UW Realignment Would Force Rescheduling and It Wouldn't Be a Bad Thing
As college football realignment, driven by TV contracts, threatens to turn the game upside down into mega conferences, one of the areas directly affected would be scheduling.
The networks would want mega matchups.
Bowl games in September.
Which is not such a bad thing.
Consider that in 40 days the University of Washington football team will open the season against Kent State, followed by Portland State, in a pair of non-conference yawners — yes, we know what happened 12 months ago to Montana — the Huskies have no business losing.
Wouldn't you be much more thrilled if the UW kicked it off at home against Clemson, followed by a trip to, say, Oklahoma State?
After all, this whole realignment thing has different schools, administrators, fans and media members insulting each other in trying to show their differences, or how our TV market is better than yours and our fan base is far loonier than your face-painted, shirtless crazies.
What everyone forgets is it all just comes down to settling things on the football field.
And, if you don't play anyone of significance early, how can you possibly expect to be the best?
Or does no one remember how respective 59-14 and 41-3 victories over Idaho and Portland State in 2016 did nothing to prepare the UW for its lone trip to the CFP and an eventual 24-7 beatdown by Alabama?
College Football Rankings over the weekend offered a most compelling chart: the 15 FBS schools that won't face an FCS entry this coming season.
Bravo.
This contingent of the bold and the brave consists of Colorado, Georgia State, Houston, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Penn State, Texas, USC and UTEP.
The UW, as much as anyone, has been open to picking up a guaranteed victory over the little guy while handing over guaranteed gate receipts to make some Big Sky athletic budget flush for the rest of the year.
Since 2000, the Huskies have hosted 16 games against the Big Sky and won 15 of them, winning by an average scored of 44-14 over that time.
Add North Dakota, which visited in 2018 as a Summit League team and now plays in the Missouri Valley, and the UW is 16-1 against the FCS this century.
While the MAC is is a bonafide FBS league, the Huskies hold a 3-0 record against mid-major teams in Miami of Ohio, Bowling Green and Toledo after winning games by 53-7, 48-0 and 48-0, all at home. Kent State will be the first to visit in 31 seasons.
Ask Paul Silvi, KING-TV sportscaster, how a seven-touchdown whipping at Husky Stadium feels? He was a senior and an All-MAC kicker for the Bowling Green team that passed through in 1986 before moving out here to report on games in Montlake.
While schedules could change between now and then, depending on what happens with realignment, the UW has Big Sky members Weber State (2024), UC Davis (2025) and Eastern Washington (2026 and 2028), plus the MAC's Eastern Michigan (2024) lined up for future games at Husky Stadium.
Now close your eyes and envision some sort of combination of Miami, North Carolina, Baylor, Texas Tech and Louisville replacing them.
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