Big Ten changes rule on FCS opponents
According to NDSU's Athletic Director, the Big Ten amended its policy that prohibited the scheduling of FCS opponents. The Bison have an open date in 2018, and are looking to fill it with a B1G team.
With there being 9 conference games now, the new policy says that in years where a team only has 4 home conference games they can schedule an FCS opponent (so basically every other year).
http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/fcs-ad-big-ten-eases-st…
It's ridiculous that FCS teams play FBS. Obviously there are occassional upsets and it's good (money-wise and exposure, unless they don't mind being embarrassed on a larger scale) for the FCS schools, but the levels of competition are ridiculous. There are different divisions of football for a reason.
Get real man. Like when would that EVER happen?
Still too soon to joke about. Perhaps after a National Title, I can maybe let myself remember that year that has been scorched from my memory
What year?
...that year ended OK.
I think we'd have to go on a Saban's Alabama type run before I could get over that game. Like 3-4 national titles in a decade and then I'll feel like I can laugh about it a little bit
That season had the second best ending of all seasons for the 21st Century so far. When the Wolverines pantsed Florida in the Bowl game, it was the only time the seniors in the Hart-Henne-Long class won an OSU or Bowl game. Our beloved Michigan has lost the last two games of the season every year except three times going back to...I don't know, Drew Henson leading Michigan to its last win in Columbus?
1) 2011: beat OSU, beat Va Tech
2) 2007: lost to OSU, beat Florida
3) 2015: lost to OSU, beat Florida
Have I forgotten any year? We called 2007 the year of infinite pain, but compared to what came after, it was actually not a bad year.
I'll shut up now.
I'm pretty sure 2005 was the year that was named the Year of Inifinite Pain.
Yep... Iowa sure wishes that they never scheduled that dump known as NDSU. No competition there!
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing UM play NDSU, or JMU, or whatever other JV league champion will venture into Ann Arbor. Don't shy away from anyone, I say. Dump Eastern NC St and bring on NDSU or JMU! Michigan should be playing the best...
I disagree. There isn't any upside to scheduling good FCS teams.
I mean obviously its better for the team to compete against good teams but from a PR/rankings standpoint it is a lose lose. App State probably would have beaten a few other P5 teams that year but because it was FCS that's all we heard about.
Losing to Toledo in 2008 (a team that went 3-9 overall, 2-6 in the MAC) was infinitely worse than losing to Appalachian State in 2007 (a team that went on to win their third consecutive I-AA National Championship later that season).
But it doesn't get anywhere near the same amount of attention, even though 2007 Appalachian State would've beat 2008 Toledo by 30.
for scheduling elite FCS teams like Michigan did with that team from the Mountain Range. If you win, well you're supposed to win. If you lose, it's more like LOLZ you lost!!!! There's no upside to it especially when they're better than half of FCS teams. I would be NDSU, JMU would do well in most conferences.
You're right, but the problem is that every other sport has way too many D1 teams, not that football has too few. There's no way Alabama A&M's basketball team should be competing against Michigan, just like there's no way that Delaware State's football team should be competing against Michigan. The resources those respective schools have to put into sports simply aren't comparable.
There are FCS teams, like NDSU, that can hang with many D1 teams. But they're the exception more than the rule. 9 times out of 10, a FBS-FCS matchup will produce a completely uninteresting game.
Most MAC teams are far better than most FCS teams. The best 20% of MAC teams will usually have interesting games with the bottom 20% of B1G teams. The same can't be said of FCS teams.
In addition, restricting the pool of potential "gimme" games is an advantage, not a disadvantage. You might be right that there isn't a huge difference between Ball State and Northern Iowa, but I like the idea of making it tougher for major teams to schedule games they know they'll win. I'd rather have Michigan play games against mediocre G5 teams, like Oregon State and BYU a couple years ago, than play a couple MAC teams every year.
Top level FCS can hang. However there are many FCS Schools that have no business playing FBS schools.
Take Butler for example - FCS School DIV 1 - Lost to Div 3 Albion 3 straight yearsin the mid 2000's.
Those guys are on D-1 scholarship and losing to Div 3. Teams like that should not be cupcakes for FBS schools to beat on.
not completely surprising that they would lose to Albion. There are about a dozen non-Ivy League D-1 schools that are completely non-scholarship: San Diego (Jim Harbaugh's former stomping grounds) is another. Basically the entire Pioneer League.
An FBS team cannot play an Ivy, Pioneer or NEC league team and have that count toward Bowl eligiblity at all. Very unlikely to see such a game happen - although I wouldn't object to an exemption for Rutgers/Princeton for the 150th anniversary of their first game.
Princeton is now wearing the winged helmet, although in orange and black They claim Fritz Crisler invented it while he was a coach there.
that'll help Sparty get a 4th win, so.....improvement
Against NDSU? LOL are you new?
I was saying FCS teams in general
True. Last year they did manage to squeak by the world-beaters that are the 3-8 Furman Paladians.
If you haven't seen it, remember that some things can't be unseen.
This is never not too soon.
Brief story regarding the horror. I was at that fucking game along with my youngest son Evan. As luck would have it I had a trip to Los Angeles scheduled for the following week so I thought I could get away from all the Ohio yocals giving me shit about the game for a little while at least.
But on every sports-talk radio station in all of southern California that fucking game was ALL anybody wanted to talk about. I mean in California it was a big deal. So much so that they interviewed the AD for USC (not sure name) and to this day I'll never forget what he said.
"When you play a DII school you get no credit for a win and the crap beat out of you for a loss so, for the love of God, DONT SCHEDULE A GOOD ONE."
Fuck them. It pisses me off to no end that Michigan doesn't play Iowa this season. I am still amazed we lost that game. Such a shit show, that one.
We don't get Iowa back on the schedule until frickin 2019. Fortunately it's a home game, but that'll mean that it'll have been seven years since they last had to come to Ann Arbor.
All I know is that game will be an absolute bloodbath.
Iowa should hire somebody from MSU or Notre Dame and that game would be played at home as well as the next several games beyond that.
Considering that Iowa has signed Ferentz to an extension until roughly 2084, I don't think they'll be making any coaching changes anytime soon.
The value for B1G is they can backfill an open date with a willing FCS team (and they'll be plentiful) if an FBS team cancels.
Yeah I understand the reasoning. Makes scheduling easier, and none of the other P5 have developed a similar rule.
It's just comical (and not at all surprising) that Delany was so vocal on his high horse with the original rule, but leaks the change through a FCS AD without even as much as a press release.
Right. He was likely pressed by B1G AD's.
No one - outside of Madison or Lincoln - wants to schedule NDSU or the like. It's a total "break glass if emergency" move.
Somewhere in Madison Barry Alvarez is rejoicing.
Don't play FCS!!
I think we should schedule more games in neutral sites where I have to pay $300+ to get the equivalent seat that I have at Michigan Stadium, pay for airfare, and spend a couple of nights in hotels.