Marquee Non-AQ Non-Conference Matchups A Road to Respect
By Kyle Kensing
Two mid-major basketball programs that have risen the ranks to national prominence, Butler and Gonzaga, signed off on a home-and-home series beginning this December per The Indianapolis Star. This is Gonzaga’s second such marquee series with another non-power conference program, having faced off with Memphis in recent seasons. Such matchups are far more rare in football.
Non-automatic qualifier powerhouses don’t necessarily shy away from challenging non-conference games — quite the opposite. Boise State has never shied from a make-or-break game out-of-conference, as evidenced in consecutive season openers vs. Virginia Tech and Georgia in neutral-in-name-only contests. Utah was equally willing to schedule with gusto before its departures out of Mountain West. But the common theme is that BSU, TCU, Utah and BYU scheduled from the Big Six conferences. One is about as likely in the 21st Century to see the Wing-T at the FBS level as they are a top flight non-AQ, OOC matchup.
BYU’s move to independence is a step toward changing that course. The Cougars welcome UCF to Provo, an unimaginable pairing based on recent precedent. However, this affair may be more a byproduct of BYU needing to fill out its independent schedule than the start of a trend. For example, Navy regularly schedules upper echelon non-AQ programs, but has no conference to fill out games and must take what it can.
For those in conference, there are enough pitfalls in facing eight other non-AQs waiting in the league to render playing such games out of it superfluous. Utah and TCU leaving for automatic qualifying conferences sends a message that garnering attention means living the mantra, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” But that’s just not possible for most of the five non-AQ conference members. Mixing it up with one another might be a fresh approach to making some waves.
The rigidity of BCS qualifying standards tips the scale unevenly on the Risk side when scheduling another power non-AQ team. An example is the 2008 classic between those aforementioned TCU and Utah teams in Salt Lake City. Both the Frogs and Utes were ranked in the top 11 heading into Rice-Eccles Stadium, and the ensuing clash lived up to its billing. UU survived and its path to the Sugar Bowl was laid; were they not after a September loss at No. 2 Oklahoma, TCU’s BCS aspirations were crushed.
TCU went on to defeat Boise State in an outstanding Poinsettia Bowl. It was evident throughout the season that TCU and BSU were better than at least two of the BCS participants, boasting the Nos. 9 and 11 in the nation while the Orange Bowl featured 12 and 19.
Non-AQ detractors will argue that TCU knew what it needed to accomplish to play in a BCS bowl. The BCS standards are less ambiguous than those for reaching the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and programs like TCU (at least for one more year) have a specific criteria of which they are well aware. BSU met that criteria though, and it ended up in football’s version of the No Homers Club: one non-AQ could punch a BCS ticket, but not two. Perhaps that criteria isn’t with its own vagueness after all.
The ambiguity of NCAA Tournament selection allows Butler and Gonzaga to play with a heavier tilt on the Reward side of the scale. Granted each can qualify via conference championship, but in the event of losing their league tournament one can have an impressive mid-major win to the bolster their resume.
This blog’s call for more top tier Small Five matchups is contingent on a major overhaul in the BCS selection system, namely more flexibility in selections. That starts with eliminating the automatic-ness
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of the automatic bid. The Big Six should retain priority in selection, but the Poinsettia Bowl should never outweigh the Orange Bowl. Meanwhile, if the UCFs and Boises can balance the Risk-Reward stakes of facing one another, such matchups become more likely. And the non-AQ conferences pitting their best against one another brings them heightened exposure, much in the same way Gonzaga and Butler gain exposure facing off.