Another article on scheduling I-AAs

[Cocky]

link here (http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/other_sports/article/0,1406,KNS_304_3851721,00.html)

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[Lehigh Football Nation]

Lets break this one down.

1) Let's see the 2004 Big 12 vs. I-AA, shall we? Let's see these games that were "not an honest day's work", games that were "at the level of pro wrestling":

Iowa St. 23, N. Iowa 0
Kansas St. 27, WKU 13
Nebraska 56, WIU 17

3 games? This is what he's talking about? With only 1 blowout, mind you. All 3 schools were part of the lower-echelon of Big 12 schools - I think all of them had losing records. And none of the games IMO were embarassments to I-AA.

2) "I Heart the 70's" has a very selective memory - when the Big 12 had fewer schools (they were the Big 8), no divisional play, and no championship game. He's also conveniently forgetting scheduling of such 1970's "powers" such as Wake Forest, NC St. and Army.

3) To support his claim, our friend has made a chart detailing "elite-CONFERENCE members" or "elite independent members". But there's no definition of what "elite conference" actually means. Of course, Northwestern then counts as an "elite conference win" even though Northwestern was worse than Division II teams at the time.

Yet another example of a columnist that hasn't done his homework.

[arkstfan]

Well let's see.

First off, with the exceptions of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M most Big 12 schools don't draw MASSIVE crowds. Those remaining 8 draw well but they are in a different universe. They need home games but can't pay tons of money to get those games. That means they gotta play I-AA or they gotta give up a home game.

Second, the good folks at ESPN have rebuffed the Big 12's requests for more money and more games and told the league that if they want more games on TV they need to go on the road and that if they would the network would pay them just as if it were a conference game. Missouri took the bait and went to Troy and cut a deal to play Arkansas State in Kansas City (which likely WON'T be on TV because home team Arkansas State is refusing to move the game to Labor Day from the Saturday before), Oklahoma State has taken the bait going to FAU and Arkansas State, Iowa State in turn has balked on going to Troy. Texas has done or is close to a deal to go to Ohio State.

But the fact remains that the Big 12 has been coming up short of meeting its bowl obligations and they want to stay at home. For the most part they just aren't going to go on the road to play comporable Big 10 and SEC opponents so they are going to play more I-AA's or do multi-game deals with WAC/MAC/Sun Belt schools.

The writer can wax poetic about the 1970's but we no longer live in a world where TV means only on ABC or only on the morning regional conference game of the week. The world where schools were limited in the number of TV appearances they could make is gone. Back then if you weren't Top 20 you had to go play an inter-sectional game to catch ABC's eye if you dreamed of being on ABC regional much less national. Now the beef is getting games moved up from PPV and regional to ESPN and ABC.

[Husky Alum]

One other thing this author fails to mention.. in the 1970s, the impact of Title IX had hardly been felt by most major athletic departments, and additional home games weren't (a) needed by many teams to fund women's soccer, women's tennis and the like, (b) probably not as big moneymakers for the university, and (c) there were only like 15 or so bowl games, so most of the second tier teams in major conferences knew at the start of the season they weren't going to a bowl, so playing a patsy wasn't as big of a necessity.

It was easy to do a home and home back then, but now, why would Michigan do a home and home with Missouri, when it can do a home with Central Michigan and another home with say, Toledo, and get additional revenue every other year.

Yet, this guy is from Knoxvill where teams would LOVE to play, and Tennessee likely draws 55,000 for its spring game.

[arkstfan]

Guessing that Tennessee gets around $30 a ticket so they are reeling around $3 million per home game. With overheard and paying an opponent they pocket someplace in the $2.5 million to $2.2 million range per home game. That's before your bring concession revenue into the picture or required donations for seats and parking or the cost of club level and luxury box seats.

How can they ever go on the road and make that?

How do you explain that you gave up $2 million to $1.5 million in revenue for what you get paid for going on the road?

[Black and Gold Express]

Lets break this one down.

1) Let's see the 2004 Big 12 vs. I-AA, shall we? Let's see these games that were "not an honest day's work", games that were "at the level of pro wrestling":

Iowa St. 23, N. Iowa 0
Kansas St. 27, WKU 13
Nebraska 56, WIU 17

3 games? This is what he's talking about? With only 1 blowout, mind you.

Sorry, but I rate a 23-0 loss as a blowout. Anything over three scores is a bad loss, then add the goosegg and that's a blowout in my book. The only good game of the group was WKU @ KSU.

[TexasTerror]

What about TxSt-San Marcos? They lost 24-17 to Baylor in Waco. Had a chance to win it too...

[Mr. C]

On the way back to Colorado from the Wyoming-Appalachian State game last year, I listened to part of the Nebraska-Western Illinois game on the radio and a couple of days later got to see a tape of it. The Nebraska announcers commended WIU for its play (the Cornhuskers wore the Leathernecks down late) and I felt they were fairly competitive until the fourth quarter. It was typical of a mid-level I-A playing a decent I-AA team (I know that WIU was down last year). The lack of those extra scholarships gets teams in the fourth quarter. The UNI-Iowa State game was also similar to that, but the Panthers just couldn't find a way to score. The bulk of the game was not of blowout proportion. If this clown was looking for examples, he picked some bad ones. Typical lack of homework by a I-A writer, who goes in with a preconcieved idea.

[eagleskins]

I wish we could get a game against scrubs like Wyoming and Iowa State.

[bobcatfan06]

What about TxSt-San Marcos? They lost 24-17 to Baylor in Waco. Had a chance to win it too...


Texas State definately had a chance of pulling the upset. We had to start our Redshirt Freshman QB (which was his first start of his collegiate carreer) and one of our starting LB's was hurt. We fumbled a option pitch on our own 7 which cost us that 7 points.

[bobcatfan06]

I wish we could get a game against scrubs like Wyoming and Iowa State.

I woudln't exactly call Iowa State a scrub. They were in the running for the Big XII North up until the end of the season, right? Now Baylor, that's a scrub.

[purduecrum]

Guessing that Tennessee gets around $30 a ticket so they are reeling around $3 million per home game. With overheard and paying an opponent they pocket someplace in the $2.5 million to $2.2 million range per home game. That's before your bring concession revenue into the picture or required donations for seats and parking or the cost of club level and luxury box seats.

How can they ever go on the road and make that?

How do you explain that you gave up $2 million to $1.5 million in revenue for what you get paid for going on the road?

Why do top I-A teams need a 7th home game to draw in this extra $1.5-$2 million?

Answer - Coaches salaries. At Purdue even the assistants have 6 figure salaries! The additional game must now go to pay for that!