Wise Scheduling
September 14, 2008 10:18 AM | General
Good teams have good schedules. We’ve all heard that before. This morning in Berkeley, Calif., the California Golden Bears are figuring that out the hard way.
Cal foolishly agreed to travel east to face Maryland yesterday in a non-conference game at the place formerly known as Byrd Stadium. It was a made-for-TV match up between schools from the Pac 10 and Atlantic Coast conferences. The only problem for Cal was that the game had a noon start.
That meant it was actually 9 am on the west coast when the game began. By the time Cal woke up in the fourth quarter the contest was already decided. Maryland’s 35-27 victory was as much a product of good scheduling as it was good play.
Two weeks ago, Maryland suffered its own bitter pill by losing at Middle Tennessee State 24-14. Perhaps the Terps had second thoughts about traveling to Murfreesboro.
I recall West Virginia once foolishly scheduling a mid-season game at Hawaii in October between games against Virginia and Pitt. When former coach Don Nehlen took the WVU job he unsuccessfully tried to get out of the Hawaii game knowing it would put his team at a competitive disadvantage because the game was not going to kickoff until midnight on the east coast.
In addition, the long trip to Hawaii effectively eliminated two days of preparation for the following week’s contest against Pitt. Not only did West Virginia lose the Hawaii game when quarterback Oliver Luck was knocked out with a concussion, but the Mountaineers also lost 42-14 at Pitt the following week.
Now you know why coaches are so involved in scheduling.
