Washington State just happened to be having the worst span in their entire history. They had been to the Rose Bowl 5 years earlier. Mike Stoops had it finally looking like he was getting Arizona going, then they collapsed. Troy consistently wins their conference.
Fair enough on Mike Stoops, though I think "getting Arizona going" is up to semantics, considering the fact that their apex under his tenure (the last few seasons) was still seen swimming in mediocrity.
As for Washington State, come on. They had a solid run with Price for a couple years, but was that when OSU scheduled them? Or did OSU schedule them when they were absolutely pathetic for a few years, past their 2003 season? WSU has hardly ever been relevant in college football, at least when measuring their performances over the last 50 years. And I think you may be grasping for straws when referencing Troy's propensity for winning the Sun Belt Conference as an integral part of a debate.
How early do BCS non-con games get scheduled in advance? Seems pretty far, in most cases. I'm sure OU didn't schedule Miami (FL) planning on them being Randy Shannon's misfits, or to get to play 0-12 Washington, But, if that's your argument, scheduling BCS schools, planning them to be an easy win, does that mean Stoops scheduled them planning on easy wins, which they were (sans @Miami, without Bradford)?
Advanced scheduling varies. Some are only after a year, some aren't set to take place for almost 10 years. And your presumption is correct, OU scheduled Miami in the early 2000's (when they were arguably the alpha dog of college football) I believe, not planning on that program struggling a few years down the road.
In fact, OSU has played 5 non-con games against BCS schools the last 5 years, one each year. I'm not willing to do the research past the Big XII, but here are the teams that have not done the same:
Kansas (plus a year when Duke was their non-con BCS opponent)
Kansas State
Baylor
Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
Iowa State and Missouri aren't on the list, but the only BCS non-con games they've played have been vs Iowa (for ISU) and vs Illinois (for MU).
So, that's half of the Big XII, and I'd assume that most other BCS conferences would have about the same ratio.
That's a fair point, though as previously noted, Washington State (one of your 5 BCS teams) has been regarded as one of the most abhorrent BCS programs for quite some time.
Heck, OU played 7 non-con BCS games the last 5 years, three were against jokes: (a previously mentioned) 0-12 Washington, a non-bowl Miami and a horrible Cincinnati team. Besides that, the only games worth mentioning (besides Tulsa, I suppose, but OSU played them several times as well) were a game each against BYU, TCU and Air Force, the latter two in Norman.
How come Cincinatti in 2008 (#17 in the final polls), at Miami in 2009 (#19 in the final polls) FSU in 2010 (16th/17th), and at FSU this season (currently #25 in the USA Today poll) aren't worth mentioning?
With TCU being the one exceptional opponent. BYU and Air Force compare pretty well to Houston and Troy.
No, Houston and Troy (the years OSU played them) do not compare to 2009 BYU; the Cougars finished right outside the Top 10 in the polls with an 11-2 record. Neither Houston nor Troy were ranked at the end of the season, period.
So, I don't see how OU's non-con football schedule is incredibly different than OSU's.
It's incredibly different, because OU's non-conference schedule has been much more difficult. The past stats I displayed prove that.
Not only has OU's non-conferece schedules been stronger since 2007, but OU has scheduled these teams when they were playing great football more often than not. That's always been that way in the Stoops era.
So is OSU's non-conference scheduling easy, relative to others? Or to skyvue's own personal standard of 'easiness'?
From an outsider's glance, I viewed OSU's non-conference scheduling to be easy "per se". But that stat you gave juxtaposed to other Big 12 teams does bring a valid argument that OSU's schedule isn't really easy (compared to others)... I'll give you that. Nevertheless, there is no comparison between OU's non-conference scheduling tendencies and results, and OSU's.