas) here that it really doesn't matter who ND plays they assume that since we don't play in a conference our schedule isn't hard. Just win baby!