FBS (vs. FCS) Conference Breakdown

[sikolec]

Just for a little fun conversation, I decided to break down the FBS conferences (in particular BCS conferences and the MWC) to see which FBS conferences are most willing to play FCS teams. Very interesting to see that the PAC-10 has the fewest games against FCS teams (both games and percentage wise), while the ACC has the most. Here is the breakdown:

ACC (12 teams) - 14 FBS vs. FCS games (1.167 per team); only Va Tech does not have one.

Big East (8 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (1.125 per team); all teams have at least 1

Big Ten (11 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.818 per team); Ohio St. and Purdue do not have one

Big 12 (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.750 per team); Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Texas A&M do not have one

PAC-10 (10 teams) - 4 FBS vs. FCS games (0.4 per team); only Arizona, Arizona St., Cal, and Oregon St. DO have one

SEC (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.75 per team); Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU do not have one

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYU, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one


No disrespect to FCS teams. I personally love to see the FCS teams challenge the the top FBS teams and take the money in the process! But it's interesting to see which conferences are willing to go out and take an FBS opponent every week as opposed to taking the easy way out with an FCS game (again no disrespect). I applaud teams like Oklahoma and Virginia Tech to go out in the opening week and challenge themselves against the best teams in the country. I personally would rather see teams beat each other up week in and week out then taking the easy win for a "practice" game like Florida did in week 1. I simply love when a team like Iowa tries to go in for this easy "practice game" only for it to backfire in their face and drop in the polls for barely beating UNI.

[JoshUCA]

I don't know if you are referring to the remaining games or the team's entire schedule, but Arkansas does (did) have a game against an FCS team in Missouri State.

[MSUBear42]

I don't know if you are referring to the remaining games or the team's entire schedule, but Arkansas does (did) have a game against an FCS team in Missouri State.

Good thing I read your post, I was about to say that.

[sikolec]

My bad. I had a feeling I was going to miss one or two. I quickly went over the schedules...here it is fixed:

ACC (12 teams) - 14 FBS vs. FCS games (1.167 per team); only Va Tech does not have one.

Big East (8 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (1.125 per team); all teams have at least 1

Big Ten (11 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.818 per team); Ohio St. and Purdue do not have one

Big 12 (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.750 per team); Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Texas A&M do not have one

PAC-10 (10 teams) - 4 FBS vs. FCS games (0.4 per team); only Arizona, Arizona St., Cal, and Oregon St. DO have one

SEC (12 teams) - 10 FBS vs. FCS games (0.833 per team); Tennessee and LSU do not have one

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYE, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one

Thanks.

[TheBisonator]

My bad. I had a feeling I was going to miss one or two. I quickly went over the schedules...here it is fixed:

ACC (12 teams) - 14 FBS vs. FCS games (1.167 per team); only Va Tech does not have one.

Big East (8 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (1.125 per team); all teams have at least 1

Big Ten (11 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.818 per team); Ohio St. and Purdue do not have one

Big 12 (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.750 per team); Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Texas A&M do not have one

PAC-10 (10 teams) - 4 FBS vs. FCS games (0.4 per team); only Arizona, Arizona St., Cal, and Oregon St. DO have one

SEC (12 teams) - 10 FBS vs. FCS games (0.833 per team); Tennessee and LSU do not have one

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYE, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one

Thanks.

I KNEW that Bye existed!!! I expect them to beat UND next week.:D:D:D

[appmaj]

Just for a little fun conversation, I decided to break down the FBS conferences (in particular BCS conferences and the MWC) to see which FBS conferences are most willing to play FCS teams. Very interesting to see that the PAC-10 has the fewest games against FCS teams (both games and percentage wise), while the ACC has the most. Here is the breakdown:

ACC (12 teams) - 14 FBS vs. FCS games (1.167 per team); only Va Tech does not have one.

Big East (8 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (1.125 per team); all teams have at least 1

Big Ten (11 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.818 per team); Ohio St. and Purdue do not have one

Big 12 (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.750 per team); Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Texas A&M do not have one

PAC-10 (10 teams) - 4 FBS vs. FCS games (0.4 per team); only Arizona, Arizona St., Cal, and Oregon St. DO have one

SEC (12 teams) - 9 FBS vs. FCS games (0.75 per team); Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU do not have one

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYE, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one


No disrespect to FCS teams. I personally love to see the FCS teams challenge the the top FBS teams and take the money in the process! But it's interesting to see which conferences are willing to go out and take an FBS opponent every week as opposed to taking the easy way out with an FCS game (again no disrespect). I applaud teams like Oklahoma and Virginia Tech to go out in the opening week and challenge themselves against the best teams in the country. I personally would rather see teams beat each other up week in and week out then taking the easy win for a "practice" game like Florida did in week 1. I simply love when a team like Iowa tries to go in for this easy "practice game" only for it to backfire in their face and drop in the polls for barely beating UNI.



I dont think the playing FCS team strategy is working out for the ACC

[PantherRob82]

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYE, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one



I thought every FCS team played BYE?:D

[GrizFanStuckInUtah]

Just to defend Utah and BYU, they both played FCS schools last year, Weber and UNI. BYU played Eastern Washington the year before as well, I can't remember if Utah played one that year and haven't checked, just using my faulty memory modules :D So, I don't think they are afraid or unwilling to play them, they just didn't schedule them this year. xpeacex

[GSUhooligan]

MWC (9 teams) - 6 FBS vs. FCS games (0.667 per team); BYE, Utah, and New Mexico do not have one



BYE plays everyone at all levels at least once.

[sikolec]

Tough crowd...BYE...BYU...same thing! :)

And yeah, I can see the top MWC teams (BYU, Utah, TCU) begin to stray away from scheduling FCS teams due to the fact that they are trying to build a national reputation for their teams and conference in hopes for BCS status. So instead of using those few out of conference games with an FCS opponent, they would rather challenge themselves with an Oklahoma or other BCS conference opponent.

[BearsCountry]

You can think of us as a FBS school. :)

[Jackman]

One factor that influences this though is the very small amount of FCS schools out west in the Pac-10's and MWC's geographic footprints versus the huge number in the ACC's and Big East's footprints. The main thing the FBS team cares about when scheduling a FCS opponent is the amount of money they have to pay you to appear at their stadium. An eastern FBS team can negotiate an eastern FCS team down to a lower guarantee because (1) there's more FCS programs out there that badly want those spots, and (2) it's much cheaper to travel to a BE/ACC opponent than it is to travel out west. I know UMass agreed to much less money to play BC and UConn than it did to play Texas Tech and Kansas State, in part because of travel costs, and in part because local FBS opponents are more exciting to the fans.

[jmufan999]

One factor that influences this though is the very small amount of FCS schools out west in the Pac-10's and MWC's geographic footprints versus the huge number in the ACC's and Big East's footprints.

stole my thunder, that's what i was going to say.

[GannonFan]

I applaud teams like Oklahoma and Virginia Tech to go out in the opening week and challenge themselves against the best teams in the country. I personally would rather see teams beat each other up week in and week out then taking the easy win for a "practice" game like Florida did in week 1.

Well, don't congratulate OK and VA Tech too much. OK did play an FCS team last year and has Idaho St on the schedule this week, and VA Tech has played one FCS team for each of the past 3 years. Just because they played a tough opponent last week doesn't mean that they don't schedule weak ones other times.

[Cocky]

We play bye in the playoffs this year

[darell1976]

Whats up with the Pac 10 just 4 games?? I guess we need a UND-USC game.;)

[techstate]

One factor that influences this though is the very small amount of FCS schools out west in the Pac-10's and MWC's geographic footprints versus the huge number in the ACC's and Big East's footprints. The main thing the FBS team cares about when scheduling a FCS opponent is the amount of money they have to pay you to appear at their stadium. An eastern FBS team can negotiate an eastern FCS team down to a lower guarantee because (1) there's more FCS programs out there that badly want those spots, and (2) it's much cheaper to travel to a BE/ACC opponent than it is to travel out west. I know UMass agreed to much less money to play BC and UConn than it did to play Texas Tech and Kansas State, in part because of travel costs, and in part because local FBS opponents are more exciting to the fans.

Pac-10, WAC and MWC can't offord to schedule FCS opponents because it does not look good on their schedule. The pac-10 is having a tough time proving themselves outside of USC. The conference rarely puts 2 teams in a BCS game and playing a FCS team will not give them credibility.
Travel costs may have something to do with it, but I think it really has more to do with the round robin schedule in the pac-10 and the east coast bias that makes it tough for the west coast teams to gain ranking.

[MSUBear42]

You can think of us as a FBS school. :)

5-10 years, my friend, 5-10 years.