Express-Times: Villanova Should Shun Big East

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/09/villanova_universitys_football.html


So the Big East Conference wants Villanova to become a full member. That would mean making the Wildcats' defending national championship football program a member of the true big-time, the top tier of college football, formerly known as Division I-A.

A word to the wise at Villanova: Don't do it.

Discuss. And, for good measure:


Most of all, the Wildcats should stay put because, all things considered, the product in FCS is just better. The players stay in school for four years, then graduate with degrees in real fields of study. The coaches are either veteran ambassadors of the game or young up-and-comers who bring true innovation. There are not a lot of recycled Chan Gaileys and Dennis Greens in FCS.

When was the last time we heard about an academic or recruiting scandal at a FCS school? Please, if you can recall, put it in the comments section below.

Not to beat a dead horse (there will be plenty of time for BCS bashing later this fall), but whose national championship is more legitimate, Villanova's or Alabama's?

This article gets the LFN seal of approval. xhurrayx

[james_lawfirm]

Great post & great article - at least, I like his conclusions.

[superman7515]

The writer is clearly from Delaware and just jealous... Otherwise he wouldn't be saying the same thing most of the CAA guys on here have been saying.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The writer is clearly from Delaware and just jealous... Otherwise he wouldn't be saying the same thing most of the CAA guys on here have been saying.

xlolx

[Bogus Megapardus]

The writer is clearly from Delaware and just jealous... Otherwise he wouldn't be saying the same thing most of the CAA guys on here have been saying.

The writer is from the Lehigh Valley and writes for the Easton Express-Times, Lafayette's home newspaper. He's heard of Delaware, though, I imagine. Maybe. In any event, he clearly subscribes to the prevailing view.

Georgetown wants to have a home newspaper, too, someday. If they did, I'm sure the writers would agree with this view and not suggest that the Hoyas take Villanova's place in Big East football.

[DFW HOYA]

The article lost me with that "the product in FCS is just better." If so, why aren't more schools joining?

And people do graduate in I-A...places like Duke, Vandy, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, BC et al. just as much as their lower subdivision brethren do; conversely, Texas and Georgia have higher grad rates than Texas Southern and Savannah State.

[danefan]

I have a hard time advocating against any move to a BCS conference.

While it may "cost" Nova a couple million to do it, the intangibles (name recognitiion, student interest, national TV time, etc..) gained are far and away greater in a BCS conference than in any FCS conference.

Its just silly to ignore that.

[Franks Tanks]

I have a hard time advocating against any move to a BCS conference.

While it may "cost" Nova a couple million to do it, the intangibles (name recognitiion, student interest, national TV time, etc..) gained are far and away greater in a BCS conference than in any FCS conference.

Its just silly to ignore that.

Very true, but most people already know Nova from their success in basketball.

I ckecked the authors bio and it says he is a Temple grad. Perhaps he is threatned by Nova to the BE.

[Bogus Megapardus]

places like Duke, Vandy, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, BC et al.



Three of those schools have approached the PL about games, provided the PL assembles qualifying equivalancies. One of them even published a study a couple of years ago contemplating joining the PL. Are you really in such low company here, DFW?

[henfan]

The article lost me with that "the product in FCS is just better." If so, why aren't more schools joining?

And people do graduate in I-A...places like Duke, Vandy, Stanford, Northwestern, Rice, BC et al. just as much as their lower subdivision brethren do; conversely, Texas and Georgia have higher grad rates than Texas Southern and Savannah State.

I'd agree that the academic angle in this article is way too naive; however...

I do believe more schools have joined/are joining 1-AA/FCS than the I-A/FBS in the last 5, 10, 20, etc. years. A better question to ask to support that idea may be "Why aren't schools who are losing their shirts on bad FBS football, reclassifying?" We know the answer there is strictly one of institutional ego.

[bostonspider]

Well, while there a few very are good academic schools in the FBS, in general they are not big winners. It is interesting that the last two winners of the FCS Championship were both very well respected academic private schools, that have also been celebrated by the NCAA for graduating their players.

[BlueHenSinfonian]

Nova is good, but they are still a small school compared to many FBS teams, or even most CAA teams (on a side note, who knew UMass was the biggest CAA school?). They currently don't draw huge crowds for home games, and while going FBS might improve that, FIU, FAU, and a smattering of other recent converts would be evidence otherwise (of course, being invited right into one of the big boy conferences would help Villanova in this case).

At the end of the day, would 'Nova rather be a big fish in their current pond, or jump into the wilds of the FBS ocean where it could be decades (if ever) before they get the chance at another national title?

[NovaWildcat]

At the end of the day, would 'Nova rather be a big fish in their current pond, or jump into the wilds of the FBS ocean where it could be decades (if ever) before they get the chance at another national title?

The FBS ocean. You wont find many Nova people that would say otherwise.

And to even suggest that Villanova's NC is more "legitimate" than Alabama's is a ridiculous point to make. "Legitimate" or not, Bama's title was seen and known by millions and millions of people. FCS title, not so much.

[MacThor]

And to even suggest that Villanova's NC is more "legitimate" than Alabama's is a ridiculous point to make. "Legitimate" or not, Bama's title was seen and known by millions and millions of people. FCS title, not so much.

I don't know, my wife is a Florida Gator and we had this argument in '08, and she conceded a playoff NC is more "legit" than a one-game. Nobody beat Boise State in '08 or '09, did they?

[Wildcat80]

been there....done that...why go back? nova had little success before...then dropped football based on the experience. now that they have a winning formula why try to change?