Tuesday, November 01, 2022
College Football's future
Over at the Washington Post, Rick Reilly is being cranky about conference readjustment in college football (ie, UCLA and USC to the Big 10, Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, etc...). It's pretty customary to complain about all that-- change is hard.
But the truth is that most of the real rivalries are continuing, because pairs of schools that are rivals (ie, Texas and Oklahoma or UCLA and USC) are moving together. In some instances, it is the movement that is making the old rivalries come alive again (ie, Texas v. Texas A & M, both of which will be in the SEC soon).
Here's a move nobody really noticed, though...
A few years ago the school I teach at, St. Thomas, got thrown out of the Division III league that contains most of the little Minnesota schools and decided to skip Division II altogether and go straight to Division I-- a move made possible only by a waiver of NCAA rules.
Now their football teams play in the Pioneer League, a non-scholarship grouping that is in Division I-AA (now known as the FCS). Having jumped two divisions, you would expect them to be terrible, but somehow they aren't. In fact, they are 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the conference, where they hold first place solo. Not sure how they pulled that off!
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The W&M Tribe is also in the FCS, and now ranked #9 in the country. St. Thomas is 25th
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fcs/fcs-coaches-poll
--This is a scholarship Division. Division I has two subdivisions:
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
How Many Schools: There are 125 schools competing in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) in 2008. This includes all of the Ivy League schools and FCS powers like Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Northern Iowa.
Scholarship Count: FCS schools have 63 scholarships to be distributed, and up to 30 incoming players each year can be given aid.
Scholarship Breakdown: Scholarships at FCS schools can be full or partial rides. The 63 grants can be divided up in any way, but no more than 85 players can be put on scholarship.
The FBS is the one most people know
NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
How many schools: There are 120 schools competing in the FBS (formerly Division I-A), the highest level in the collegiate ranks. This includes the big programs like Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, USC and Notre Dame.
Scholarship count: FBS programs are allowed 85 scholarships on its roster at any given time, and generally can sign up to 25 players per year.
https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/football/fcs/fcs-coaches-poll
--This is a scholarship Division. Division I has two subdivisions:
NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)
How Many Schools: There are 125 schools competing in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) in 2008. This includes all of the Ivy League schools and FCS powers like Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Northern Iowa.
Scholarship Count: FCS schools have 63 scholarships to be distributed, and up to 30 incoming players each year can be given aid.
Scholarship Breakdown: Scholarships at FCS schools can be full or partial rides. The 63 grants can be divided up in any way, but no more than 85 players can be put on scholarship.
The FBS is the one most people know
NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)
How many schools: There are 120 schools competing in the FBS (formerly Division I-A), the highest level in the collegiate ranks. This includes the big programs like Michigan, Ohio State, LSU, USC and Notre Dame.
Scholarship count: FBS programs are allowed 85 scholarships on its roster at any given time, and generally can sign up to 25 players per year.
I could not get access to the Riley column. That said, I am not a fan of all these realignments. What do west coast UCLA and USC have in common with the midwestern Big 10? And although PAC 12 schools have always had to travel, UCLA and USC teams will be traveling coast to coast in the Big 10. This is professional sports. I would suggest that such realignments break-up lots of traditional rivalries. Maryland (the school everybody loved to hate) no longer plays its longstanding ACC rivals, schools it has far more in common with (and history) than the Big 10. Penn State no longer plays Pitt on an annual basis. Nebraska has been another odd fit in the Big 10, sacrificing playing Oklahoma and other former Big 12 rivals.
More so, and more importantly, football and basketball have been driving this … and massive TV contracts. What about the swimming, field hockey, and soccer teams … and other “minor sports?” Think about the amount of time out of class and the cost of travel across the country on a regular basis. I am not a fan.
When Hockey East was formed in 1984, seeking to expanded schedules to compete with the likes of Denver, Minnesota, Wisconsin … the Ivy’s and schools like Colgate refused to play along. By policy, the current ECAC only plays games on weekends (mostly Fri & Sat), unless it is a nearby school (bus) … allowing for an occasional weeknight game. Not the case for Hockey East. In turn, ECAC athletes miss a minimum of class time. Athletic scholarships are another issue. And although Hockey East has been more competitive, on average, ECAC teams (men and women) have regularly gone deep into the NCCA tournament … and have won national championships, including Union, Yale, RPI, Clarkson, and Harvard (Colgate men and women have both lost in the championship game). Colgate (and its peers) is regularly among the top DI schools in the country in terms of GPA and graduation rates for athletes.
A few years ago, the Colgate football team played North Dakota State in the third round of the FCS playoffs in the Fargo Dome. The comparative admission standards and the graduation rates of the two schools were not remotely close. What is the price?
Furthermore … although I do not know the particulars of why St. Thomas has left DIII for DI (I know they had been successful), I am not convinced it is a good thing for St. Thomas. What is to be lost and to be gained in terms of the various balance sheets (financial and otherwise) for St. Thomas?
I spend most of my weekends attending Dlll sporting events (Randolph-Macon) … football, soccer, basketball, etc. DIII sports is what all college sports should look like. No athletic scholarships. No massive multimillion dollar contracts (only school sponsored video streaming). Athletes cannot hide at small schools … they go to class, they are held accountable, and they graduate. Randolph-Macon is 8-0 in football and 16th in the country. The Macon men’s basketball team were the 2022 National Champions. The women’s team makes a good run in the NCAA every year and were national finalist in 2004. They play competitive college sports, they go to class, and they graduate.
I am with Bill Walton, UCLA should stay home.
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More so, and more importantly, football and basketball have been driving this … and massive TV contracts. What about the swimming, field hockey, and soccer teams … and other “minor sports?” Think about the amount of time out of class and the cost of travel across the country on a regular basis. I am not a fan.
When Hockey East was formed in 1984, seeking to expanded schedules to compete with the likes of Denver, Minnesota, Wisconsin … the Ivy’s and schools like Colgate refused to play along. By policy, the current ECAC only plays games on weekends (mostly Fri & Sat), unless it is a nearby school (bus) … allowing for an occasional weeknight game. Not the case for Hockey East. In turn, ECAC athletes miss a minimum of class time. Athletic scholarships are another issue. And although Hockey East has been more competitive, on average, ECAC teams (men and women) have regularly gone deep into the NCCA tournament … and have won national championships, including Union, Yale, RPI, Clarkson, and Harvard (Colgate men and women have both lost in the championship game). Colgate (and its peers) is regularly among the top DI schools in the country in terms of GPA and graduation rates for athletes.
A few years ago, the Colgate football team played North Dakota State in the third round of the FCS playoffs in the Fargo Dome. The comparative admission standards and the graduation rates of the two schools were not remotely close. What is the price?
Furthermore … although I do not know the particulars of why St. Thomas has left DIII for DI (I know they had been successful), I am not convinced it is a good thing for St. Thomas. What is to be lost and to be gained in terms of the various balance sheets (financial and otherwise) for St. Thomas?
I spend most of my weekends attending Dlll sporting events (Randolph-Macon) … football, soccer, basketball, etc. DIII sports is what all college sports should look like. No athletic scholarships. No massive multimillion dollar contracts (only school sponsored video streaming). Athletes cannot hide at small schools … they go to class, they are held accountable, and they graduate. Randolph-Macon is 8-0 in football and 16th in the country. The Macon men’s basketball team were the 2022 National Champions. The women’s team makes a good run in the NCAA every year and were national finalist in 2004. They play competitive college sports, they go to class, and they graduate.
I am with Bill Walton, UCLA should stay home.
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: 7:47 PM
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