Finally, Gophers will host a non-ACC BCS opponent (USC)

SelectionSunday

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Kudos to Shooter and his "little birdie", as apparently they were correct. According to the LA Times, USC will pay a visit to The Barn on Saturday, Dec. 3. The Men of Troy will serve as the Gophers' first non-ACC Challenge BCS home opponent since Tubby took over the reigns.

Two BCS home opponents in one season. ... who woulda' thunk it? Thank you Tubby and Joe.

While I'm at it, raise your hand if you'd like to have USC's nonconference schedule. That one's a keeper.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/spo...ign=Feed:+LAT_Sports_Blog+(The+Fabulous+Forum)
 

Great news - thanks Hodger!

USC is a very nice home-and-home addition.

Go Gophers!!
 

And, how about USC's non-conference schedule? According to the link, they play these teams in the non-conference:

Road games at:
at Minnesota
at Florida State
at San Diego State
at UNLV

Nuetral games at Vegas:
North Carolina or South Carolina

Home games vs:
vs. Kansas
vs. Georgia
vs. New Mexico

That's fairly ambitious!
 

Today is a good day, Bleed. This is major progress in terms of scheduling. For season-ticket holders it shows (at least in the short term) an honest effort has been made by the U to "enchance" their November-December experience. Well done, Mr. Esposito/Tubby.

Naturally, I'm still curious to see how the rest of the non-B1G schedule fills out.
 

And, how about USC's non-conference schedule?

Won't see many better than that one. And the good thing is the Gophers will benefit from USC's strength of schedule, as well. It's beneficial to play opponents who play difficult schedules.
 


Good news. I assume the return game is next year? That could lead to 2 road BCS games and no home ones, but I guess you can't have everything.
 

Howeda, we'll take it while we can get it! I'm assuming USC is part of a home-and-home but not sure if the return game will be in 2012-13.

I'm hoping our true road game this season (if we schedule one) is the start of another home-and-home series vs. a BCS or quality/name program, which would guarantee a quality home matchup in 2012-13 in lieu of our ACC Challenge road game.
 

Bout time, it's just exciting to see different BCS type schools come by the Barn. You can only load up on so many lower level D1 schools.
 




USC

'SC won't be ranked, but it should be a pretty solid opponent. Trojans have a nice (but short) guard combo returning in Jio Fontan & Maurice Jones, but they take a big hit in the frontcourt (Stepheson & Vucevic). They'll also have a familiar face. Junior transfer Aaron Fuller (Iowa) is eligible this season.
 

'SC won't be ranked, but it should be a pretty solid opponent. Trojans have a nice (but short) guard combo returning in Jio Fontan & Maurice Jones, but they take a big hit in the frontcourt (Stepheson & Vucevic). They'll also have a familiar face. Junior transfer Aaron Fuller (Iowa) is eligible this season.

This is great news. Just to add to this, they are coached by KO who is a very good defensive-minded coach. Tubby used to kick KO butt when he was at UT.

Go Gophers
 

Looks like a Michigan St. non-conference schedule to me. When does the Gophers schedule get released?
 

Nonconference schedule is usually released at about the same time as season-ticket renewals are mailed out, which the ticket office told me this year would be sometime in June. July is probably the safer bet.

According to Mark Rudner of the Big Ten, B1G conference schedule will be released around August 10th.
 




Why are you so excited? We play a football school the year before premium seating kicks in and people want to throw a party. How about a top 25 non conference team at home once a decade? There are 60-80 schools that have a better basketball pedigree that could have been scheduled. A mild improvement (in order to avoid a completely embarrassing schedule the year before premium seating) but nothing that says we care about our loyal season ticket holders.
 

And, how about USC's non-conference schedule? According to the link, they play these teams in the non-conference:

Road games at:
at Minnesota
at Florida State
at San Diego State
at UNLV

Nuetral games at Vegas:
North Carolina or South Carolina

Home games vs:
vs. Kansas
vs. Georgia
vs. New Mexico

That's fairly ambitious!

No wonder USC can get into the NCAA tournament with 13 losses.
 

How do we stack up with USC? They don't look very big inside. A couple of big forwards but kind of a small team. Didn't get to watch much PAC-10 hoops last season, other than UCLA a couple of times. Did anyone watch this team last season/how does USC stack up?
 

I like improvement.

Improvement by the players, improvement by the coaches, improvement by the fans, improvement by the conference & improvement of the schedule. I like the fact we're playing USC because it's a significant improvement over what Tubby's scheduled (at home) in any of his first four seasons. That's not saying much, I know & I'm not throwing a party, but I like it. I wouldn't exactly call USC chopped liver. ... it's been to 6 NCAAs in the last 11 seasons, with 3 different coaches.

You very well may be right. It's possible scheduling USC is a facade to dupe season-ticket holders one year ahead of preferred seating fees, but for now I'm going to applaud the staff for scheduling at least one game (in Minneapolis) prior to the conference season we can legitimately look forward to. Not going to complain when I see improvement.
 

Why are you so excited? We play a football school the year before premium seating kicks in and people want to throw a party. How about a top 25 non conference team at home once a decade? There are 60-80 schools that have a better basketball pedigree that could have been scheduled. A mild improvement (in order to avoid a completely embarrassing schedule the year before premium seating) but nothing that says we care about our loyal season ticket holders.

Yeesh...depressing post. Glass half empty much?
 




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