Weird Games of the Year

Every few years there are a few games that are scheduled that cause you to scratch your head.  These normally are power five teams going out of state, and often out of their region in order to play an away game at a bad NON-AQ team.  The one that always comes to mind for me is when Texas played at Wyoming in 2009.  Texas was No.2 at the time. Power five teams can schedule away games against non-AQ teams, however, these should be games against in-state teams, or schools that play in a recruiting hotbed.  For example, if Penn State were to play a game at USF, it would not be considered as it would be a strategic matchup for Penn State to play a game in the state of Florida.  The games below provide no benefit in terms of recruiting for the power 5 teams, nor are they traditional matchups.

Game #1 is Miami plays at Appalachian State on September 17.  App State was an FCS team only 3 years ago, and while they have become a very respectful football team, there is no reason for Miami to have to travel to Boone, North Carolina.  Miami already has 4 schools in their own conference who play in North Carolina.  They don’t need the extra games there, and they have no history with the school. The second is when Mississippi State comes to the northeast for the first time since 1986 to take on UMASS.  While I applaud Mississippi State for being an SEC team who is not afraid to leave the south *cough* Florida *cough* this matchup is a weird one.  While they get to play in an NFL stadium, that just give their players the privilege to play in front of 30,000 empty seats.  New England is a very poor recruiting area, so this game gives little in terms of a strategic advantage to Mississippi State.