2014-15 Horizon Schedules

D-I teams get to play up to two exhibition games against non-DI opponents and/or closed door scrimmages against D-I opponents (no media, no fans, no statistics kept). Under Coach Ray the Titans have always played two exhibitions. Other teams, such as Youngstown State, routinely play two scrimmages. And most Horizon schools do one of each.

Here are Horizon League closed door scrimmages, alphabetically by school, per Jeff Goodman of ESPN:

Cleveland State @ Xavier, Nov. 1
Green Bay vs. Loyola in Milwaukee, Nov. 8
Northern Illinois @ UIC, Nov. 2
Bradley @ Milwaukee, Nov. 1
Valparaiso vs. Buffalo at Oberlin, OH, Nov. 1
Toledo @ Wright State, Nov. 1
Bucknell @ Youngstown State, Nov. 1
Akron @ Youngstown State, Nov. 7

Oakland and Detroit are the only schools that don't play at least one scrimmage this year. I have no idea how the finances on doing these scrimmages compare to hosting an NAIA team in an exhibition game. I do wonder if the Titans really benefit more from beating the crap out of Marymount than from a closed door scrimmage against a D-I opponent, especially since we typically play two NAIA schools early in the regular season anyway. Of course, I'm also sure it's just hard to schedule these, and that alone is a cost. And while most fans aren't terribly interested in the NAIA exhibitions, for we fanatics it is nice to have something in the open.