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Early tests loom for several teams
On a Monday morning in July, two days before a midweek national holiday, I called Notre Dame offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers and Arkansas defensive coordinator John Thompson in their offices before 9 a.m. for a story for Sports Illustrated. Both of them answered the phone, Thompson on the first ring. Both of them were watching video or combing through computer reports about their opening opponents this fall. Don't let anyone tell you that coaches aren't prepared for their first game. They spend weeks preparing for the opener. The only problem is that the degree of difficulty in their workload is often determined years before. We are talking about scheduling, which, like parallel parking and the perfect martini, is part science, part art (luck doesn't hurt, either). The right schedule can smooth out the road to a championship. Though Miami is expected to contend for a national title, the television-dictated move of the Big East Conference showdown at Virginia Tech to Dec. 1 means the warm-weather Hurricanes will have to survive a chilly late-autumn day in the mountains. That wound is self-inflicted -- suffered in the search for TV dollars -- and rare in that it involves a conference game. There is little to be tweaked in a conference schedule. Most of the art of scheduling refers to non-conference games in general and the quality of the opponent and the site of the game in particular. After an initial close study of the schedule for the coming season, this September appears to bring more potential season-changing games than any opening month in recent memory. Take, for instance, Nebraska. The Huskers' first showdown of the season comes Sept. 8, when Notre Dame travels to Lincoln. It will be the Irish's first game of the year. It will be the Huskers' third. Score one for Frank Solich. Not only did Nebraska have an opener set for Sept. 1 against Troy State, but the Huskers added a preseason bowl game against TCU on Aug. 25. The addition of the Horned Frogs is particularly smart because they run a lot of option. When Irish quarterback Matt LoVecchio takes a snap around end with tailback Julius Jones trailing him, ready for a pitch, Nebraska will have seen it before. The second game, against Troy State, will give Solich a chance to get his inexperienced players some game experience before the Irish arrive. The hopes at UNLV are higher than they have been in years. John Robinson, in his third season as coach, has quarterback Jason Thomas ready to grab national attention. However, UNLV first must play at Arkansas. Thompson says the Razorbacks have been using their 31-14 bowl loss to the Rebels in Las Vegas last December as a motivational tool in the weight room, during winter conditioning, at spring practice and in summer skeleton drills. A week later, UNLV plays host to Northwestern, which shared the Big Ten championship last season, followed by a Mountain West Conference game against league favorite Colorado State. Three weeks into the season, the Rebels will have a pretty good idea of their fate. A month into the campaign, Alabama-Birmingham will have a pretty good idea about its health insurance. The Blazers return 10 starters on a defense that carried the team to a 7-4 record last season, including an upset of LSU. But after an opening game against Montana State, UAB must play at Florida State, at Pittsburgh, home against Army and at Southern Mississippi. The Seminoles and the Golden Eagles are known for being physical. A similar gauntlet will be run by Syracuse, which wasn't satisfied with playing at Tennessee and having home games against East Carolina and Auburn in its opening month. The Orangemen added the Kickoff Classic against Georgia Tech in the Meadowlands on Aug. 26. Maybe there's something about the weather in upstate New York that toughens a team up. Then again, Syracuse plays its games indoors. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers college football for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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