Anatomy of a Schedule

This story originally appeared in GAMEDAY - Troy's Official Gameday Program

Picture Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind." Swap in Troy Athletics Director Brent Jones for Russell Crowe and replace the math equations with college football teams across the country. Now you've got just a small glimpse into what took place over a two-month period of time to ensure that the Trojans played a full 12-game slate with six games at The Vet in 2020.

"Russell Crowe's character was writing on walls, he was writing on windows, he ran out of places to write because he had so much information," Jones said. "That's how it was happening with us. I had four different white boards that we were able to flip over and cover from top to bottom. It was happening so fast, that in the morning we had games and then by the afternoon the games were gone.

"Typically, you'd schedule those four non-conference games six to eight years out," Jones said. "We did four games in a five-week period which is insane when you think about it."

Troy's original 2020 non-conference schedule had been set for quite some time. The home opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and a road trip to Tennessee were announced in early 2019. The Trojans' much-anticipated home game against NC State was scheduled as a home-and-home back in 2014 with the Wolfpack originally scheduled to play in The Vet in 2017, while a trip to UMass closed the book on a home-and-home series with the Minutemen that was also inked in 2014.

Within a matter of weeks, all four of those games were gone.

The SWAC pushed its season to the spring. The Big Ten canceled its fall campaign. The ACC adopted a model where schools couldn't play non-conference games on the road and UMass canceled its season.

That left Troy with just eight Sun Belt games on the books and four gaping holes to fill.

"At last count, we went through 197 different schedule combinations," Jones said.

The final combination was an attractive one for both fans and the football program alike. A rare in-season home-and-home with former Sun Belt rival Middle Tennessee, a trip to perennial power BYU and the addition of Eastern Kentucky to fill out the six-game home slate.

"BYU was a great opportunity to get a game guarantee plus a game on ESPN; plus, they will play at The Vet in 2026," Jones said. "We were able to hook back up with an old rival of ours that we haven't played in a long time in Middle Tennessee. The game fit in our footprint with it being only a five-hour drive, so it was financially viable from a department standpoint and a game that fans from both teams could travel to."

On Aug. 20, Jones and Troy Athletics released its new schedule to glowing reviews from fans, media and most-importantly the student-athletes themselves. But just like everything else in 2020, nothing is set in stone and the schedule that Jones and his staff worked so hard to put together has already been turned on its head.

Troy's new season opener against ULM was pushed to Dec. 5 and the "Battle for the Belt" at South Alabama was moved to Dec. 12 due to COVID-19 issues at both schools. Troy's new home opener (today's game) was originally scheduled for a Thursday night before shifting to Saturday morning and then eventually to its final 2:30 p.m. spot.

The safest thing to say about football scheduling in 2020 … don't write anything in Sharpie!

Troy University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos