Why the National Media is clueless about I-AA

[Retro]

Ok, i pickup a copy of the USA Today college preview to verify what little coverage they give to I-AA.. They have the story about the I-AA name and then they have 1 column, which i expected briefly going over the some teams and then i get to the most irresponsible part..

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

Southeast Louisiana QB - Martin Hankins


He's been gone nearly 2 months and they still don't have a clue? :bang:

LINK: USA TODAY - I-AA Preview (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bonus/2005-08-26-division-iaa-capsules_x.htm)

[putter]

Didn't Swami say he and Otto Fad were supposed to write for their preview? IF so what happened to all their work for I-AA?

[putter]

Retro,

Just read the article from the link. It must have taken them all of 45 minutes to research and write that wonderful tribute to I-AA football.

[LBPop]

A local network TV affiliate in DC did their annual local college football preview last Wednesday. Of course it was dominated by Maryland, but when they doled out the airtime for the other "smaller programs" in the area, they lumped Howard and Georgetown (both I-AA) with DII and DIII teams. In locations where there are prominent I-A programs, everyone else is just "small". The coverage was condescending and I could characterize it as, "Oh, these nice young men play football too."

I must admit that being a I-A alumnus, I didn't really get it either until my son began hearing from I-AA schools and playing for one. I don't know how to overcome that I-AA ignorance, but I'm doing my part when anyone will give me a moment to educate them. :bang:

[McTailGator]

I don't know how to overcome that I-AA ignorance, but I'm doing my part when anyone will give me a moment to educate them. :bang:

It's realy VERY simple.

Just drop the A's from Division I. <Period>

Any D-I team (which we all are) that meets the current I-AA requirments for playoff consideration will simply compete in the NCAA Division I Playoff Championship Series, the only official Division I title offered by the NCAA now anyway.

Teams that want to do their own thing or participate in a bowl game, would be in a conference that has a bowl tie in.

[Cincy App]

Didn't Swami say he and Otto Fad were supposed to write for their preview? IF so what happened to all their work for I-AA?

I hope Swami wasn't involved in the USA Today preview for I-AA. Even the ASU schedule is incorrect!

Neither Swami nor Otto were listed in the "credits".

[GannonFan]

On the same topic, I was watching College Gameday this evening - it was their one hour season preview special, and Kirk Herbstreit was lamenting the scheduling preferences of IA schools once they are allowed to have 12 games - rather than scheduling powerhouses, he said we were stuck with the Sam Houston St's and the Western Kentucky's of the world and, in his words, no one wants to see that. Seems IAA has a long way to go to impress the nation at large. That's not going to dent my appreciation for IAA one bit though.

[GannonFan]

These places are trying to garner market share by kissing what they think is the biggest butt around, not report sports. If they were reporting sports they would not have log-rolling, poker, etc. on their "sports" stations. :rolleyes: I don't even watch them anymore. They are not representative of the "nation" but they are I-A media machines.

The problem is that a lot of people do, despite the plethora of poker and log-rolling contests. And like it or not, but College Gameday is a big deal in the college football world - it may not be the favorite of die-hards, but it's clearly the favorite of the less-stringent majority. And actually, I enjoy Gameday - it's good entertainment.

[SpiritCymbal]

I freaking love College GameDay. I'm actually looking forward to getting up before 6:30 every Saturday morning just to watch GameDay!

[JMU1992]

I can't say I disagree with Herbstreet. I think his point was that instead of scheduling big games, a lot of schools are just going to out and schedule a less attractive matchup, whether that be against a lower level I-A or I-AA teams. I love I-AA football, and the good I-AA teams can beat the mid to lower level I-A teams, but Herbstreet wasn't talking about those schools. He was talking about the top 40 I-A schools that are now going to go out and schedule lower level I-A or I-AA teams that have little chance at winning.
What game would you rather see? Tennessee vs. UTC or Georgia vs. Michigan.

[colgate13]

It is up to the I-AA school to make those I-A games interesting! Then they'll have something to report about...

[grizzpaw]

It is up to the I-AA school to make those I-A games interesting! Then they'll have something to report about...
i agree. until I-aa teams (like maine) go to these schools and beat them I-aa will not get good tv!

[McTailGator]

These places are trying to garner market share by kissing what they think is the biggest butt around, not report sports. If they were reporting sports they would not have log-rolling, poker, etc. on their "sports" stations. :rolleyes: I don't even watch them anymore. They are not representative of the "nation" but they are I-A media machines.


It's really funny that you mention Log Rolling and Poker in this post.

ESPN has been in Lake Charles all week and through the end of the weekend filming guess what?

The national Lumberjack competition, which of course includes Log Rolling on the lake. (:

Also, being filmed at the same site along the Lake Charles Civic Center SeaWall is an annual Professional RedFish tournament.

All while this is going on, the McNeese Cowboy Club is hosting the first of SEVERAL Texas Holdem Charity Poker Tournaments. (:

www.cowboystexasholdem.com

[rokamortis]

ESPNU and FOX have not shown me the goods for I-AA.

Fox College Sports seems to have a good number of I-AA games this year.

[Husky Alum]

Amazingly, the Boston Globe sent a reporter to cover the Bentley-East Stroudsburg State game last night... this while the Sox are home for the weekend, and the Pats are in training camp.

The Bentley coverage was akin to what an NU or Holy Cross would get for a normal home game.

[blueballs]

The only real ongoing coverage ESPN has given 1-AA during the regular season in recent memory was during the 2001 season when Adrian Peterson was in the process of breaking the career rushing, rushing TD, and consecutive 100+ yd game records. To their credit, they covered him very well, but I have been far from impressed w/their coverage on a week to week basis since.

[rokamortis]

List the national ones.

Ralph, I could be mistaken, but I am pretty sure that all of the games that are on any of the Fox College Sports stations (Pacific, Central, Atlantic) are national games. As far as I can tell is that these three channels air regionally based content but are distributed as a package for digital cable and satelite providers nationally.

These are the Big South games on FCS - not sure about the details of the other conferences but I have read that others are on FCS as well.

Sat., Oct. 1 VMI at Liberty 12:00pm
Sat., Oct. 15 Gardner-Webb at Coastal Carolina 3:30pm
Sat., Oct. 22 Gardner-Webb at VMI 12:00pm
Sat., Nov. 19 Coastal Carolina at Charleston Southern 12:30pm

[rokamortis]

I don't think so ralph - I have all 3 with my digital cable. The Southland press release said that they were national as well. These are in addition to the regional only Fox Sports Channels.

[bisonguy]

I don't think so ralph - I have all 3 with my digital cable. The Southland press release said that they were national as well. These are in addition to the regional only Fox Sports Channels.

I have all three with my digital cable, as well. In fact, they just rebroadcast last year's NDSU/UNC game on FOX College Sports Central last week.

[rokamortis]

We'll see, it hasn't launched yet for football. Last year of the 12 or so Fox channels I received the same thing on each for games, the regional pickup (I have Direct TV).

I understand - here is a blurb from ncta.com


Fox College Sports

National Cable Program Services

Fox College Sports (FCS) is FCS Pacific, FCS Central and FCS Atlantic which are three regionally aligned digital cable channels dedicated to college sports fans that offers the same coverage available on DIRECTV and DISH Network's out-of-market sports packages. FCS is programmed from the 20 FSN and FSN affiliated regional sports networks across the country. FCS delivers over 800 NCAA events per year, including almost 150 college football games, and nearly 500 college basketball games, plus extensive coverage of men's and women's competitions across a broad range of NCAA-sanctioned sports. Only FCS has the best teams from top conferences like the ACC, SEC, Big-12, PAC-10, and Big-10. Based on current distribution agreements, FCS is available to approximately 40 million digital homes on 2,200 systems, and is seen by viewers in the nation's 25 largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Tampa. Key MSO partners include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Adelphia Communications, Insight Communications, CableOne and the National Cable Television Cooperative. The most up-to-date telecast schedule is available 24/7 by logging on to www.foxcollegesports.com.


So it looks like it is a national tier only available to digital cable that picks and chooses what it wants from the regional stations that are available on satelite.

[rokamortis]

I have all three with my digital cable, as well. In fact, they just rebroadcast last year's NDSU/UNC game on FOX College Sports Central last week.

Yeah - I think it is a great resource for I-AA, hopefully they'll live up to their promise. I'm excited I can actually watch games from different parts of the country that I care about.

[rokamortis]

No - national. Their sources are the many regional channels.

They are 3 separate national channels that are a part of a package. If something shows on FCS Atlantic in SC, it also shows in ND and CA on FCS Atlantic. But FCS Pacific can choose somethuing else to show. This is a national way to distribute previously regional programming.

[rokamortis]

Well - FCS wouldn't affect you anyway since you are on DirecTV. Sucks that you get hammered by blackouts, seems like it shouldn't work that way.

[rokamortis]

There are very few true national providers Ralph. I'm not the one calling it national, they are. They can call it national because it is offered all over the nation. I bet even in Chicago.

edit - and the FCS will show the same I-AA games to everyone like the others - don't confuse it with the regional channels.

[rokamortis]

Cable in Chicago is not comprehensive and not national. Cable in SC isn't either. What you can get is not what I can get. DTV is national meaning everyone who orders it can get the same thing. It is available in millions of locales. EXCEPT for the regional packages like Fox. You already posted that there are three Fox CF packages that pick what they want to show, not the same in every region. That means regional. If you can get CSTV and ESPNU you get the same games no matter where you are. What I want is access to every game Fox broadcasts around the nation. Fox should make sure that is available.

Ralph - thats what I said but you drew a wrong assumption. I never said they show different programming in different regions.

There are 3 national channels that show regional content - they are all offered in the same package - people get all 3. Each of these channels will pick and choose what they want to show from the different regional channels.

So - as I said earlier - FCS Atlantic in SC will show the exact same programming as FCS Atlantic in California. FCS Central will show the same programming in Florida as they do in Oregon. FCS Pacific will show the same programming in Virginia as they do in North Dakota.

FCS is offered on the majority of major cable providers. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it isn't a national channel. That's like saying Boomerang isn't a national channel since I can't get it on my provider.

I understand what you want - and I don't know why DirecTV doesn't offer that to you. There have been many others that have previously said that they don't get blacked out with their DirecTV package, that they get the different games on the different regional channels. Perhaps it is the Chicago market or maybe your account is messed up?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

In our area, we sometimes get stuck with a meaningless I-A game, and not even Temple or Rutgers. Several times we got stuck with bad C-USA and Big East matchups, when there were I-AA games I was way more interested in. A game aired on CSTV made it more likely that it would be broadcast regionally, but most of the time "dem program directors must got some cream-o-what fer brains". I mean, TCU versus Rice? I would much rather see Montana at Eastern Washington or a good Gateway game.

I'm afraid even CSTV is abandoning I-AA fooball live to broadcast not just bad, but HORRIBLE I-A matchups like Navy vs. Temple.

[blukeys]

I'm afraid even CSTV is abandoning I-AA fooball live to broadcast not just bad, but HORRIBLE I-A matchups like Navy vs. Temple.


Let's not pick on Navy. Temple and ANY TEAM is a horrible matchup!! ;) ;) :) :)

[rokamortis]

I have yet to see that FCS is "on the majority of major cable providers" and it is national.

Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Adelphia Communications, Insight Communications, CableOne and the National Cable Television Cooperative.

As far as waiting to see I understand but I'm looking forward to it and hope it doesn't disappoint.

[ngineer]

It is up to the I-AA school to make those I-A games interesting! Then they'll have something to report about...

Beat me to it '13'. If our I-AA bretheran scare the bejeezus out of these 'powerhouses'-or even knock a few off, then the condescension will stop.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Comcast Corp.

Negative, Captain. I ain't seen it here yet.

[rokamortis]

Negative, Captain. I ain't seen it here yet.

http://www.comcast.com/Benefits/CableDetails/Slot2PageOne.asp - in the middle of the page.

[bisonguy]

Negative, Captain. I ain't seen it here yet.

Better contact your local cable provider. According to the 2005 Lehigh Broadcast Schedule (http://www.collegesports.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/patr/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/fall-broadcasts), there will be three Lehigh football games tape delayed on Fox College Sports Atlantic as well as three live games.

FWIW- I found somewhere that Fox College Sports (Atlantic, Central, and Pacific) is in three million homes. Of course, this number does not include the Fox regional sports networks, which are the primary "feeds" of the Fox College Sports channels. Ex.-The UNC/NDSU game was on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain last year, but Fox Sports North also picked up the live feed along with Fox College Sports Central. Fox College Sports Central the rebroadcast the game two or three times the following week and on a few occasions since then.

[bisonguy]

CSTV is in more than 65 million homes.

I LOVE rebroadcasts of I-AA BTW!

Did CSTV do something recently to increase their market penetration recently? That's a very good number, considering there's an estimated 109 million television households.

I got the Fox College Sports numbers from this article- 3 fledgling networks trying to give it the college try (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050703/SPORTS/507030501/1004/SPORTS), which stated CSTV is in 10 million homes. :confused:

I want my CSTV! (CableOne in my area currently doesn't offer it :mad: )

[bisonguy]

......

I LOVE rebroadcasts of I-AA BTW!

Speaking of rebroadcasts- 2004 SE Louisiana vs. McNeese at 5 AM CST on Fox Colllege Sports Central!!!!! (for those that want to stay up late or get up early)

I'm guessing there will be a few I-AA rebroadcasts this week.

[bisonguy]

What channel on direcTV?

Don't know why DirecTV doesn't have the Fox College channels. :( One of the reasons why I haven't dumped cable, yet. I enjoyed watching some of the Gateway and Southland games.

Here's the listing of I-AA games on the FCS channels last year-
http://msn.foxsports.com/id/1523311
http://msn.foxsports.com/id/1523307

[arkstfan]

Don't know why DirecTV doesn't have the Fox College channels. :( One of the reasons why I haven't dumped cable, yet. I enjoyed watching some of the Gateway and Southland games.

Here's the listing of I-AA games on the FCS channels last year-
http://msn.foxsports.com/id/1523311
http://msn.foxsports.com/id/1523307

The Fox College Channels are not offered on satellite because your monthly payment for the sports package gives you all the Fox Regionals. Fox College is just a repackage of their content. Whatever game is offered on Fox College is available on at least one Fox Regional. Why give up a transponder slot on that $12 fee for the the sports package to show what is already on.

[rokamortis]

Just to see the I-AA games airing on FCS I scanned the different conference press releases to see who had games on FCS. I may have missed some, if I did please post the schedule for the team / conference. All of these specifically said FCS in the release, if it was listed just as a Fox regional then I didn't list the game below.

Big South
Sat., Oct. 1 VMI at Liberty * 12:00pm
Sat., Oct. 15 Gardner-Webb at Coastal Carolina * 3:30pm
Sat., Oct. 22 Gardner-Webb at VMI * 12:00pm
Sat., Nov. 19 Coastal Carolina at Charleston Southern * 12:30pm

Gateway
Sept. 24 Missouri State at Sam Houston State Huntsville, Texas 6:00 p.m. (tent.)
Oct. 15 *Illinois State at Southern Illinois Carbondale, Ill. 6:00 p.m.
Oct. 22 *Southern Illinois at Indiana State (HC) Terre Haute, Ind. 2:00 p.m.
Oct. 29 *Youngstown State at UNI Cedar Falls, Iowa 4:00 p.m. (tent.)
Nov. 5 *UNI at Western Kentucky Bowling Green, Ky. 4:00 p.m.
Nov. 12 *Missouri State at Western Illinois Macomb, Ill. 1:00 p.m.

Southern
October 15 Georgia Southern at Appalachian State, 3:30 p.m.
November 5 Furman at Georgia Southern, 4:00 p.m.

Southland
Sat., Sept. 24 6:03 p.m. Missouri State at Sam Houston State
Thu., Oct. 20 7 p.m. Stephen F. Austin at Sam Houston State
Sat., Nov. 5 4 p.m. Southeastern Louisiana at Sam Houston State
Sat., Nov. 12 1 p.m. Texas State at Stephen F. Austin

[rokamortis]

Did CSTV do something recently to increase their market penetration recently? That's a very good number, considering there's an estimated 109 million television households.

The 65 million is a little misleading. The CSTV website says "College Sports TV has agreements with distributors representing more than 65 million homes, including the top six distributors: Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner, Charter, Cox and Adelphia." So, the networks that have deals with CSTV represent 65 million, not that all of them actually get CSTV.

FCS says that 3 million actually get FCS and that a potential 40 million can get it.

This article last year said that CSTV is on 7 million actual vs FCS 3 million actual. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/28/Sports/Remote_patrol__Attent.shtml
"Fox College Sports is the first threat to College Sports Television, which started two years ago and is seen in 7-million homes (to 3-million for FCS)."

[bisonguy]

Those aren't FCS channels, they are Fox regional channels... already on the sportspack of DTV. But they are blacked out by regional Fox channels. FCS is new this year.

Ralph- those are the Fox College Sports Channels

FCS was around last year, from the same article before-3 fledgling networks trying to give it the college try (http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050703/SPORTS/507030501/1004/SPORTS)
Fox College Sports, introduced last year, is a package of three regional channels (Atlantic, Central, Pacific). It is in 3 million households. It has Big 12 and Pacific-10 games.

I don't see Fox College Sports in the channel lineup for the DTV sports pack, only the Fox Sports Nets- http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/learn/Packages_SportsPack.dsp

I-AA doubleheader on Fox College Sports Central on tuesday- 11:00 PM CST- 2004 Western Kentucky at Eastern Kentucky, and immediately following (2:30 AM CST wednesday)- Southeast Missouri State at Southern Illinois