Are marquee non-conference games worth it anymore? Ohio State, Oregon and Oklahoma left to ponder

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Are marquee non-conference games worth it anymore? Ohio State, Oregon and Oklahoma left to ponder originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

STILLWATER, Okla. – It was all fun and games as Oklahoma State students gleefully carried a goalpost from Boone Pickens Stadium into the Theta Pond on campus.

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The long-term effect of the Cowboys’ 39-31 victory over Oregon might not be so fun long-term for college football fans.

Oklahoma State was not considered a marquee opponent for the Ducks when the game started. The Cowboys had lost 12 straight and were routed 69-3 at Oregon the previous year.

The thing is, when the agreement to play the home and home series was made back in 2018, Oklahoma State had been a big name for more than a decade under coach Mike Gundy. And Oregon made the deal at the start of a resurgence that has kept the Ducks near the top of college football for most of the time since. 

It was intended to be a marquee matchup back when the deal was made. Both schools were willing to put their reputations at stake to entertain the fans.

But that was before the days of the College Football Playoff. Because the playoff is relatively new and the risk losing early presents is unclear, schools may reconsider scheduling such games.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said as much, days before losing 17-10 at Michigan.

“I would guess there's less and less teams wanting to do that, playing (tough games in) non-conference … But we're playing," he said. "There's a lot of recruiting (benefit), and certainly it gets our guys ready from a league standpoint and a preparation standpoint.” 

There’s evidence to support not taking the risk.

Texas was left out of the playoff last year, in part, because of a loss at Ohio State to start the season. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was vocal about his belief that the loss to Ohio State should not have been held against the Longhorns and that they should have been rewarded for being willing to play the game.

"I'm torn because I have two thoughts on this," Sarkisian said at SEC Media Days. "One is if we beat Ohio State last year, surely we're in a much better position when it comes to the playoffs, but on the other side of it is, if I don't play Ohio State and I play Jones Junior High, and we're 10-2 and our two losses are to Georgia and Florida, we're a playoff team.

"But like anything in this world, if you want to be really good at something, you've got to take risk."

The roles for Ohio State and Texas are reversed this year. Texas rallied to beat Ohio State 24-23 on Saturday night, and suddenly, coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes are the ones facing the questions. Their schedule includes Indiana, USC, Oregon and Michigan. A few losses could become a major problem.

From a fundamental perspective, Venables believes in playing such games.

“You talk about adversity and poise under pressure every single day," he said. "Whether it's home or away, chaos on game day is very real. You like the new challenge of what it can do for your team on the season.”

Oregon coach Dan Lanning chose optimism after the loss to Oklahoma State.

“There's a lot of things that you can look at and evaluate and say, okay, let's go to work,” he said. “Ultimately, on the same note, every single goal is still in front of us, right? We control our destiny.”

More:Oklahoma State stuns Oregon

So now, we wait. If Oregon, Oklahoma and Ohio State lose a couple of conference games, the College Football Playoff committee will have much more than selecting teams at stake. It will be sending a signal as to whether these kinds of thrilling non-conference games that all went down to the wire are wise to schedule.

Sarkisian addressed that at SEC Media Days when asked whether he still plans to play Notre Dame in 2028 and 2029. 

"Is the juice worth the squeeze or not? That's what we're all tasked with," he said. "So I don't know yet about Notre Dame. We'll see, because I think the committee has to show us what happens now and what's the value that they're placing on strength of schedule, and are we going to let a 9-3 team in as an at-large? We'll find out, and I think this year will be a great test to that of what that looks like."

Those statements are certainly more true after Saturday's results.

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