Big South, Fine with Status Quo - No At-Large Chance

[TexasTerror]

The Big South does not care about at-large bids.

I guess now that they have a playoff berth coming their way, that is fine and the status quo for now. A glance at the Big South out of conference schedules are below.

The only schools that have legitimately decided to give it a chance is Coastal Carolina (4 FCS, 1 FBS). Liberty has a similar 4 FCS and 1 FBS, but three of the four FCS games are against the NEC and Savannah State - not the most challenging or GPI boosting.

Chuck South and Presbyterian are not putting forth the best efforts, though Chuck South has acted like a Div II program for most of their FCS existence (see the home-and-home with NGU) and Presbyterian gets a 'pass' since they are still transitioning...

If I'm the Big South, I am rooting for a Liberty to win the AQ and hoping CCU does enough OOC and has just one loss in league play.

Charleston Southern
Sub Div I: North Greenville, Mars Hill
FBS: Hawaii, Kentucky
FCS: Wofford

Coastal Carolina
Sub Div I: None
FBS: West Virginia
FCS: Towson, Georgia Southern, Delaware State, Richmond

Gardner-Webb
Sub Div I: Brevard
FBS: Akron
FCS: Sam Houston State, Old Dominion, West Carolina

Liberty
Sub Div I: None
FBS: Ball State
FCS: St. Francis, Robert Morris, James Madison, Savannah State

Presbyterian
Sub Div I: North Greenville
FBS: Clemson, Wake Forest
FCS: The Citadel, Old Dominion

Stony Brook
Sub Div I: American International
FBS: South Florida
FCS: UMass, Lafayette, Brown

Virginia Military Institute
Sub Div I: Lock Haven
FBS: Virginia, Army
FCS: William & Mary, Old Dominion

[Saint3333]

I'm not sure this really qualifies as news. The Big South and NEC will be one bid leagues for a long time. How often do the OVC or MEAC send at-larges? 4 out of 5 years all four of these leagues will be one bid leagues even with the additional 2 at large spots.

[g-webb1994]

The argument I try to make with G-W is this.....we pushed to move up from NAIA, through D-2, and up to the D-1/FCS level so quick, yet every year in football we play at least one lower division team, and in mens/womens hoops we pad the schedule with three or four lower division teams. If we want to be big time, we shouldn't be fooling around with the Southern Virginias, Brevards, and Montreats of the world.xtwocentsx

[Redwyn]

This isn't being very fair to SBU. Hofstra disbanded and gave the ADs no notice to find a replacement game. SBU ADs couldn't force a 4 home game schedule on the team again, so were, in essence, forced to take the first Sub D1 opponent in several years.

In all, we would have been VERY competitive for an at large berth - with 2 CAA, 1 strong PL, and Brown. I'm hoping it won't come down to this, but don't blame SBU for being lax in this situation. This is the second year in a row we had to replace a disbanded program (Iona in 09). Apparently there were serious talks going on with CCSU (a legit NEC program), but fell through because they insisted on hosting. Both took Sub D1s instead. Very poor decisions on both program's parts.

[TexasTerror]

Redwyn,

Stony Brook may get a pass this year as well, but in the large scheme of things - the Big South has not put forth the schedules necessary to succeed. Perhaps you can throw the blame on these schools moving too fast to Division I, but at the end of the day - you are part of the FCS and to gain respectability, your league as a whole needs to BRING IT!

[Redwyn]

Redwyn,

Stony Brook may get a pass this year as well, but in the large scheme of things - the Big South has not put forth the schedules necessary to succeed. Perhaps you can throw the blame on these schools moving too fast to Division I, but at the end of the day - you are part of the FCS and to gain respectability, your league as a whole needs to BRING IT!

I completely agree, and remember harping on this last season when Liberty fans were begging for respect. We really do a poor job of matching FCS opponents. While a case can be made that some potential regional D1 opponents are worse than top D2 teams in the area, the fact still remains that schedules say a lot. Right now, for a majority of the conference, they don't say much.

On the other end, is there a similar reluctance to schedule us on the end of our potential opponents?

[TexasTerror]

On the other end, is there a similar reluctance to schedule us on the end of our potential opponents?

It could be...

Some of the facilities in the Big South do not compare favorably to the Southern Conference. Why would they want to schedule a home-and-home if that were the case, especially if their fans would not have adequate access to the game?

Some schools in the Big South may want home-and-home deals and not able to get them because of that.

There are plenty of FCS opponent options in and around the Big South geographic footprint. Hopefully there will be more FCS schools - scholarship and otherwise - springing up around the league's footprint to help!

[elcid83]

Scheduling is tough in the Big South, TT. We've only got 6 teams that play football in the conference. In any given year, each team is going to get either 2 or 3 home conference games. I know GW's coaches want to play at least 5 home games. You would think that with the close proximity of several of the Southern Conference schools they would be willing to commit to a home and home exchange, but that has not proven to be the case. GW's facilities compare favorably enough with Furman, Wofford, Elon, WCU [they agreed to a home and home] and other Southern Conference schools that are nearby. We have had great difficulty finding other FCS teams to commit to a home and home [Sam Houston being one large exception]. Of course, FBS teams aren't coming to Boiling Springs. We need 2 more football playing teams so we can fix this problem. Perhaps the CAA will go ahead and explode and a couple of teams will fall into our hands. I look forward to seeing you in September. I'll be asking for some good local BBQ ideas, if you don't mind.

Go Runnin' Bulldogs!

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs031.snc3/11858_1191216774575_1053041569_30507431_6428356_n. jpg

[JMUNJ08]

I kinda like G-Web's and VMI's schedules. Many teams in POWER conferences still schedule a sub-d1 game. They both scheduled FBS and tough OOC games besides the one gimme (they hope). If the conference does well in their OOC games they can at least be compared better to other At-Large candidates at the end of the day. Yes, it will take time but you have to say the scheduling is getting better.

[Hoseinexile07]

Well thanks for the pass, even though we aren't putting forth effort sufficient enough for you. Yeah, we went 0-11 this past season, but with two seasons of revolving doors at the assistant level and a head-coach who was over his head from the beginning, no one else in our situation would have done any better. Since 2007 our schedules have been grueling, quite frankly way above the level of the athletes on the team. With a real head-coach now, stability at the lower levels of coaching, a real D-I recruiting class, and games against Clemson and Wake Forest in 2010, we're doing our part. We're in a much different situation than CSU. They had friggin' dog crap on their field before a game last year, for crying out loud.

[zilla]

We're in a much different situation than CSU. They had friggin' dog crap on their field before a game last year, for crying out loud.

xlolx Classic!

Hose, can I get your permission to post this on Coastalfans.com?

[Syntax Error]

Big South schedules are not that bad. One lower game and an FBS is fine, two in either is a red flag. The rest depends on which FCSers they are playing and most have adequate matchups.

[Hoseinexile07]

xlolx Classic!

Hose, can I get your permission to post this on Coastalfans.com?

sure.

[CoastalFan2005]

We're in a much different situation than CSU. They had friggin' dog crap on their field before a game last year, for crying out loud.


I don't post here very often anymore, but I just had to reiterate the sentiment I left you in my rep comment - we can all agree that you can't spell "sucks" without CSU.

Anyone who's ever been to their stadium knows just how true the "dog crap" statement is! xnodx

[SuperJon]

Anyone who's ever been to their stadium knows just how true the "dog crap" statement is! xnodx

It wasn't metaphorical. There was real dog crap on the field before the Liberty game. We had to get someone with a shovel to clean it up before we could finish warming up.

[bigCasu]

I think the NCAA threw the Big South a bone. Now we dont have to worry about talking about multiple teams from them or the NEC.