- 11.08.2009
- |
74°F
- Blogs > ACC Now
You may also like Canes Now | Balls and Strikes | Preps Now | Campus Notes
Tudor's Take: Give the FCS a chance
Poor ol’ Joe Giglio.
He was born with a Bowl Championship Series spoon in his mouth.
Bless his young heart and bright brain, but he wasn’t there when Indiana State almost won the NCAA basketball championship in 1979, or when UNC Charlotte probably should have won it in 1977, or when Brigham Young finished first in the final Associated Press football poll for the 1984 season.
The little guys have to be given a chance to prove they can play up. That’s the problem with Joe’s idea that what used to be referred Division I-AA football teams shouldn’t be on the schedules of the BCS teams. Don’t rob David of his one shot at Goliath.
Somewhere back in history, Starbucks was a small-time entry in the coffee shops league and McDonald’s was an off-wall joint selling burgers for 15 cents. But both worked their way into the mainstream and soon won big.
Joe’s absolutely correct in that the big boys shouldn’t have the option of making a three-or four-game living off the weak. Barring strange scheduling conflicts, one game — only one — per season should be the limit when BCS teams go feeding on smaller prey.
He’s right when he contends that it’s fundamentally stupid for Florida State to open the ‘08 season against Western Carolina and Tennessee-Chattanooga.
But by the same token, Appalachian State fans are just as correct when they clamor for their shot at 60 minutes of annual fame. The most exciting, compelling outcome of the entire ‘07 college season was Appalachian State’s win opening-day win over Michigan.
There are lots of hard-core fans who will remember that outcome a lot longer than they recall LSU’s win over Ohio State for the BCS title. I’m one of those folks.
Oh sure, the heavyweights usually flatten the lightweights. But when they don’t, it’s a ton of fun.
Give ‘em heck, Apps. Don’t stop dreaming.
— Caulton Tudor
Comments
sounds intrigiung ( I
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 20:25 — gvillegatrsounds intrigiung ( I follow EPL) but it would not work that way. everyone would have to play under the same conference and play everyone as well. this could obviously never happen. your regions would never be perfectly balanced thus not fair. not saying anything in life is fair. if you look at the EPL, all those teams play each other and thus it is balanced no matter how good or bad the teams are. could never happen here.
at least you were thinking though. first time i've ever seen you put somehting constructive on here!
EPL???
Wed, 08/27/2008 - 09:18 — appmatt (not verified)What do you mean by EPL? If you mean English Premier League you clear DONT follow it. The EPL season is also filled with two other cups. The League Cup where teams from as many as 3 leagues below can play (and beat) a top teir team...And the FA Cup where anyone can play and win (even you and you mates from the pub) can play your way up to the top teams.
thanks
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 23:27 — izzykareemthey all play each other, at least i thought, because the league itself is rather small, isn't there only like 20 teams in the English Premier League? I guess what i was thinking of was the Champions League, or maybe it was the Italian League where you have an A and B group. I forget, don't follow it as closely as i would like to.
So if you coun't up all the current D1A (119) and D1AA (maybe 80-100??) schools, say there are like 200 roughly; it doesn't mean that the A league would be exclusive. Imagine a Notre Dame going 3-8 or 2-9 and being demoted to the B league, having to play James Madison and Appalachian State...OR you've got Appalachian State or a Georgia Southern that just dominates their conference and moves up and plays with the A league. Then their recruiting is on a more even footing.
Plus playing in the A-League is optional...DivII and DivIII teams don't have to try and get in it if they don't want to, nor D1AA.
Here's the way i break down each of the 10 mythical divisions:
the #1 position would go to teams 1 - 10 in the points standings, and you'd fill the rest of it in like we do for the NCAA tourney brackets.
So the other 9 teams in the overall #1's region would be the weakest, so #19, #29, 39,49, 59, etc.
The overall #2 would have the next weakest in its region: #18,#28,38,48,58, etc.
The overall #10 would have the most difficult region with #11, #21, 31,41,51, etc.
I just hate the current state of college football and its lame bowl system. BTW, my plan would still keep in place the bowls, or be amenable to a playoff system
i like your idea, but now
Fri, 08/22/2008 - 07:45 — gvillegatri like your idea, but now you have to factor in air travel and the like. (money) no one is concentrated in an area now. i like your thinking though.
More silly talk
Fri, 08/22/2008 - 11:52 — JPDOhioIf you went to a 3 tier approach, you could help reduce the travel cost. For example, the Big Ten would be in the A Division, the Mid-American Conference in the B Division, and a geographically situated FCS conference in the C Division. You would be prohibited from scheduling an A vs. C division team. The games would be more competitive (presumably) and a really good C Division team could rise to the top.
The way the current conferences are set up, it would require some reshuffling. Of course, it is never going to happen anyway, but it is fun to think about.
what should actually happen...
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 18:20 — izzykareemThis is all silly-talk... bet you can't beat this one...
The NCAA, if it had ANY foresight, would structure (or at least try) men's and women's major revenue sports like such...European Football (soccer) Leagues...
It's the same concept as Div1A, Div1AA, Div2 and Div3...however, you are not perenially locked into those divisions...
All you need to do...
Come up with a method by which you award points to each team...
(sorry tarheel alums and fans, lots of math may follow and we all know you went to Chapel Hole to avoid math)
A (Win counts as 10 pts) + (your total points) + (your margin of victory)... something like that.
Here's the good part...the A League, whatever you wanna call it, would comprise the top 100 teams from the previous year. All the other college football teams that wanted to be a part of this mythical 100, would have to play in a B league. Every year, the bottom 10-20 (whatever) of the A-League would fall back into the B league and the top 10-20 of the B-League would get moved up to the A-League. You stay in the A league as long as you are one of the top 80 teams based on points you earn.
The point system is cool because it should make games more exciting, more prone to scoring, and since (take the ACC for example), teams wouldn't get to feast on Duke every year, the competition all around should be alot closer so you should see less blowouts and gimme games.
In the top 100 (A League), you could divide this up into 10 regional leagues with 10 teams, and the bottom 2 from each of the regional leagues would get demoted back to the B league.
That would leave a team with 9 games to play in its regional division, and give it 2-3 games to play against whoever it wanted, like a rival (That may or may not count towards its point total).
FCS? It will always will be
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 18:16 — Anonymous (not verified)FCS? It will always will be Division I and I-AA to me.