Tag Archives: FCS football

This issue will just fade away

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The prevailing opinion from talking with Craig Bohl yesterday on the status of FBS teams playing FCS teams is the Big Ten Conference is so far alone on that mandate and most likely will remain so. Bohl, who is one of 18 on the Board of Trustees for the American Football Coaches Association that met this week in Phoenix, has some pretty good connections across the country and if his vibe in talking with these folks is that nobody else seems to be in the mood not to schedule FCS teams, then that’s a pretty good source.

The general reasoning behind the Big Ten scheduling model, you could probably assume, is a better TV matchup makes for better ratings, and hence more revenue for the league. And they believe FCS teams don’t make for good TV matchups, which in several cases is true. But does the average viewer/fan out there really care about the difference between Penn State playing Ball State or Youngstown State?

I see it as an issue that was brought up by the Big Ten and will just go away. And I put it under the bigger-fish-to-fry category. Also, this decision was made by athletic directors/administrators and eventually, some coaches in the Big Ten whose teams have no sniff at a national title may come to the conclusion bowl-eligible wins are more important than so-called good TV matchups. If all FBS teams took FCS games out of the equation, you have to wonder if there would be enough bowl eligible teams out there. That’s a lot of victories off the table.

Indiana has to play an FCS team. So should Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue.There are a few others like Iowa and Penn State who are in the midst of being mediocre. And, really, the Big Ten should ask this question for the greater good of college football: What is the right thing to do?

Bison Video Blog: Sunday FCS Ramblings on Big 10 Schedules

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Well the news isn’t good for the FCS; the Big 10 announced Sunday that they a scheduling model for 2016 that will allow for 9 conference games; at least 1 game against a BCS conference team and NO FCS games. There are many ripples to this; none bigger than NDSU’s scheduled game at Iowa in 2016, Gene Taylor told me tonight he will speak with Iowa AD Gary Barta this week; but is going forward with the thought the game will be played until he hears otherwise. More reaction here.

Bison Video Blog: Spring Scrimmage #2

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Sorry for the delay on this folks; my dad is in town this weekend; got his first look inside the Fargodome today and saw another impressive showing by the Bison defense. Danny Luecke; walk-on from Fargo South; continues to impress at defensive tackle; while Zach Colvin; CJ Smith and Jordan Champion are all getting serious looks at the opposite corner from Marcus Williams. Today was also the first real flash we saw from Carey Woods; the standout from Bemidji; Woods; who had clearing house issues last fall camp and got a delayed start with practice; told me after the scrimmage that the 2 weeks of practice before last year’s title game he finally started to find his footing and feels more comfortable as the spring goes along. He will warrant our attention come this week leading into the Green and Gold game. Plenty more breakdown with Jeff and I; enjoy!

Quick Update

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NDSU may yet play a 6th home game in 2013.

The hope for an 6th home game and 11th overall game still lives for NDSU as of this Monday. Spoke with NDSU Athletic Director Gene Taylor tonight who told me he’s had some receptive conversations with “an East Coast FCS school” about coming to Fargo for a 6th home game.  He would not be more specific than that but said he’s feeling a bit more optimistic about making this game happen and be in Fargo.

I’m sure it has to be frustrating to see other schools schedule not just one but two “non-counters” on their schedules; like Northern Colorado; playing two D-2 schools to begin the season. I also asked Taylor about how many options are out there that are still looking for games and he told me there are “numerous” teams that we don’t know that still have schedules open; and he has broached the idea of paying a school that is already playing a D-2 to get out of that game and come and play NDSU; but that may be a last option.

Some really good reading for you diehards tonight; first from the Springfield; Missouri newspaper; which reads that Loyola was a unanimous choice to get into the Missouri Valley; that will become official on Friday.  Also; Joe Scalzo; who does a great job of covering Youngstown State has some interesting perspective from what can only be described as a “tough” offseason for FCS; from the Barry Alvarez no-more FCS comments; to GSU and App State leaving and the fight for recognition nationally. It’s worth a read; folks. 

Taylor added to me that no conversations have been held with him about the Horizon League; adding that Oakland has publicly stated they are not leaving the Summit League; but with Loyola’s movement on Friday; and the movement of Davidson to the A-10 later this week; we can expect something by the end of the month on that front in my opinion. New video blog with Jeff and I coming tomorrow.

Wisconsin is not god

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I don’t know Barry Alvarez. Never met him. Never been in the same room as him. And for the most part, never have talked to anybody about the Wisconsin athletic director. But there are a couple of things not sitting well with my Clear Thinking Radar and it really isn’t directly about to his statement that Big Ten Conference teams shouldn’t play FCS programs.

If the Big Ten moves forward on it, FCS teams will go on just fine with the exception of some lost revenue from those guarantee games. In the case of NDSU, I’m of the corner that Minnesota was not going to schedule the Bison until after the Jerry Kill era for certain and most likely when most of us near retirement age. They are non-conference games and should be treated as such. If the Big Ten doesn’t want FCS games, so be it.

The problem I have with Alvarez through all of this is the manner of which he went about it, like his word was final and the heck with the bottom teams in the Big Ten. It was discussed, but never voted on and therefore not a steadfast rule. Yet, he goes on a Madison radio station and talks as if it’s a done deal. It almost stops just just of bullying the rest of the conference. I would be surprised if Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue and even the Gophers would, or even should, be on board with it. The key in FBS is six wins, which gets you bowl eligible. If Minnesota is dropping Northern Carolina these days and doesn’t have the FCS option, how many New Mexico State’s of the world can a team schedule? Eliminating FCS games just means there will be more matchups with MAC or Sun Belt teams that sound like they should be in the FCS. By leaving FCS teams off the schedule, and the 95 percent success rate or whatever it is FBS teams have in those games, then Barry is depriving half his league of a better chance of the (fill in the blank) Bowl.

And one more point on Barry. What athletic director takes over a team when the head coach leaves before the Rose Bowl? Reminds me of Alexander Haig and “I’m in charge.” Put an assistant on the job.

The Price Of Moving Up

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Jerry Moore, Appalachian State Head Coach

It’s ironic to me as NDSU gets set to face Wofford out of the Southern Conference this weekend in the FCS Playoffs that the Terriers very likely in a couple years may be the powerhouse of the SoCon, just because the two teams that we have grown used to ruling that league; will try things out in the big boy division. And it appears that for some schools you either better be behind that decision or you’re out. The most glaring example of this came Sunday when Appalachian State fired longtime head coach Jerry Moore, the man who put App State on the map. Here’s a pretty good column illustrating the difference of opinion in Boone.

 

Moore won 215 games at App State, 10 conference titles and oh yeah that run of 3 straight FCS titles from 2005-07, perhaps even more impressive was App State’s 2007 win at Michigan that every college football fan will remember. Moore was outspoken that the Mountaineers should stay  in FCS, where they draw 30K for each game and are consistently a playoff contender. App State Charlie Cobb thought differently, even going so far back in May to publicly court Conference USA for App State, this is a letter he sent to the student base about C-USA.

Georgia Southern’s longtime athletic director Sam Baker resigned over just this disagreement over the summer. You’ll remember the story came out in April that GSU was all for moving up to FBS, just waiting for a conference invite that never came. The student body voted for an increase in fees to make it happen fiscally but Baker never got behind the move that his president wanted so badly. There is one striking contrast to these schools where Moore was pretty public about staying FCS, Jeff Monken has tweeted constantly about moving the Eagles up to FBS.

Each of these schools have not received any official invitations from FBS leagues, with the Sun Belt’s recent additions, one figures that Georgia Southern can’t be too far away from an invite, while Appalachian State’s long-time hope of playing in the same league with East Carolina seems to be shot with the Pirates on their way to the Big East. I wonder if moving  up to the next division is worth losing two guys who helped lead the schools to national prominence and distinction.

Bison Video Blog: Selection Show Recap

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Well we now know the field of 20; NDSU does receive the top seed and will be home throughout, the stunner is the possibility of seeing SDSU in just a couple weeks. Jeff and I also would like to brag that we accurately predicted the field of 20 last night, in case you dont believe us, feel free to watch last night’s Bracketology. Here’s our recap show on who’s in and who’s out.