Early Season Schedule Toughness

Most decent D-I's have a few easy, cushy early season opponents...so that's just the way it is..
but a few of the Valley teams seem to have taken it to a whole 'nuther level...almost like they are trying to win the "American Cupcake" competition....

I was looking at the early season schedules for the Valley teams...I guess now that I have stopped laughing...I will show you what I found so striking about a few of the Valley teams...


Here are the FIRST FOUR OPPONENTS of a few MVC teams, and then you decide who has the toughest early season test..


BU:
Lewis - solid year in and out and gets votes in national rankings
BYU - some have them ranked TOP 10! Impossible home winning streak!
Idaho State - ok..weak but nowhere near Norfolk State or North Florida level
Wofford - not strong but had a winning record last year and are picked as a favorite in their conference this year.(then Presbyterian, Oklahoma State, Illinois or Utah..so it does get even better!)



ISU:
Quincy - D-II - decent last year, but lost a bunch down the stretch
SIU-E - new to D-I, barely past the D-II stage - weak
North Florida - RPI was 335 last season coming off two consecutive 3-26 seasons...RPI was 333, 333, and 325 the three years before! - about as weak as can find!
UIC - 5 years since being better than RPI 130
(then Norfolk State, SEMO, St. Bonaventure, and Central Michigan!)



SIU:
Henderson State (this one's an exhibition, but HSU is a D-II that was 5-21 last year!!)
University of Southern Indiana (another D-II who are starting over with a new coach after a scandal)
Tennessee-Martin (avg RPI over the past 5 years is close to 300)
Indianapolis (yet another D-II opponent as a regular season foe, what gives...is SIU planning a move down to the D-II division??


ps-- I did get a kick out of the discussion on one of their boards where they don't seem to know the difference between University of Southern Indiana and University of Indianapolis....but they do play them both as regular season games, so maybe it doesn't matter to them!

check the next blog entry for some exhibition scores and commentary......