Bowling Green State University Athletics
Creative Solutions
September 01, 2005 | Football
Sept. 1, 2005
By MAUREEN FULTON, Blade Sports Writer -
BOWLING GREEN - They take years to put together, involve millions and include all sorts of politics.
In the high-stakes world of Division I-A college football, nothing is simple, especially the complexities of building a schedule.
In recent years, Bowling Green State University has been scaling the national ladder, partly by scoring major out-of-conference upsets. But continuing to create such chances is proving more and more difficult.
"The better we've gotten the harder it's become," BGSU athletic director Paul Krebs said.
This season marks one of the Falcons' most intriguing schedules ever, as they start a couple of contracts that will not only present stiff on-field tests in front of national television audiences on the road, but have a fair return at the back end.
BGSU's season opener is Saturday at Wisconsin, a game slated for national coverage on ESPN. It is the first year of a creative two-year deal with the Badgers. On next year's Labor Day weekend, the Falcons will play host to a return game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, a contest that is also a prime candidate to be on national television.
On Sept. 21, the Falcons travel to Boise State for a Wednesday night game on ESPN2. With the teams' prolific offenses and recent success, it could be one of the most high-profile non-conference matchups of the season.
It's the Broncos' home opener and their 25-game home winning streak will be on the line. The game will assure two of the most prolific non-BCS teams a huge audience.
Boise State will play a return game next September at Perry Stadium, another one of those coveted potential ESPN games, and help build what might be a budding rivalry. Krebs said the two schools are in serious discussions about signing another home-and-home deal for the 2007 and 2008 seasons.
"That's what we do here. We're not going to play St. Aloysius," BGSU coach Gregg Brandon said. "We're going to challenge ourselves. That's how a team measures the ability to perform. That will be a great barometer for our program."
Wisconsin agreed to the deal because it doesn't play Ohio State in 2005 or 2006 and wanted a game in Ohio for recruiting purposes. BGSU has the same sort of game plan next year, when it has agreed to play Florida International in Miami - partially for current Floridians on the roster and future ones as well.
All of it is part of the complex game that is scheduling.
Mid-American Conference teams often play Big Ten Conference teams, and that will increase if the conferences sign a partnership deal they are considering.
But the top-tier Big Ten teams often still refuse to play return games at MAC schools, especially BGSU, considering the Falcons' recent success in knocking off major-conference foes. So getting Wisconsin to agree to play at a neutral site in the Falcons' backyard was the best scenario they could have hoped for and one that few top echelon teams usually agree to.
Krebs said the marketing department will start promotions for the game in the Cleveland area this fall.
The Boise deal was made about a year and a half ago when each team was beginning to step into the national spotlight. Now that agreement has the chance to become something fruitful for both schools. At the level at which they compete, that's a very favorable and hard-fought scenario.
