I'll play anyone, anywhere. I try to schedule coaches I know are good coaches, but I always try to go home and away if I can and if they're willing. Like jenningss, if I have a rebuilding team I do stupid stuff--like scheduling next seasons' games near where my seniors-to-be are from so their families can watch them play.

The coaches who crack me up are those who are willing to play me when I'm at a rebuilding stage, but never any other time. There's a coach in Allen who always wanted to play me when I was at Toledo, but has avoided my requests like the plague since I got to Villanova.

My fav of my teams plays teams coached by players in my old conference, my former team (when its human and not SIM) and whichever top coaches will give me the time of day...although I do try to go home and home with everyone...

Like some others have said, I schedule many of the same coaches each season, alternating home & away. The coaches I've played are generally good teams, and since I feel like I have a NT or at worst a PI team each season, or at least should once I've got things rolling, I look for coaches in the same situation at other schools. This enables me to worry far less about recruiting, knowing I'm aiming for a solid top 20 or at worst top 50 sos each season.

I know when I schedule OR, his team will be at worst, decent, and often great. I don't even have to bother to look at how many seniors he's got, or what his talent level is, I know they'll likely be good.

Now every once in awhile, like what happened last year w/ Arizona and LSU, they both ran into bad recruiting cycles, and sure they'll be down for a season or 2, but I know they'll be back, so I continue to schedule them as long as they're willing. In the end, a poor record by 1 or 2 of my OOC opponents shouldn't hurt, as most of them will end up at postseason level, plus the continual challenges allows me to test my team before conference play starts, figure out a few things, and get the ball rolling for a NT run.

I counter with Away every time. Makes more sense mathematically to schedule all away games. Especially at D-3 where HCA is negligible anyway.

I play as many away games as I possibly can. All 10 non conference games are away this year and next year it appears that 9 of 10 will be on the road.

As far as I'm concerned, scheduling is nearly as important as recruiting. And outside of recruiting, I probably spend more time on scheduling than any other aspect of the game.

I've had teams with Sweet 16 or better talent not even make the PIT because of bad scheduling. Conversely, I've had teams that had no business making the post-season get high seeds in the NT thanks to crafty scheduling (or gaming the system, depending how you look at it).

So I am very picky about scheduling games. It can make or break a season. Based on my evaluation of how my team looks for the upcoming season, there's a certain profile opponent I'm looking for and will stick to that as much as I can.

Because of that, I've never really gotten into the habit of playing the same teams every season. I'm sure it would be fun to do that, but at the same time, it takes an element of strategy away from the game for me.

Aside from that, I tend to schedule on the road as much as possible, even at D1. And if I'm in a very tough conference, I probably won't schedule games where I have a good chance of losing. It's not worth the risk/reward from an RPI standpoint. If I'm in a weaker conference, then I'll take some more chances.

I have to admit I'm sometimes guilty of not promptly responding to game requests (probably because I tend to wait until very late in the season to schedule, and it really isn't on my mind until then), and will have to make a point of doing a better job at that!

Quote: Originally posted by oldresorter on 9/23/2009if a top team challenges you to a road game, what do you guys do:1 - always accept2 - never accept3 - accept based on some conditional criteria4 - counter offer?5- something else?I used to just accept, but have increasingly found guys will keep scheduling me away.  I am a lazy scheduler, but I have started to challenge some of my away games to home games the following season - funny how many reject it - or even worse, just let them sit there.I am almost to the point, I may just play good teams at home, and play sims on the road, other than trusted coaches who I know will honor a home and home agreement.REal life, a team like UWGB, must agree to play UW Madison 4 times at madison to get one UWGB game.I have written a ticket up asking for home and home, 1 for 1, I did get a seble / tarek level response saying it is a great idea, but not exactly feasible the way the code is now written.

1!, although that is less emphatically true in d1 than elsewhere. personally i would like to play 10 road games a season in any division (special circumstances, like rebuilds, exempted). if you prefer home games... i'll happily bring the wildcats to your place every season :)

Quote: Originally posted by professor17 on 9/23/2009As far as I'm concerned, scheduling is nearly as important as recruiting. And outside of recruiting, I probably spend more time on scheduling than any other aspect of the game.

I've had teams with Sweet 16 or better talent not even make the PIT because of bad scheduling. Conversely, I've had teams that had no business making the post-season get high seeds in the NT thanks to crafty scheduling (or gaming the system, depending how you look at it).

So I am very picky about scheduling games. It can make or break a season. Based on my evaluation of how my team looks for the upcoming season, there's a certain profile opponent I'm looking for and will stick to that as much as I can.

Because of that, I've never really gotten into the habit of playing the same teams every season. I'm sure it would be fun to do that, but at the same time, it takes an element of strategy away from the game for me.

Aside from that, I tend to schedule on the road as much as possible, even at D1. And if I'm in a very tough conference, I probably won't schedule games where I have a good chance of losing. It's not worth the risk/reward from an RPI standpoint. If I'm in a weaker conference, then I'll take some more chances.

I have to admit I'm sometimes guilty of not promptly responding to game requests (probably because I tend to wait until very late in the season to schedule, and it really isn't on my mind until then), and will have to make a point of doing a better job at that!

i agree that scheduling can make a huge impact, but i think you are a bit extreme calling it as important as recruiting. other than that, i think you have a good view point, i used to approach scheduling very similarly.

one thing that i disagree on is, your approach is focused around 1 objective, NT seeding. what about preparation for the actual NT? if you play an "optimal" schedule in terms of rpi/wins you are not getting as good practice for the tourney as you could. i think the ideal schedule works to balance those factors. i generally play in very strong conferences, so in most other cases, it just makes the practice aspect all the more important. with this in mind, i like to have a handful of home and home series with the perennial greats of the division (plus, it saves time, and, it makes non conf play more interesting when you have some friendly rivalries sprinkled throughout).

also, when your view point breaks down IMO is for top 5 ish teams. for the 15-100 range i pretty much agree with you. but when you are a really good team i don't think it matters a whole lot if you are the #1 overall seed or the #5 overall seed. the most important thing is being 100% ready. i think one of the reasons so many 8 and 9 seeds upset 1 seeds is, the 1 seed was content playing an easy schedule, and never had a real challenge... and thus, never saw the weaknesses in their setup. meanwhile, the 8/9 seed has played a rough schedule and knows how to hedge their bets against a markedly better team. so the 8/9 will pull the upset a lot more than you would expect based on talent alone.

I place that much value on scheduling with respect to obtaining a high RPI and favorable NT seeding. Not with respect to how much damage you can do once you get into the NT. From that perspective, recruiting is obviously more important.

You are correct that I am highly focused on RPI and NT seeding. My challenge/preparation level in the non-conference schedule is largely dependent upon the strength of the conference I'm in. If I'm in a super-strong Big 6 conference where 5 of the 6 teams in my own division are ranked, and there are no gimme games, then I feel I have to play an easier NC schedule to insure I have enough wins to even qualify for the NT. Because I could just as easily go 5-11 in conference as 11-5. I have to hope that those 16+ conference games will serve as sufficient preparation. If I'm in a weaker conference, then I'll definitely challenge myself to a much greater extent in the NC.

I guess I'd rather insure that I make the NT, rather than face a tougher schedule and risk missing it altogether. And I say all this as someone who usually has only somewhat better than average talent, with little margin for error. I don't have super-talented teams. I'm not that good. If I did, I would feel much more comfortable about playing an amped up non-conference schedule.

Pretty much #1, at least until I get to 6 or 7 road games. I tend to think scheduling is overrated a bit and it cracks me up when I see conference mates giving each other grief over nonconference schedules. That said, I usually tried to start with an easy schedule when I take over a team with the goal of bumping up the HCA. It's tough to go into conference play with a c+ HCA if everybody else in your conference has an A+.

I have guys to occassionally counter when i have a home/home, but it doesn't bother me much to play them at the opposite place. Of this is at the Division 2 level, and I know HCA is much more important at Division 1. I also try to play a schedule that is very similar to the year prior.

I usually go with 5 road and 5 home games a season. I also usually try to schedule home/home with respected coaches that I know will give me a good game every season and are less likely to leave the team they are at, leaving me with a Sim. When im at a mid-major i usually play weak opponents until I get a good team built then I start playing the Big 6 conference teams but not necessarily the top teams bc I want a chance to play a close game and pick up a win or two.

i only play road games unless I forget to schedule or get a SM asking for a Home and Home.

My SOS is #213 and with just a 5-2 record I have the #60 RPI in Iba. If I make the PI, my all road game out of conference slate will be a main reason.
Next year I play 1 OOC home game and 9 on the road.

Quote: Originally posted by jeremyboz on 9/26/2009 My SOS is #213 and with just a 5-2 record I have the #60 RPI in Iba. If I make the PI, my all road game out of conference slate will be a main reason.
Next year I play 1 OOC home game and 9 on the road.

rpi and sos are so horribly skewed after 7 games, so those figures don't really mean anything at this point. even after 10 games some are off by an order of magnitude.