(06-07-2012 09:26 AM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote: (06-07-2012 08:34 AM)arkstfan Wrote: (06-06-2012 04:18 PM)HP-TBDPITL Wrote: (06-06-2012 03:30 PM)arkstfan Wrote: I generally don't like to see FCS games on the schedule, except when it is an in-state FCS. That's just a win-win all the way around, national thoughts on the schedule be damned it's good for the state and good for the fans.
I agree with this, if you are going to play them, they should be in state.
But I dont think they should count toward Bowl eligibility...its not like the FCS teams are allowed to qualify for a Bowl if they win.
To expand on my previous point, its like an MLB team playing their Triple A team and then counting that win toward whether they make the playoffs.
In the late 80's the NCAA adopted new bowl standards and said I-AA would not count. Around 1995 the rule was changed, you could count one every four years. That has since been changed to count one every four years. The Big 8 or Big 12 (can't remember the year) pushed for the 1 in 4 change. The FCS schools asked for the more recent change arguing that access to money games would stem the tide of move ups.
Not sure why FCS schools matter to the FBS. If we are currently going to 125 or so FBS schools (maybe Idaho goes back, not sure about NMSU), then there is enough inventory for OOC games, ESPECIALLY if conferences move to 9 (or even 10) conference games because of television. I have said this before...there is no TV market for these FBS v FCS games...no one wants to see McNeese State or Elon. There is a localized stadium market for in state games, thats fine. FBS programs are putting them on the schedule to pad their bottom line (gate revenue), but TV is beginning to dictate that it wants more conference and FBS games, not FCS. The ACC is slow to get the memo. They continue to schedule more FCS games than anyone else and they continue to look silly on the national stage when their records are all propped up like they mean something.
A Bowl eligibility move to 7-5 and/or a conference games move to 9 will eliminate scheduling 2 FCS schools, because you will have to win at least 6 FBS games to qualify. That will decrease the number of FCS games, why would you schedule a game that wouldnt help you toward Bowl eligibility? Right now you can get away with it because you only have to have 5 other wins.
What would make a lot of sense is college football going to a late August preseason scrimmage against a FCS program. A gate could be charged and the FCS program receive a % of the gate for coming. Then play your 12 games against FBS programs. Everyone wins, no one really loses money and we see better football because teams are able to work out the kinks.
The powers that be actually do have some interest in the overall health of the game. I-AA/FCS is many ways the great semi-failed experiment of college football. It hasn't done what it was supposed to do fully but it hasn't been a total bust either.
Climb in the Wayback Machine with my boy Sherman for a quick tour.
First stop 1977.
There is only Division I. The football scholarship limit is 105 for Division I but limits vary by conference. Some leagues are capped at 90, some 85, some 75, and the Ivy is at zero. There are around 180 schools in Division I football. A few schools are playing Division II or III football while Division I in other sports. There are only 26 spots in the 13 bowl games. Seven of those spots are reserved for the champions of the Southland, WAC, Big 10, Pac-8, SEC, SWC, and Big 8. A school can finish in the Top 25 and be excluded from a bowl. Roughly 150 schools are going to sit at home even if they are conference champs. Those include the Missouri Valley, MAC, PCAA/Big West, and Big Sky, where it isn't uncommon to win the league and not have any post-season opportunity. New to Division I is the SWAC and next year the MEAC, Ohio Valley, and Yankee are moving in. The NCAA meets and a few different things come into play. One is the sharing of the NCAA TV contract with ABC. Another is competitive balance in a system where schools are offering from 105 to 0 scholarships. Another key issue is the lack of access to post-season. There is tension over spiraling costs. Already a number of champions routinely stay home and now the Division is growing larger and there is tension that maybe the top programs should split off. A compromise is reached to deal with these issues. Division I football will be split into I-A and I-AA. The SWAC, MEAC, Yankee, Big Sky, and Ohio Valley head to I-AA with the promise that they will get some limited TV access and at least four of them will advance to a four team playoff.
The question of scheduling arises and is dealt with simply. If you are Division I-A, you have to play seven I-A opponents. Because of old rivalries it becomes not common but not unheard of for a I-AA to host a I-A. Membership criteria is simple. Sponsor X number of sports and you are I-A. If you don't meet that, then you can stay I-A by averaging having a 30,000 seat stadium and averaging 17,000 attendance once every four years or 17,000 every year with a smaller stadium, or averaging 20,000 home and away.
For the most part this a voluntary reclassification. I-AA gets a 70 scholarship limit and I-A agrees to reduce to 95 scholarships.
Next stop 1981.
NCAA is meeting and now the tensions among the 137 I-A schools are far more about the money. The number of bowls has increased to 16, meaning 32 open slots. Eight of those are reserved for conference champs: Big West, MAC, WAC, SWC, SEC, Big 10, Pac-10, Big 8, the Southland had just lost their slot in the Independence.
To cut down on how many fingers get in the NCAA TV pie, they make the old attendance and stadium size criteria mandatory. Instead of it being a way for smaller athletic departments to stay I-A if they didn't spend enough on sports, it becomes the test of whether to stay I-A. Fewer schools go down without a fight this time. Around 20 seek a one-year waiver because they have some expectation that they can actually meet the criteria. Arkansas State comes the closest to actually getting the waiver but falls a few votes short. Cincinnati actually gets reclassified and heads to court and ends up getting their waiver.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/NCAANewsArchive/...821018.pdf The MAC loses part of their membership but they are able to reclassify I-A quickly (there was no transition period at the time). The NCAA says if more than half your members meet the requirements, you don't have to. It gets so close for the MAC that the league actually votes to expel Eastern Michigan and litigation threats and lots of lobbying eventually allows them to stay. The Ivy, Southern, and Southland become I-AA leagues (Southland was two schools short, McNeese opted to drop, Louisiana-Lafayette opted to go indepent). The Missouri Valley becomes a mess Tulsa, Wichita State and New Mexico State survive as I-A while the rest get forced down. NMSU leaves for the Big West while Tulsa and Wichita go independent in football but block the Valley name from being used in football, starting in 1985 the Valley schools compete in I-AA under the Gateway banner with others.
Akron makes the move to I-A in 1987, Louisiana Tech follows in 1989.
Around 1989 the NCAA wants more integrity for the "exploding" number of bowl games (18 bowls now for 107 schools with Akron and La.Tech now in I-A) and adopts legislation that will require 6 wins against I-A teams to become effective the 1991 season to allow schools time to adjust their schedules.
Arkansas State and Nevada join I-A in 1991 to take I-A to 109 schools. After that, another 11 go I-A/FBS soon to be followed next season by four more, then three more over the next three years.
The NCAA never delivered on most of the promises to FCS. They went from I-A being able to play up to four FCS, to today's 1 that counts. The TV promises came through (thanks to the Georgia/OU law suits striking down the TV deal).
The future of the BCS will shape what FBS looks like. Right now there isn't enough money floating around to make it a clear-cut winner to be FBS vs. FCS in most leagues, the BCS revenue share to the non-AQ conferences won't the scholarship difference between FBS and FCS at most schools.
The key is to strike the right balance in sharing revenue and access to revenue with schools on the fringes.
If you share too much, you create a large incentive for schools to reclassify. We've seen that in Division I basketball. Throw too much out there and FBS swells back to 150 or 180.
But if there is nothing out there and no game guarantees or post-season access, you have programs closing up shop or opting to go down a class or two in significant numbers. That creates a real problem for the elite, they like to play a lot of home games, they like the gate receipts, they like the high probability of winning. Last thing many of these schools want is being stuck with games that are harder to sell (see Ohio State and LSU lifting long-standing bans on playing in-state schools both cited increases in no-shows).
A lot of the stuff done in the NCAA is an attempt to walk the fine line of not encouraging rapid reproduction of the small fish so that the pond is choked out but at the same time not starving out the small fish to keep the pond healthy.
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MWC Board supports four-team playoff as a "progressive step"
