Although the Big Ten claims they will no longer schedule FCS schools, other conferences continue to add future opponents from the lower division.
Yesterday, the NC State Wolfpack announced the addition of 15 games to their future football schedules, and nine of those games are against FCS teams.
Today the Delaware Blue Hens announced that they have finalized agreements to play five ACC teams between 2015 and 2020. One of those teams is NC State (Sept. 5, 2020).
Other ACC games scheduled by Delaware include North Carolina (Sept. 26, 2015), Wake Forest (Sept. 17, 2016), Virginia Tech (Sept. 9, 2017), and Pittsburgh (Aug. 31, 2019).
Delaware, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, also opens the 2014 season at Pittsburgh on Aug. 30.
With the College Football Playoff starting this season, some teams are upgrading their future schedules to improve their resume for the selection committee.
But others, even those in the ACC and SEC, still want to play FCS teams for a myriad of reasons. Whether it’s for athletic department revenue, bowl eligibility, or just an easy win, FBS vs. FCS games will likely continue to exist.
Well we will see if the playoff committee really values SOS. The ACC should be embarrassed loading up on a FCS games coupled with having 8 game conf schedule with 14 teams. * game conf schedule is asinine in a 6-1-1 format you play 6 teams in your conf twice every 12 years. They will be cream puff state more times then they play a supposed conf member, you shoud want to play more to get your top teams playing more cross division games and to produce compelling match ups for the fans. All P5 conferences should ban playing FCS schools or be like USC, UCLA. ND who have never played a FCS school. There are enough mid majors to play without playing schools have 20 less scholarships. All conferences shouls go to 9 game conf, that;s you ACC and SEC especially since you have 14 teams. They should also play minimum 1 P5 opponent and the rest can be mid majors.
The 9 game conference schedule does not fit well. I would rather see all conferences at 8 conference games + 3 out of conference power 5 games (on a rotating basis where you play all the teams) + 1 group of five game, also on a rotating basis. I too do not like the fcs games. In the 1920-1940’s these schools maybe could compete. They cant now and its not fair to the kids from those schools to have to get their brains beat in for money. The power 5 can set up a fund or use a spring scrimmage game. My school would sell 80,000 tickets to see a spring scrimmage game. Charge 5-10 bucks a head and there is their yearly payout. The fans want to see the major teams play and not Alabama vs podunk state.
I would also like to see the power 5 conference’s all go to 16 teams, take in the next best 15 programs and each have a conference championship game. The 8 team playoff model is the best, 5 conference champs + 3 wild cards.
If they go to 16 teams per conference then they definitely should go with the 9 conference games but I like the 8 team playoff scheme.
8 games with 14 teams is asinine. The ACC and SEC have it and it means you play 6 teams in your conference twice over 12 years. They will all play some FCS school more in 12 years than they play 6 of their conf members. The best idea with 14 teams is 6-3 format, no permanent cross overs.
I wouldn’t mind getting rid of divisions, having a 9 game schedule with 5 permanent rivals, and 4 rotating teams filling the schedule. This way you’d have a home-and-home with each team in the conference every four years.
Have the conference championship game with the two best teams.
I feel the ACC and SEC could schedule an FCS opponent every other year to help out those programs financially but it’s every year. Since they’re staying with the 6-1-1 format they should play at least two P5 programs each year and one mid-major, if they (the schools that notoriously schedule FCS opponents) were to do what i proposed then years where they don’t have a FCS school on the schedule they could put another mid-major or man up and put an additional P5 but that’s not going to happen. The SEC would never schedule three in one year because “the SEC is the toughest conference and that would hurt them overall….” boohoo, listen, if you’re really the toughest conference what do you have to worry about? I’ll tell you what, they’re worried that they will get exposed like Alabama did in the Sugar Bowl where the entire conference struggles in OOC play and all the SEC junkies realize the SEC may not be as strong as they were made out to be. There is no real measuring stick on the absolute strongest conference but I’d venture to say it’s a draw between the SEC and PAC-12 with the B1G and BIG12 following suit, then the ACC ( at least this would be my estimate for the strength of conferences).
I think the problem with the SEC scheduling four major OOC games would have to do with
injuries week in & week out. Please keep in mind the SEC went 6-3 in bowls games last year. Alabama is 4-1 in bowl games (3-0) National Champion games over the last 5 years, I don’t think Bama was exposed, may not wanted to be there but after the Auburn run back it would be hard to get over. Oklahoma had great talented players & great plays & deserved to win the game.
When I say exposed I in no way mean it shows they’re not a great team or that the conference is weak, I’m saying exposed in the sense that they’re not THE best. A lot of people, especially on ESPN, were stating Alabama was the best team and were arguing that they were still number one in 2013 and Oklahoma wasn’t even near the same caliber of team. I’m not taking anything away from Alabama’s accomplishments, they deserve quite a bit of the hype but come on now, I feel like they and a bunch of other teams (not just in the SEC) NEED to up the bar on OOC scheduling by quite a bit. Injuries is a serious issue in all sports, they’ll unfortunately happen regardless of the counter measures we put up but they still can be avoided to a extent but now with this logic we’re going from risking ourselves to risking others by going against teams that due to the lack of scholarships don’t have the same depth on their roster and any injury can seriously hurt the rest of their season. That’s selfish of these major schools but that’s a whole other discussion. You’re right though, Oklahoma has a lot of talent on that team and were not getting enough credit plus the SEC overall did well in the post season but the focus is on the road to the post season and national title contention. This SEC favoritism takes other programs out of the picture even if they deserve a shot because the view that the SEC is the best but I don’t see the hard evidence and you can’t convince everyone on it simply by looking at the SEC dominance of the BCS era for the BCS was flawed, the playoff system should have been set-in a long time ago.
As far as I can tell, there are only A HANDFUL of programs who don’t play an FCS school:
Michigan
Ohio State
Oklahoma
USC
UCLA
Arizona
Michigan has played UMass and App State in recent history. They open with App State, a game scheduled when App State was still an FCS program.
The two LA schools and Notre Dame are the last 3 schools who have *never* played an FCS game. ND never will as long as they’re on NBC, and I find it highly unlikely that the other two ever will either–unlike an Alabama or an OSU, they can’t just sell out the stadium against anybody. And they play in such a fertile recruiting ground that there’s no shortage of FBS teams who would leap at the chance to play there.
Arizona has played Northern Arizona every other year since 2002 and in years they don’t play they have another FCS team on the schedule.
Also I want to see Delaware vs. Michigan, just once, before I die. Just so people’s heads will explode.
Umass and App State are both D1 schools now so no they aren’t playing FCS schools. Horrible D1 schools, but D1 nonetheless.
Delaware has historically been a really good FCS program. I wouldn’t be surprised if they knock off one of those teams.
I think the FCS games should continue. Those teams cover a lot of their athletic budget with the guarantee money from those. Moving to a nine-game conference schedule, then requiring one FCS, one group of 5, and one P5 school would make for a balanced schedule.
Are you nuts? Requiring a FCS game is asinine. It should be 9 game conf, minimum 1 P5 OOC and the rest mid majors. Playing FCS schools is like NY Yankess playing their AAA far team and counting it in the MLB stats. FCS schools have 22 less scholarships per year, less resources, facilities, etc..The games serve no competitive purpose. They should be banned! The B10 is fasing them out when they go to 9 game conf schedule in 2017 as they should be by all conferences. The only programs never to play FCS schools are USC, UCLA, ND
I agree they are usually not competitive, but that guaranteed money goes a long way in helping keep the smaller athletic departments solvent. Plus every once in a while you get a special App State/Michigan moment.
These kinds of game are played in EVERY SINGLE college sport. I wouldn’t REQUIRE an FCS game per se, but mandating that they CAN’T be played is ridiculous. Let schools schedule how they want to schedule. If it gets abused, it will work itself out when it comes to time to be selected for the playoff. I don’t know who gets hurt when the big boys play the FCS games. Folks who complain about it are just grandstanding and/or B1G homers. Literally, NO ONE gets hurt by the big boys playing these teams and it would hurt the FCS guys a lot more than it hurts the big boys honestly.
The FCS games quite honestly are boring for the most part. The nine game schedule does not fit well for the ACC for several reasons. The ACC is perceived to be the weaker conference and more out of conference P5 games are needed in enhance their strength of schedule not a 9th conference game. Do away with the divisions and rotate the schedule, you play every team every other year. Best 2 teams play for conference championship.
I think that the B1G is the “perceived” weaker conference by people with knowledge.
Go ask your Ohio State fans how well things work out with say Clemson not to mention FSU.
The biggest beat down in the history of the “big-house” was put on Michigan by FSU.
Now maybe the B1G can hang with the likes of Pitt or Syracuse or Wake Forest but otherwise things are pretty clear.
Atlanta_Mafia I’m offended by that. Pitt would have a legitimate chance to beat every team in the B1G right now except for Michigan State and Ohio State. Syracuse would be about equal to half the teams in the mighty B1g right now too.
Is this the first evidence Delaware wants to upgrade? They are not that bad a fit for CUSA or AAC. needing an extra team.
Certainly better than UMass on the field
Wishing there was a like button right now, honest to god!
Some schools cant find an FBS opponent who will agree to visit without demanding a home and home. FCS is the only way to get a 6th or 7th home game.
I agree with one of the people that said if schools wanna schedule an FCS Opponent, instead of them playing during the season, play a full scrimmage game. Just like at the end of Spring Camp, Schedule Syracuse vs Maine, Texas A&M vs Texas St, Utah to play Portland St etc etc..
I might suggest those who feel no P5 team should be scheduling any FCS team may also want to go through schedules for other sports. I have the feeling these FCS programs are on just about every sports programs schedules in most other sports.
I read somewhere that Delaware, JMU, & Stony Brook were looking at moving to MAC. Then W&M, Richmond, & Nova would move to Patriot leaving Elon, UNH, Rhody, Albany, & Maine to blow in the wind.
Scheduling and FCS team is actually benefiting the FCS school because they get $$$$ to travel and get a loss in most cases.
Let the ACC go to 16 football teams…4 divisions of 4….Then play everyone in your division, and play everyone in another division (rotates every year). 7 Games so far…Then play 1 team in both of the last 2 divisions based on prior season placement. (If you finished 3rd, you play the 3rd place teams from the year before in the last two divisions…) 9 Conference Games. 3 Non-Conference games…The 2 Division winners with the best conference record play in the championship game…
Who would you add to the ACC?
UConn & Cincy
Even though Iowa St isnt a powerhouse, North Dakota St proved why teams do not schedule FCS teams. But many people forget, many of these FCS teams have FBS players that just couldnt qualify acedemically in most cases.