"Boy it sure is going to be tough sledding for a Big Ten team to win 9 conference games and no FCS scheduled games. If a Big Ten team makes it to the final ranking in the top 3, there will be no debating they absolutely earned it."
The bottom feeders of the MAC and the Sun Belt conferences will be able to name their own price for trips the Big House and the Big Erector Set in Happy Valley.
they no longer get to play Minnesota.
by simply realigning the divisions geographically. If I were them, I'd call the divisions "North" and "East."
NORTH: Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan State, Michigan
EASE: Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland
when the NCAA first allowed 12 regular season games every year. Wisconsin scheduled Cal Poly-SLO for their season finale in 2008 and barely squeaked out a 36-35 win. Yes, Barry, that certainly is "ridiculous."
that need those buy games to make program ends meet.
D2 was a true division with historical rivalries and a relatively even playing field that still promoted the best programs to rise to the top.
FCS is just D2 with a few more scholarships minus all the regional schools that were small but actually cared about football. The mad rush from D2 to FCS was predicated on buy games from the Big 10 and others to pay for their football and athletic budget.
This is indeed very bad for FCS schools...but it serves them right for their dumb desire to join up just so they could be paid to lose. They used to have honor...now they have nothing.
it ended up forcing St Mary's and Santa Clara (among others) to drop their programs, which is a real shame. Both of those schools had a long history with football and were great places to take in a game on Saturday afternoons in the fall.
I don't think it was a mad rush from DII to D1-AA (I refuse to call it FCS). The rush was from Division II to Division I in basketball, and and a lot of these schools were happy to bring along their football programs because it meant a chance to play some paycheck games. Even withe paycheck games, 1-AA football programs are still losing money, but now they get their name on the ESPN ticker once per year.
1-AA is not just Division II with more scholarships. It's Division 1 athletics for schools that want Division 1 sports but don't want to put 85 scholarships into their football program.
Even within 1-AA, there are basically three subdivisions. Non-scholarship football (Ivies, Pioneer, Patriot), limited scholarship (Northeast, soon to be Patriot) and full 63 scholarship (CAA, SoCon, Missouri Valley, etc.)
as well. Scheduling a 6-6 season with 4 body bag games just so your team can play in the Kraft Fight Hunger bowl is asinine.
Perhaps there are too many Division One programs, and for the FBS brand, it will be better if more of their teams play each other. In recent years, too many September weekends (and now November in the SEC) are lacking in the number of compelling games. College Football needs to get back to showcasing the greatest regular season in sports every Saturday for 14 weeks.
to make scheduling MAC teams unnecessary.
begin to land high profile recruits within their states as a result of becoming members of the Big 10, the conference should actually improve.
Whether enough eyeballs will be added to the Big Ten network in the New Jersey, Maryland television markets is another question.
Commentators have been saying that about UNC, Cal, UVA, Illinois, and others for decades. It hasn't happened.
Do you think kids from DC and Baltimore are going to magically line up to play in Champaign, IL or Lincoln, NE?
They both will still be recruiting against ND, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State for these kids.
The odds are very strong that neither will see a significant change of fortune in their new home.
against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Notre Dame and represent your own state?
for a mediocre program at a mediocre school?
Buffalo. SDS. Cal. Fla A&M. plus two open dates for 2013
that guy loved to schedule cupcakes
Telling them if they want their huge television paychecks they need to stop scheduling games that deliver a rating below 1.
It seems like there's more and more talk about better nonconference scheduling and more in-conference scheduling.
As much as I hate the Big10, it's good for college football to do this. I wish the NCAA would stop allowing 1 FCS game to count towards bowl eligibility.
Regarding more in-conference games, I wish there would be more games between the elites as a result of the alleged increased value in strength of schedule for the new selection committee. Instead it appears they are simply adding more in-conference games, and perhaps fewer bought-and-paid-for games,
Regarding FCS games, I am not sure banning them for lower tier FBS programs is necessary, but I agree this should be the case for any team that wants to compete for championships. Minnesota-NDSU was actually an intriguing game and did well in ticket sales - perhaps more a sign of how far the Minnesota program has fallen.
They were an above average D2 program without a conference title in a decade only 9 years ago.
Does anyone think Appy St or Troy could jump from FCS to D1 and win 2 national titles in a decade?
It's so so dumb
They won a title in D2.
But they were only above average when they jumped.
I know it's a nit ...