Big Ten agrees to no more FCS opponents

[Dan]

Sweet.

Speaking on his monthly radio show Tuesday night, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez shared a nugget of information that should cheer football fans who long for better nonleague games.

According to Alvarez, Big Ten officials recently agreed to stop scheduling nonconference games against FCS programs.

"The nonconference schedule in our league is ridiculous," Alvarez said on WIBA-AM. "It's not very appealing...

"So we've made an agreement that our future games will all be Division I schools. It will not be FCS schools."

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/190943281.html

[Larken24]

I think Michigan would like that but not sure about us :rolleyes:

[AHSIllini32]

Originally Posted by Larken24

I think Michigan would like that but not sure about us :rolleyes:

I don't know why you roll your eyes considering we are nowhere near the only team to schedule an FCS opponent.

[Ander1345]

Not surprising with the playoff format coming.

[NorthwesternIllini4]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

I don't know why you roll your eyes considering we are nowhere near the only team to schedule an FCS opponent.

Probably because most other B1G schools are in better shape than us, and we need as many guaranteed wins as we can get each year to ensure a bowl appearance. Regular bowl appearances (and winning those bowl games) are the only to begin to rebuild the Illinois football brand

[DrewD007]

I liked playing the directional Illinois schools. Oh well.

[Sybok]

Originally Posted by DrewD007

I liked playing the directional Illinois schools. Oh well.

Northern Illinois is a directional school. Perhaps this will force one or more of the others to take the leap to FBS.

[Illinnoying Orange]

I predict that colorado's of the BCS world may soon begin to receive phone calls from the bottom feeders of the big 10 conference

[trevdv]

Sweet? Why is this a good thing? Sure, those DII FCS games might be "boring," but I'll take a blowout win against NDSU any day of the week.

[SCillini]

This is a great move. The other conferences need to follow suit. It's ridiculous to be able to schedule a gimme game against Northwest Metropolis State University, in order to get a sixth win and bowl eligibility. Cut back on the bowl games, and make it a minimum of six FBS victories mandatory to be bowl eligible.

[SCillini]

Originally Posted by AHSIllini32

I don't know why you roll your eyes considering we are nowhere near the only team to schedule an FCS opponent.

It's not a reference to scheduling, it's a reference to the state of two programs and their ability to win a game, other than against an FCS team.

[JLAandLKR]

Great news! Playing those small programs was ridiculous.
Missouri, ASU, Washington (for instance) and nine conference games. That's a schedule!

[chief9]

There goes Northwestern's winning record....

[BobtheBarber2]

Originally Posted by Dan

Speaking on his monthly radio show Tuesday night, Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez shared a nugget of information that should cheer football fans who long for better nonleague games.

I'm cheered !!!!!!

It's about time teams are forced to come out from hiding behind the skirts of weak scheduling. Chalk this one up as a major benefit of football having sold its' soul to television.

Play 10 league games and 2 games against decent competition, what a concept.

Now let's see how coaches try to get around this one.

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by Sybok

Northern Illinois is a directional school. Perhaps this will force one or more of the others to take the leap to FBS.

no

just so they can play some B1G teams ooc?

you have any idea what it cost to go from FCS to FBS? and what conference so you propose ISU, SIU. WIU or EIU join?

this is a rule that the SEC and other leagues should adopt. That, are disallow the win for bowl purposes and remove the incentive to schedule them,

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by chief9

There goes Northwestern's winning record....

NU has done it primarily by scheduling the weak sisters of the poor in FBS -- namely Duke, Rice , et al.

[champaignchris]

I think this might be more for publicity than anything. There really isn't that big of a difference between the top half of th Big Sky, Colonial, or MO Valley and the bottom half of the MAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA. Are people really going to be any more excited to be playing Eastern Michigan instead of Eastern Washington? Especially sine Eastern Washington is a better team as often as not.

[Illinnoying Orange]

Originally Posted by champaignchris

There really isn't that big of a difference between the top half of th Big Sky, Colonial, or MO Valley and the bottom half of the MAC, Sun Belt, and C-USA.

And you could lump the bottom feeders of the big ten into that category as well.

Personally, I enjoy the David vs Goliath match-ups early in the season and most of the time root for the underdogs (unless they are playing the Illini). Northern Iowa has been knocking on the door in recent years and played Iowa and Wisky tough last year. Seems like every year some of these FCS teams knock off FBS teams.

Also with the out of control big money making empire that FBS football has become, I actually feel good about the FCS programs getting a nice payout for these games to help their programs financially.

[AutoPoster 3000]

Originally Posted by Illinnoying Orange

I predict that colorado's of the BCS world may soon begin to receive phone calls from the bottom feeders of the big 10 conference

It's easy to bash Colorado for its on-the-field performance but lets not forget, CU is still a flagship state university in a large media market, in a major conference with its own national cable TV network, who went to a BCS bowl as recently as 2001 but has suffered the last decade from abysmal head coaching. Sound familar? I don't think a 1-11 record makes them Idaho any more than our 2-10 record makes us Akron. One might add that CU still managed an average attendance of about 45,000 per game in 2012 which is not appreciably worse than Illinois' numbers. And last year they had a bigger football program budget than Illinois by about $3 million dollars. As a Colorado State University and Illinois alum, it gives me no pleasure to defend them, but I don't think they are going to be inking any deals to play one-off road games in Bloomimgton or West Lafayette anytime soon.

[carmelillini]

Originally Posted by trevdv

Sweet? Why is this a good thing? Sure, those DII FCS games might be "boring," but I'll take a blowout win against NDSU any day of the week.

No way. What a waste of time to go to these blowouts. A sham that needed to be eliminated.

[pizzaman]

Originally Posted by carmelillini

No way. What a waste of time to go to these blowouts. A sham that needed to be eliminated.

The truth.

[dgcrow]

I guess that mean Michigan won't be scheduling Appalachian State again.

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by dgcrow

I guess that mean Michigan won't be scheduling Appalachian State again.

I actually think they had them sceduled for the first game last year and they bought out of it to be able to play 'Bama in that TV game

I dont think they will be in any hurry to re-schedule 'Bama either :laugh:

[carmelillini]

Originally Posted by dgcrow

I guess that mean Michigan won't be scheduling Appalachian State again.

Yep. The Mountaineer's athletic budget is going to take a big hit.

[ButkusDaBear]

Get ready for the trickle-down effect on these smaller schools. If they can't get paid to play, then their athletic departments will suffer tremendously.