2012 Opponents

[GoUC11]

I don't understand where the elitism of Pitt alumni comes from. They're an ugly stepbrother to Penn State, haven't had a football program thats been a power in 2 decades (their basketball has been at a high level the last ten years), and their academics are far from being top notch.

Not to mention, you're in the city of Pittsburgh. It's not like its outside of NYC, Boston, or even Philly or some other East Coast city along those lines.

But I guess its the new thing for 'elite' programs and schools to play in a 3/4 empty football stadium that isn't theirs and have fans selling tickets on the street for less than dollar.

[bobestes]

Originally Posted by Bearcat82

Sure they did. In fact, Pitt was the most vocal opponent to UC joining--- saying that we weren't up to Big East "academic standards"--- Of course, we proceeded to have more recognized "scholar athletes" than Pitt EVERY year since we've been BEast members

Statistically, UC is a much easier school than Pitt is.

[Binturong05]

Originally Posted by bobestes

Statistically, UC is a much easier school than Pitt is.

Pretty subjective statement to say one school's curriculum is "easier" than another due to the fact not all schools offer the same majors, the same classes per major, or even the same teaching method (hands-on vs lecture, vs study abroad vs co-op, etc).

Include me in the camp that views a modern-day college degree as a commodity where, like most things in life, the value you get out of it is a function of what you put into it. If you are a legacy admission to Yale and do nothing but skip class and sit on your futon taking bong hits are you really going to have a higher value of human capital than someone who graduated summa cumme laude at NKU? I don't think so.

Because of the variability of individual student choices after the admissions process really the only objective metric we can use in differentiating schools is their selectivity with respect to admissions. According to CollegeData.com data on Fall 2010 admissions Pitt admitted 58% of all applicants with an average ACT score of 27. UC admitted 62% of all applicants with an average ACT score of 25. While Pitt does appear to be more selective based on these metrics this tells us nothing of the ex post difficulty of the college curriculum.

[Who Dey Time]

Just announced that Fordham will essentially replace TCU on the 2012 schedule and, thus, giving UC seven home game for 2012.

They tried to schedule a "BCS" school but there were too many variables that did not allow that to come to fruition.

Also, it was announced that some ticket prices will go up, while other seating locations will go down.


http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2012/...ball-schedule/

[London 'Cat]

Ugh! Another FCS opponent. I am not a fan of playing any FCS opponents, much less two in the same season. I know they were stuck here due to the departure of TCU to the Big XII, but this is not an acceptable replacement IMO.

[GoCats1994]

Curious - what does this mean (if anything) to bowl eligibility?

With 12 games on the schedule, do they have to get to 7 W's?

[ACAirborne]

Originally Posted by GoCats1994

Curious - what does this mean (if anything) to bowl eligibility?

With 12 games on the schedule, do they have to get to 7 W's?

Yup. They need 7 to be bowl eligible.

[swilsonsp4]

While I'm also disappointed, I'm not surprised. The conference jumping/raiding has put scheduling (& other aspects) in flux. Until this settles down, various schools will be caught with short schedules.

That said, the Fordham Rams were pretty bad last year (1-10). That makes them marginally worse than Delaware State, which I believe won three games last season.

This game will be played October 13; prime Homecoming fodder. That puts Fordham pretty much in the same boat as my high school alma mater, Finneytown, over the decades. I often joke that everyone had the Wildcats on their Homecoming schedule every week, including their road games at Finneytown.

[True Bearcat]

At least we have 7 home games, and not a 1 for 2 to some BCS school. One year of playing 2 FCS although it sucks won't be awful. UC lost its starting offensive backfield, and has to replace a lot on the defensive side of the ball in the front 7. Maybe this will the give the guys confidence going into BIG EAST play. I personally hope never to see a FCS school again once the nBe play begins.

[UC4me]

Originally Posted by True Bearcat

At least we have 7 home games, and not a 1 for 2 to some BCS school. One year of playing 2 FCS although it sucks won't be awful. UC lost its starting offensive backfield, and has to replace a lot on the defensive side of the ball in the front 7. Maybe this will the give the guys confidence going into BIG EAST play. I personally hope never to see a FCS school again once the nBe play begins.

I actually would rather see us play a better opponent on the road then Fordham at home. I wouldn't even care if playing on the road was a "one and done" situation. Fordham at home means about 10,000 people in the stands, most of those there having been given tickets by others, and a fan base that is left talking about a lousy out of conference schedule. We just went through a tight few weeks in basketball leading up to the NCAA tourney and got hammered for our OOC schedule. The Big East as a whole also is an "also ran" compared to a lot of other conferences. We really don't need more of these FCS opponents anywhere on our schedule or anyone else's schedule in the Big East either.

[Binturong05]

I can't really knock it without knowing what the options were. My suspicion is the athletic department had no other choice. There are not a lot of BCS programs with the cojones to play UC. Playing UC in the regular season is a lot like getting paired up playing Boise State in a BCS bowl for a lot of the top-10 programs. Nothing to gain and everything to lose. If they win, the pundits say they should have won, but if they lose then they get ripped bad.

[Bearcat Chris]

Thank goodness I have scheduled my vacation for the weekend of the Delaware State game! Fordham......ugh

B.C.

[RedRocker]

Originally Posted by UC4me

I actually would rather see us play a better opponent on the road then Fordham at home. I wouldn't even care if playing on the road was a "one and done" situation. Fordham at home means about 10,000 people in the stands, most of those there having been given tickets by others, and a fan base that is left talking about a lousy out of conference schedule. We just went through a tight few weeks in basketball leading up to the NCAA tourney and got hammered for our OOC schedule. The Big East as a whole also is an "also ran" compared to a lot of other conferences. We really don't need more of these FCS opponents anywhere on our schedule or anyone else's schedule in the Big East either.

They could have played @ Florida State to fill the void left by WVU reneging on their date after their move to the B12. They could have possibly worked out a home and home with FSU. Now both are left with FCS fodder.

Seven true home games with 2 FCS opponents and Miami does not justify a price increase. Stupid decision in my opinion. We'll be lucky to have 20,000 for Delaware State and Fordham unless they give a lot away for $10 or $15 which will piss off the season ticket holders.

BTW, Pittsburgh should be the opener on 9/8 as they are the only BE team with an opening on that date. Also, because of this scheduling quirk, the Bearcats have two byes in September (1st and 22nd).

[GoUC11]

Just saw the link on ESPN.com. Saying I am ticked would be an understatement.

I get it. I know the tough situation we were put in. I don't need anyone to lay that one out for me. But I'm buying season tickets to watch 2 flipping FCS teams? That is an absolute joke. I am with everyone else in saying I'd rather go on another road trip and play an FBS team. In my mind...I am paying for 2 exhibition games and 5 regular season games. Not to mention we'll have a bye week 1.

Not to mention we are going to have 22,000 for the two FCS games.

I'll support the program no matter what. But this is just a huge let down. Heck, I'd rather go out to play Nevada than do this. At least your getting exposure out west for recruiting purposes.

Delaware State and Fordham on the same schedule does nothing to help us.

We always talk about 'building excitement' for the program. Stuff like this does nothing to build excitement around the city. When you only play 2, T-W-O, games in September it allows the city to forget you exist and further allows for disinterest to take place as 2 of those games are vs crap opponents.

[bearcat25]

Wow. A little overreaction possibly? Step back and look at the entire situation every Big East team was in. With all the turmoil, the fact that we were even able to land a game this late in the year is amazing. It's 1 freaking year that we have to deal with this......relax everyone. Do I want to watch my beloved Bearcats play 2 subdivision teams? No. But I can accept the challenges that the athletic dept. had to deal with and support the team anyway.

There is no reason to question the committment of the new athletic dept in doing the right thing, building interest in the programs, and pointing us in the right direction. Whit has done some amazing things since being here, as has the rest of the group. Let's give them a pass this year and see what happens......

GO BEARCATS!

[ME80]

Originally Posted by bearcat25

Wow. A little overreaction possibly? Step back and look at the entire situation every Big East team was in. With all the turmoil, the fact that we were even able to land a game this late in the year is amazing. It's 1 freaking year that we have to deal with this......relax everyone. Do I want to watch my beloved Bearcats play 2 subdivision teams? No. But I can accept the challenges that the athletic dept. had to deal with and support the team anyway.

There is no reason to question the committment of the new athletic dept in doing the right thing, building interest in the programs, and pointing us in the right direction. Whit has done some amazing things since being here, as has the rest of the group. Let's give them a pass this year and see what happens......

GO BEARCATS!

Thanks for a little sanity in this thread!

[CaptainProbasco]

Originally Posted by cmm27

Not to mention a higher overall academic rating than Pitt... but that isn't really important is it?

Originally Posted by GoUC11

I don't understand where the elitism of Pitt alumni comes from. They're an ugly stepbrother to Penn State, haven't had a football program thats been a power in 2 decades (their basketball has been at a high level the last ten years), and their academics are far from being top notch.

Not to mention, you're in the city of Pittsburgh. It's not like its outside of NYC, Boston, or even Philly or some other East Coast city along those lines.

But I guess its the new thing for 'elite' programs and schools to play in a 3/4 empty football stadium that isn't theirs and have fans selling tickets on the street for less than dollar.

Re: Both of These:
Pitt is one of the top 25 research schools in the world. UC is nothing to sneer at either (about 60th), but Pitt is a powerhouse. They deserve their academic reputation.

Also, they have another one of the top 25 research schools in the world (Carnegie Mellon) across the street from them, which gives them a lot of large, diverse programs. Sure, most of us could achieve all we'd ever want to at UC, but if you're an amazingly gifted person who has no interest in music or DAAP, Pitt offers a better shot at becoming one of those people that runs the world. Again, this doesn't make UC bad, it's just that Pitt IS that good.

Football, on the other hand, is the arena where they're reduced to boasting about their parents' generation's accomplishments.

[Binturong05]

At least one media outlet says UC's 2012 schedule is the easiest in the Big East.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--...SsyGgavaMcvrYF

[cmm27]

Yeah, and apparantly Louisiville is going to be Big East champions and ONLY South Florida and Pitt even have a remote outside possibility of being able to maybe challenge them for the title. Nevermind the team that has actually won it three of the last four years...

[RedRocker]

Originally Posted by cmm27

Yeah, and apparantly Louisiville is going to be Big East champions and ONLY South Florida and Pitt even have a remote outside possibility of being able to maybe challenge them for the title. Nevermind the team that has actually won it three of the last four years...

That's ok, I'd rather the team play with a chip on it's shoulder. Keep underestimating us and we'll show ya'!

Like the line from Major League, "I'm for wasting sportswriters' time. So I figured we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shitburger to eat!"