WHAT non-conference road game problem!?!
(Written by kencraw)
The conventional wisdom is that the Bears don’t travel well, particularly for long distance non-conference games. I was thinking about this as I was re-watching the 2009 Minnesota game this afternoon (just taking a Sunday afternoon to be lazy).
Here’s Tedford’s history of non-conference road games:
2002 @ Michigan State: Won 46-22
2003 Neutral Kansas State: Lost 28-42
2003 @ Utah: Lost 24-31
2003 @ Illinois: Won 31-24
2004 @ Air Force: Won 56-14
2004 @ Southern Miss: Won 26-16
2005 @ New Mexico State: Won 41-13
2006 @ Tennessee: Lost 18-35
2007 @ Colorado State: Won 34-28
2008 @ Maryland: Lost 27-35
2009 @ Minnesota: Won 35-21
2010 @ Nevada: Lost 31-52
2011 @ Colorado: Won 36-33 1-OT
That’s an 8-5 record. That’s pretty much where the Bears have historically played over those years, between 7-5 and 8-4 most years.
It seems to me, this is more about perception than anything else. Yes, yes, I know, we stunk against Tennessee. But that was both a pretty good Tennessee squad and a game that had a number of big plays early that made it worse that it really way. Yes, yes, I know, we stunk against Maryland, the only TRUE stinker of the list above. I was THERE, I KNOW how much they stunk that day.
But we all seem to highlight those games and then forget the strong performances like 2009 Minnesota or 2002 Michigan State. We also forget how good some of the teams we lost to were. In 2010 Nevada won the Mountain West, upsetting a top-5 ranked Boise State on the same field where they beat us.
So I guess what I’m saying is, let’s discuss our upcoming match-up against Ohio State based on it’s merits, not some delusional “we stink on the road when we have to cross the Mississippi” point, or whatever the current thinking is.
August 20th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Ken,
Thanks for making a salient point about the Bears on the Road OOC. I agree that the body of work is positive and I am eager to watch the osu game on the tube here in Florida. I hope to go to church on Sunday and hear the expressed amazement at the fact that the Golden Bears took out Urban Meyer and the Doe-eyes.
That will be almost as sweet as the choir anthems.
GO BEARS!
August 20th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
For as much as Urban Meyer is treated as a pseudo-deity, you’d think he’d have ended up at Notre Dame by now. I always thought for sure that’s where he was destined to head.
He’s named after Pope Urban for crying out loud!
What cable provider do you have in Florida? Are you going to be able to get the Pac-12 network?
August 22nd, 2012 at 10:38 am
Comcast is the only choice and I don’t have it. I’ll be reduced to national broadcasts, or Justin TV feeds on the Web. I thought the PAC 12 network was supposed to be internet accessible, but i have not seen any information on that score. Do you know anything re net broadcasts?
August 22nd, 2012 at 11:20 am
The Pac-12 network is already doing Internet streaming, but the streaming will only be for people who have a cable subscription with a provider who is carrying the Pac-12 network. You can’t buy it independently.
So it all comes down to whether your cable provider has it.
What the streaming does is help you when you’re away from home or perhaps when what you want to watch is on one of the other regional networks that your cable provider doesn’t carry.
August 23rd, 2012 at 7:06 am
As I thought. Tough to get things Cal in the south.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Yeah the thing about that list Ken is…
We beat the bad teams, and lost to the good teams. Seriously. The only victory that came over someone who remotely resembled a legitimate football team was the Illinois game. And if you recall:
– Illionis went 1-11 in 2003
– We beat USC the next week in the 3OT thriller.
When your wins come against someone called “New Mexico State”, that’s a bad thing. To quote the great C. Montgomery Burns “Wait, there’s a NEW Mexico now?”