FCS vs FBS Games - How do you feel?

[BlueHenSinfonian]

DaneFan brought this article up in another thread, but I thought it deserved a thread of its own. A recent interview with coaches Keeler of UD and Wilder of ODU quotes both as being against FCS vs FBS games. You can read the full text here:

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/08/delaware-coach-no-fan-games-vs-fbs-teams

The key excerpt:


"I'm not a fan of (games against FBS teams) and don't see the benefit," Keeler said. "In the future in seasons with just 11 regular-season games, we won't play (against an FBS team). In the seasons when we play 12 regular-season games, we'll pick up (a game against an FBS team)."

While a number of ODU fans have asked Wilder when they could expect the Monarchs to play a Virginia or Virginia Tech, Wilder has said he has no desire to play such games.

"The bottom line is you have to have enough wins to make the playoffs," Keeler said. "The goal should not be to win against (an FBS) team. The goal should be to win a national championship.

Personally, I'm all for a FBS vs FCS game as long as it's done for the right reason. Playing FBS teams helps stretch the abilities of a good FCS team, helps put the tragically overlooked FCS into the national sports spotlight, and sets up the opportunity for the upsets that make BCS fans start to appreciate what the FCS teams do. As it is too many FBS football fans see FCS schools as closer to Div II than the BCS teams that get all of the glory. However, when you see App State take out Michigan, NDSU take out Minnesota, JMU take out VA Tech, or Delaware take out Navy, it gives the FCS a certain respectability in the eyes of football fans in general.

On the other hand, games scheduled by lower tier schools against FBS powerhouses just for a payday like Del State vs Michigan or GA State vs Alabama do nothing but make the FCS look like a bunch of cupcake punching bags, and should be avoided.

How do you feel about these games?

[wmtribe1693]

Playing the FBS team early in the season is usually a great idea. Aside from the money and exposure, the players have an opportunity to play against top notch guys and losing (if that's the way it turns out) to a FBS team in game 1 or 2 gives the FCS team plenty of time to minimize the loss. Injury bug is more likely, though.

[UAalum72]

Wilder and Keeler are against FBS games because they can play 6 or 7 home games in front of 20,000 fans each year.

[MR. CHICKEN]

16036....IFIN' YER GOAL IS PLAY-OFFS....LOSE DUH I-A'S..&..D-II'S........UNDERSTAND DUH RENT IS DUE.......&...PLAYIN' FBS TOP 40....WILL PAY RENT........BUT YER OUTTAH DUH MIX...BAH WEEK 3........HENS DO NAVY.......AN' IT'S UH TOSS-UP.........PLAY TENNESSEE/IOWA/LSU......KISS DUH PAR-TAY....IN TEJAS.....BAH-BAH.............:(.....BRAWK!

[blackfordpu]

Play them all you want and I don't think a loss to an FBS team should hurt playoff consideration. Kind of a catch 22, a loss shouldn't hurt but a win should help.

[Gil Dobie]

NDSU playing Minnesota helps with recruiting. Many players are from Minnesota and the opportunity to play the U is very enticing to recruits passed up by the U of M.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

For Temple - until we take the next step i'd like to see us continue to schedule one local/regional FCS team that will bring fans, Delaware is obviously my #1, JMU, Fordham, Lehigh, and Lafayette would all make sense.

Lehigh - absolutely no reason to play high level BCS teams. Rutgers, long time rival, Army, Temple, Syracuse, Navy, Boston College and maybe UVA would make sense. Plus, eastern division MAC schools.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Play them all you want and I don't think a loss to an FBS team should hurt playoff consideration. Kind of a catch 22, a loss shouldn't hurt but a win should help.

LOSS...WON'T HURT...... IFIN' YA...CAN MANAGE....8-3.............BRAWK!

WIN...WOOD BE GREAT...IFIN' SAID GAME IS WINNABLE.....AWK!

[BlueHenSinfonian]

For Temple - until we take the next step i'd like to see us continue to schedule one local/regional FCS team that will bring fans, Delaware is obviously my #1, JMU, Fordham, Lehigh, and Lafayette would all make sense.


The majority of Delaware fans would love to play Temple. Temple and UD had a great rivalry going, and Temple even traveled to Newark a few times after the I-A/I-AA split. The series was 4-2 in favor of Delaware as of the last game played during the Div IA/IAA era. The largest crowd ever at Delaware stadium was at a game hosting Temple (the next two were games hosting Navy, so I'm glad that series continues). As far as I've heard Temple has refused to schedule UD since the last couple games went in UD's favor.

[MR. CHICKEN]

16037.....WHAT DUH BLUEBIRD...IS SAYIN'......IS........TEMPLE IS.....CHICKEN................xrotatehx....BRAWK/OBAMA!!

[HailSzczur]

I'm all for it as long as theres a chance of winning. Whats the point of playing a game against a team like an Alabama or a Penn State that you know you are going to lose (I mean App Michigan, JMU VT happens how often?) and risk players getting hurt against teams who have the luxury of more scholarships. Plus when you play places like WVU you have fans that are less then hospitable. However if the payout is great enough that completely changes things. I mean I know Villanova for one is losing money on football, so every dollar helps

[Pard4Life]

For Temple - until we take the next step i'd like to see us continue to schedule one local/regional FCS team that will bring fans, Delaware is obviously my #1, JMU, Fordham, Lehigh, and Lafayette would all make sense.

Lehigh - absolutely no reason to play high level BCS teams. Rutgers, long time rival, Army, Temple, Syracuse, Navy, Boston College and maybe UVA would make sense. Plus, eastern division MAC schools.

Lafayette is in the same boat. Also toss in Duke and Northwestern. Stanford too, once their Luck runs out and they come back to reality.

I can't help but want a crack at Penn State; scare the state and let them know we exist.

[coover]

A loss won't keep you out of the playoffs? Take a look at Cal Poly's schedule this year and tell me their chances for 7 DI wins ...

@ San Diego State (FBS)
@ Montana
South Dakota State
@ Northern Illinois (FBS)
Central Oklahoma (D II)
Southern Utah
@ North Dakota
South Dakota
@ UCDavis
Eastern Washington
@ South Alabama

10 DI Games, 2 against FBS, and several others against much better than average teams. To get to the playoffs, they won't have to be just good, they'll have to be absolutely terriffic. If they lose both FBS games, they can only lose one other game. Eastern Washington? Montana? South Dakota State? They could be a top 10 FCS team and still not make the playoffs.

Do I think FCS teams should play FBS teams? Yes I do. I'll be down in San Diego this weekend enjoying what I expect to be an excellent FBS team play a team expected to be top 20 FBS. Does Poly have a chance? ... yes, an outside chance, but I won't go down there expecting any thing more than a very good game.

[dgtw]

I answered "I don't care" in the poll because my actual opinion was not an option.

That opinion is "It depends". I think a number of factors should be brought into consideration.

1. The quality of the opponent vs. the quality of yours. If you are a top ranked FBS team, playing a top ranked FCS team might be worth it. But teams lucky to win 2 or three games a year in FBS have no business playing Alabama.

2. Distance. Yes, you can get a big payday from an FBS game, but does it really help if you spend most of it on transportation and an overnight hotel stay? Granted, not every school is going to be able to find FBS games within a 2-3 hour drive, but try to keep it close. It also allows fans to travel if it isn't too far away. It was a nice trip for me to Oxford last year. I couldn't have gone if they'd played Washington State.

3. Means to an end. Jax State has said they schedule an FBS game every year to pay off the note on the stadium expansion, which will help if/when they move up. And it you need to do it to keep the guys from the Rent to Own store taking the coach's desk away, then you need to do it. It can also help in recruiting, especially if you can scrape bottom feeders off from FBS teams to play for you. But if you are just doing it for ego purposes, then I'd say don't do it.

[NHwildEcat]

I feel its good no matter the reasoning.

It's good when it should be a competitive game and the FCS school schedules it with the intentions of having a decent chance of pulling the upset...a la UNH @ Toledo tonight.

But it is also good if the FCS needs to schedule the game to use the money...as was noted above with Jax State- they are taking that money from the FBS game and using it for a good purpose. Both of these scenarios makes complete sense. If a FCS schools needs the pay out to cover epenses then playing an FBS is perfect.

As for the Cal Poly schedule above...they did make that choice to put themselves into that position where they are going to essentially have to win out just to make the NCAA's...maybe they shouldn't have scheduled that second FBS or D2 game and instead filled their roster with more FCS opponents...I don't know their reasoning for the second FBS game, but maybe they need the money? I get the D2 game in the sense to wash out the potential loss of that second FBS game...but I don't like them or anyone in FCS scheduling down to D2. It is much different then when FBS plays FCS because while we have different classifications, we are all still D1 overall and their are rivalries between these subclasses.

[Sycamore51]

For me, I like saying my team opens up at Penn St, or is playing IU and Purdue back to back in a couple of years. I like that Indiana State has IU on schedule for 3 straight years starting next year.

[Twentysix]

I dont think 2 games where the FCS team wont even compete should be scheduled.

But if the school has even a 10 or 15% chance of winning and its not terribly far away, I am all for it.

[Twentysix]

For me, I like saying my team opens up at Penn St, or is playing IU and Purdue back to back in a couple of years. I like that Indiana State has IU on schedule for 3 straight years starting next year.

ISUb has the goofers in 2018 or 2019 i dont know if you knew that.

[appfan2008]

I think they are a good thing overall...

[bonarae]

Army/Yale is but a small step for us to compete with the big guns. Change for us should start with playoff participation by the champion to begin with, and progress it gradually to scheduling BCS teams.

For the rest of the FCS, I root for a team if and only if they have a decent chance to win. :(

[Sycamore51]

ISUb has the goofers in 2018 or 2019 i dont know if you knew that.

I thought it was 2016. I knew they were going to play though. I remember SIU beating the Indiana Losers in Gloomington a few years back, and of course NDSU beat Minn so I think if our program keeps progressing we have a shot in one of those three games, maybe even the Purdue game. I think we can get WKU this year, but are over matched at Penn St on Saturday.

[Smitty]

Ugh... I like them for the money they provide, I don't like them because usually 2 or 3 people get hurt in the game.

[Twentysix]

I thought it was 2016. I knew they were going to play though. I remember SIU beating the Indiana Losers in Gloomington a few years back, and of course NDSU beat Minn so I think if our program keeps progressing we have a shot in one of those three games, maybe even the Purdue game. I think we can get WKU this year, but are over matched at Penn St on Saturday.

Could be 2016. I just remeber looking at the goofer schedule till 2020ish looking for open dates.

[UNHFan]

I can't wait for the Toledo Game but we may have bitten off to much on this one :( Then again they said that about Rutgers

Cant wait!!!!

[813Jag]

Ugh... I like them for the money they provide, I don't like them because usually 2 or 3 people get hurt in the game.
I don't think the inuries are worse than any FCS game, the years Southern played FBS teams (and ULaugh) they had more injuries in conference games than in those games.

[MR. CHICKEN]

....16041.....SOME I-AA SQWADS.....ARE GETTIN' GREEDY......PLAYIN' MO' DEN ONE........NICHOLLS STATE HAD...SAN DIEGO STATE/WESTERN MICHIGAN...(ALL-DOUGH SOMEWHAT REASONABLE).......ON DUH OTHERAH HAND........WEBER STATE HAD....BOSTON COLLEGE/TEJAS TECH.....NOW FACTOR IN E. WASH/MONTANA/M. STATE..........RECIPE FO' ENJOYIN' DUH PLAY-OFFS.......IN DUH MAN CAVE........xrotatehx....BRAWK!

[WMTribe90]

I chose the first option becasue it was closest to my thinking, but I have a few caveats to the "no matter what" line of thinking.

1) One one FBS game per season
2) Regional game that fans can attend (for WM = MD, VT, UNC, Temple, Wake, Duke, NCST, UVA, etc.)

I like "winnable" games, but its hard to say what that is four years out when these games are typically scheduled. Would anybody call ASU vs Michigan winable or JMU vs VT.

I think these games are great for the players and fans. The injury excuse is lame and unproven. Sure the paycheck is great, but WM would play these games regardless because Laycock likes to have his players experience a "big time" atmosphere. I think he also likes the FBS opener because it instantly exposes any weakness in his team, so he can work to correct it before league play. Certinly doesn't hurt recruiting either to have a series of ACC opponents on the schedule.

[WMTribe90]

I don't think the inuries are worse than any FCS game, the years Southern played FBS teams (and ULaugh) they had more injuries in conference games than in those games.

In my five years of playing FBS opponents didn't susain more injuries from our FBS games as compared to our FCS games. Injuries had more to with the opponents blocking scheme/technique than their division. Over the years WM has sustained more injuries playing VMI than our FBS opponents.

[TheValleyRaider]

I'm all for 1 FBS game a season. There's the financial benefit of getting the pay-out, and the experience for the players of going into a large stadium against a "big time" team and seeing how they stack up

I don't think you should necessarily limit yourself to games you might win. For most of FCS, that pretty much rules out ever playing these games. Find opponents with regional or historic ties, and occasionally branch out into something exotic for the experience. Judge the level of your opponents as well. A Top-5 squad (say, Alabama or Ohio State) would be a poor decision for someone like Davidson, but why not something like that for Appalachian State or Montana? Not every year, of course, but at least once in a while?

Ideally, it would only be 1 game per season, mostly to avoid the pitfalls of playoff eligibility. Of course, I understand schools that financially need to go for 2, but I don't think there's a program out there (apart from those actually moving up) that would want to play more than 1 game if they could help it

[SpeedkingATL]

I love them if they are played early in the season such as most of our FBS games including VaTech this year. Didn't like playing Florida late in the season before playoffs. It's a great experience for fans and players, especially if the game is competitive.