The blessings and curses of scheduling

Hard game:
The team plays more intense and the coaches show more in order to win the game. You truly see what a team is capable of because of this. A win is impressive almost no matter what in this case. The curse is that it's an extra game that you could lose right off the bat.

Cupcake:
The team gets reps and everything is played close to the vest. The guys are naturally not as intense and the coaches won't do as much scheme wise. It's an easy win, though so thats always good. The curse is you're expected to dominate and look like world beaters.

I guess my point is you can't judge a team off of this type of game whether it be they look good or if they look vanilla.