I don't know how many times I have to make this same point but I'm going to try yet again.
You judge a schedule holistically based on the quality of each opponent on the schedule (from the first game to the last game on the schedule and everything else in between)
The quality of your schedule is judged with way more nuance than just how many ranked teams you play on the top end.
Lol, the guy that quotes F+ algorithms is now arguing for “nuance” ….can’t make this crap up…
NOW SAVE THIS, as I have shared every year with you when you try to make false statements to support your ill-conceived posts.
You can ‘nuance’ all you want but here are the facts for the PSU schedule the last 10 years, a good period for your algorithmic posturing:
*PSU is 89-39 under Franklin the last 10.1 years. That is 9-4 annually, the same record you scoff at when ND attains it.
* of those 128 games, let’s look at in conference numbers, excluding the Big 2. PSU played Rutgers 10x, Rutgers winning % was .333 over that span. Played Indy 10x, Indy winning % was .410 over that span. Played MD 10x, MD winning % was .449 over that span. Played Illinois 6x, Illinois winning % was .386 over that span. Played Purdue 3x, Purdue winning % over that span was .400. So let’s stop and summarize for a second, that is 39 games out of 128 that were against in-conference teams that were winning less than 4 games per season. That means 4 gimmes annually in conference for PSU.
*before we talk about the in-conference teams that were good or had good coaching, let’s look at PSU OOC schedule over those ten years. They played a total of 21 games against Georgia State, Akron, Idaho, App State, Villanova, Ohio, Delaware, Kent State, Buffalo, UCF, UMass, Central Mich, Ball State, Temple, Army, SDSU. So 2 games a year against FCS or low tier FBS schools, in addition to the 4 games per year of the cupcakes inside the Big10. To keep updated, that is a total of 60 games (47%) against both in-conference and OOC softies, over a 10 year period. Half of their annual schedule is as you say, minor leagues. I’ll repeat, HALF.
* other OOC games? BC, which was sub .500. Pitt, who was slightly better at .550 winning percentage. So tell us again how that schedule is a tough schedule?
* now lets talk middle tier Big10 in-conference games. Over same span they played NW five times (3-2), NW was .500 over that span. I give credit to the coaching staff there that has NW play physical, rugged ball. They played Wisky 3x, in seasons that Wisky was 11-3, 8-5, and 9-4. Solid game. Overall, that’s 9 games annually with an average winning percentage for opposing teams below .500. 3/4 of the schedule against losing teams!!
* they played Iowa every other year. Went 4-2. Iowa had 18 losses over those 6 years.
* now let’s talk in conference teams with a pulse. The legit difficult games for PSU. They played Mich (3-7) and OSU (1-9) ten times each. These are top tier games. Also played MSU (5-5) ten times each, MSU offers a solid game because usually physical. MSU also up/down over that 10 year span. Yet PSU against those big10 flagship programs were 9-21. That is poor.
* one more item. They played Ole Miss, Kentucky, Arkansas, UGA in bowl games..all losses. Lost to USC. Did beat Memphis and Wash (good win) and Utah (good win). Sub .500 bowl resume
TO SUM IT UP, PSU plays 3 tough games per year. Not at all what you claim.
Class dismissed
