I’d like to see us schedule a pre conference home & home with a P4 school like we’ve done before with Oregon & USC, or a ACC or Big 12 school. Or a Starkville, Hattiesburg, Pearl series with USM. Even if it means not playing a tournament in Texas some years.
Why do we continue to schedule non-con baseball as if the opponent doesn't matter?
- Thread starter Xenomorph
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Tulane 151, Samford 148, Memphis 133, Austin Peay 129. then the RPI's get respectable South Alabama at 68 and UAB at 35. This season we play or have played Tulane, Samford and UAB, so if this is in support of the OP's thoughts I'm not sure how this gets us there.
The SEC schedule doesn’t give us a free pass to play tee ball in February and March against teams that actively hurt our RPI. Plenty of our peers schedule smarter non con and still go toe to toe in conference play. We’re spending (wasting) big money on this program. The least we can do is schedule like it matters- because when Selection Sunday rolls around, the only thing that matters is the number on that RPI sheet.
Two things can be true at once.
1. Our schedule isn't as bad as some people want to claim
2. We could tweak it just a tad to make it a bit better
Heck, a 3rd thing is probably also true - it's probably harder than you realize to put these schedules together to accomplish all the goals of the program (rack up wins, have a good case to host, develop players along the way, make sense financially, find opponents who actually want to play us, home/away/neutral, etc. etc. etc.).
Literally every school in the SEC plays these type teams. Win SEC games is what we have to do and the rest takes care of itself. Playing USA a game won't move that needle.
Let’s look at 2025. Here are the 3 non-con weekend series at home:
Manhattan 234
Missouri State 174
Queens 285
So going into the year we scheduled 9 games (16% of the schedule) against teams who in all likelihood would be Q4. It’s like we just DGAF.
We end the year 15-15 in the league and make a case to host but our RPI is 33. Off to Tally to lose in the finals.
If we flip just two of those opening weekends from Q4 dogs to respectable Q2 opponents our RPI is probably ~25. Maybe we host? Lemonis keeps his job?
Manhattan 234
Missouri State 174
Queens 285
So going into the year we scheduled 9 games (16% of the schedule) against teams who in all likelihood would be Q4. It’s like we just DGAF.
We end the year 15-15 in the league and make a case to host but our RPI is 33. Off to Tally to lose in the finals.
If we flip just two of those opening weekends from Q4 dogs to respectable Q2 opponents our RPI is probably ~25. Maybe we host? Lemonis keeps his job?
The Missouri State one is a bit unfortunate timing wise because they’re usually solid. Ole Miss played them this year and they are a Top 20 RPI team currently.
I'd say it was more the losing 5 of those games than the scheduling 16 that did us in. And the fact we just weren't that good of a team to begin with.
If those 5 loses are against Q2 teams then we host without question.
When you schedule Q4 teams you can’t have an off night.
If we schedule 16 Q2 teams instead, that team would have probably lost 7-10 games.
The Guv Cup does not count as an SEC game - so it counts as part of our non-conf RPI, just like USM
Delaware was just some tough luck. They had 3 winning seasons going into this one. Had they been what they have been the preseason wouldn’t look all that bad. All you can really do is look at past performance.
Jackson state is usually a good one to schedule. They almost always have a winning record. I’d rather play them in Jackson though. Samford is usually A good one especially playing there. Tulane will likely end up being a good schedule too.
Jackson state is usually a good one to schedule. They almost always have a winning record. I’d rather play them in Jackson though. Samford is usually A good one especially playing there. Tulane will likely end up being a good schedule too.
So the Gov Cup thing is weird. It definitely doesn’t count in conference standings, and in that sense is a nonconference game. But there has definitely been discussion from sources who would know in recent years about the committee viewing that game the same as any other conference win for resume purposes.
I remember it coming up a lot last year when discussing Ole Miss on the hosting bubble since they won the Gov Cup last year.
Similar conversations have been had about Hoover wins carrying weight with the committee.
So you're arguing for ****** scheduling? Or against? Can't tell based on this.**
I'd be interested to know how hard it is to get good teams to come play us in the early season. I know basketball is a challenge just because of logistics of nonconference games and getting to Starkville not being the easiest. But with so few warm weather teams, plus the experience of playing in a legit stadium, could we consistently get traditional Big10 teams to come for early season weekend series without offering a home and away?
Just looking now, Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland, Purdue, Illinois, OSU, Iowa, Northwestern, and the other MSU are all in the top 100 RPI and Indiana is just out of it. Minnesota is 118, Rutgers is 142, PSU is 205. If we tried to schedule some of the worst ones, are they bad enough that we could do some player development and get some wins without trashing RPI?
That's stupid. It shouldn't matter whether a neutral game vs Mississippi is a conference game or not. It's still the same game. But if it does matter (and I know the committee thinks it does), it's clearly a NON-conference game. It's a game we voluntarily play outside our conference schedule. This is like saying Florida-FSU or South Carolina-Clemson are conference games just because they always play them.
It's probably possible. I'm just saying I don't know because I'm not the one who has to figure it out. My point is that no one on this message board has ever done it, so maybe it's not as simple as we think. I could be wrong, but am just allowing for that possibility.
Another consideration is most of the schools we'd like to see us play aren't looking for a real tough road series to play non-conference, no matter where it is. And really most of them aren't really looking for a real tough home-and-home either.
Eh. I think you’re pretty much at the point now where you can start to take it more seriously.
I think it's pretty safe to say the Q4 games we've played and will play will still be Q4 at the end of the season. Maybe 1 or 2 might climb all the way up to low Q3.
This is it…. We will 18 games in the sec we are almost certainly a top 16 seed. We win 20 games and we are almost certainly a top 8 seed. The midweek matters not, as long as you win them. We play 30 games against the best competition in the country. The RPI always works itself out.
The truth is, schedule tough or not, those 24 and 25 teams ended up seeded about like they should have been and that's what played out in the regionals. Yeah, we probably should have been the 2 and Northeastern the 3 last year, but it didn't matter. We finished second to better teams on their home fields. A different schedule wasn't suddenly going to make those MSU teams better.
I'd guess that it is not easy. I do know that mid-week games are dictated by the schedules and regional travel of the other other conferences. We have to catch a SunBelt/AAC/SoCon/SWAC team passing through on the way to play a weekend series, or one on the way to one of our series. That really limits our pool there. It's why we almost always play Samford or UAB the mid-week before Auburn/SC/UGA, as they are on the way. In general, that regional approach means we typically have much stronger mid-week opponents because many of the USA/Samford/UABs around us are pretty good mid-major programs.
Scheduling and RPI is about 2 things: 1) Balance. and 2) Winning. If you have balanced schedule you will create a strong RPI (hence our 13 OOC).
If you win, RPI takes care of itself. The only time it matters is if you are on the bubble. And, we should rarely be on the bubble.
Arizona, Arizona state, Oregon and Oregon state have all been to Starkville in the last 10 years. As have Purdue and Michigan State
I hope no one on this board is foolish enough to think that our poor showing against UGA was due to a perceived weakness in our non-conference schedule.
We were not disciplined at the plate. Something BOC picked up on against a non-conference opponent. I still think the focus is the issue. Team got complacent after the OM sweep.
That's not just baseball. That's Mississippi State baseball.
We were not disciplined at the plate. Something BOC picked up on against a non-conference opponent. I still think the focus is the issue. Team got complacent after the OM sweep.
That's not just baseball. That's Mississippi State baseball.
Just looking at some Big10 schedules for this year:
- PSU opened the season with three games in Arizona (against Air Force, Grand Canyon University, and KSU), played three games against Indiana State in the Bahamas, and played a three game series at Texas Tech.
Rutgers didn't go south of the Carolinas.
- Minnesota started with three games in Deland FL against Stetson, St. John's, and Ball State before playing four games in Fort Myers FL against Florida Gulf Coast University, the Minnesota Twins (? I guess an exhibition game?), and Northeastern twice.
- Indiana played three games in Jacksonville v. LSU, UCF, and Notre Dame.
- Michigan State played a three game series against UT in Austin.
- Northwestern opened with a 3 game series @ Rice and played a three game series @ Ga Tech.
- Iowa opened with 3 games in Arizona (KSU, Airforce, and Northeastern), played a 3 game series at Florida Atlantic, and played three games in Frisco Texas against Alabama, Houston, and OSU.
- Illinois opened with a 3 game series at USF.
- Michigan opened with four games in Arizona against OSU, Stanford, Arizona, and then OSU again. Then played three games in Arlingon Tx against FSU, Louisville, and KSU. Then a three game series at San Diego. Then a three game series in Malibu v. Pepperdine.
Not sure that tells you anything about how easy it is to schedule early season weekend series with them. Obviously most of them are traveling south for early games. Lots of round robin type weekends in places relatively easy to get to in Arizona or Texas or Florida. Not sure if you have the chance to play 3 against say a USF in south florida if that's not more desirable than playing 3 in Starkville against a team you are likely going to struggle with. Also interesting to see how many of them are playing other northern teams in round robin set ups. I guess that makes sense. I'd much rather play against other cold weather teams that have been limited by weather than go get my teeth kicked in by SEC teams that can more or less practice outside year round with the exception of some cold snaps that are usually less than a week at a time.
Ole Miss is still in the SEC. I checked it on ChatGPT. It knows everything.
Why would I sit it out instead of asking the question and have some baseball guru such as yourself educate me? I love all you arrogant douches on here that act like anyone who does not know what you know, should just "sit it out" and not ask questions, or they'll get scolded by the likes of you. Congrats on using "you're" correctly though.
You're just being a silly 17, which is unfortunately all too common on this board.
The poster you originally responded to was clearly talking about the Governor's Cup Ole Miss game. That game is clearly counted as a non conference game even though the two teams are in the SEC.
Stop fully living up to your name.
Exactly, I am. It's silly the way some on here respond to someone questioning something as simple as as reference to OM as a non-con. Trust me, most people don't know how RPI is calculated. The dork's on here need people like me so they can feel superior in their knowledge that they only share with a dose of name calling and shaming. So, did I hurt somebody's widdle feelings by acting just like them? Clearly I did. Hell, I even got you all upset. I'm so sorry. Really didn't think being a smart *** right back would warrant having a new poster (that's you) come in to save the day! 8:57pm on a message board - clearly you don't live up to your name.
You typed something stupid and now it needs to be everybody else's fault for you to feel better. Pathetic.
Literally dumbest response ever. What do I need to feel better about? Please show me where I 1) blamed anyone for my post or 2) typed anything stupid. I made fun of myself for not knowing why he referred to OM as non-con. Rather than simply answer, I was called a dipsh1t, and even had you chime in because you couldn't miss out on a chance to also be a dick or to defend your boyfriend - who knows. You seem like a pathetic loser who sits behind a keyboard at night because your wife wants nothing to do with you and plays billy bad *** on posts that don't concern you. You probably ran in there to brag to her: "You should see what I just told some guy on the internet I don't even know about a message I wasn't even involved in. I am sooooo cool. Want to mate me?" What a 17tard.
Literally dumbest response ever. What do I need to feel better about? Please show me where I 1) blamed anyone for my post or 2) typed anything stupid. I made fun of myself for not knowing why he referred to OM as non-con. Rather than simply answer, I was called a dipsh1t, and even had you chime in because you couldn't miss out on a chance to also be a dick or to defend your boyfriend - who knows. You seem like a pathetic loser who sits behind a keyboard at night because your wife wants nothing to do with you and plays billy bad *** on posts that don't concern you. You probably ran in there to brag to her: "You should see what I just told some guy on the internet I don't even know about a message I wasn't even involved in. I am sooooo cool. Want to mate me?" What a 17tard.
Here's every post in this thread concerning your Ole Miss non con comnent. Show me the one where you...
"made fun of myself for not knowing why he referred to OM as non-con"
????
That was the whole reason you got the response you got. You have doubled and tripled down on the the first dumb post. The only reason I said anything is because you couldn't admit you made a mistake. And my interactions with you make it obvious you have a small screw lose. Get better.
You bring up a great point. We are still working off of Lemonis' scheduling model, which usually had 3 pre-conf series against snowbird teams (low RPI) and one neutral Texas tourney against good teams. Unfortunately, as Coast Rat reminded us, we also need to find a high RPI game to replace the non-conf Governor's Cup, since it is now counted as a conference game.
The way I see our schedule at the moment, three things need to change.
1. We need to limit the 4 pre-conf weekend series to 2 low RPI snowbird teams instead of three. We need to replace that weekend with a home and away against a good program (USM, Coastal Carolina, an ACC or Big 12 team) Possibly even Oregon State or one of those new West Coast Big10 schools like UCLA or USC. Someone with a pulse. Every other year it will be a road series, which will prepare us more for SEC road series. I have been a huge proponent of scheduling USM because it's a good team in a tough environment that we usually will come out on top, to prepare us for the SEC road slate. A series our fans can attend. If not a new USM series, we need to play them 4 times midweek (starkville, hattiesburg, Jackson, Biloxi). No reason not to keep all that money in our state when we have a good opponent sitting right there.
2. ONE SWAC TEAM ONLY - this HAS to stop. There are plenty of teams with a pulse that are close to home we can play.
3. Find a non-conf replacement for the Governor's Cup, since Coast Rat reminded us that it's now a conference game. Thank you Coast Rat for your useful contribution to the board. Post More.
If we do those two things, I don't see any reason to change it anymore. Our non conference RPI is killing us no matter what anybody thinks about it. Playing 9 games against yankees who have snow on their home field does nothing. Limit that to 6 games or less. Also, playing that neutral series in Texas needs to continue.
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