FCS opponents prior to Auburn game

selmaborntidefan said:

And Mercer does it so they can keep their school open by going back with a $1 million check. That's the reason for these games, it's a sort of 'half socialism' attempt at keeping small facilities of higher learning open.

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There's a part in "The System" detailing the need for these games because of the benefit to the smaller school. IIRC, a FCS team traveling to Baton Rouge was profiled. The payout was going to pretty much pay for the other programs the school had.

Personally, I'm all for getting rid of FCS opponents for every power 5 school. But there are other changes that will be need to be made in conjunction with that. It would probably be hard to find enough people to support major CFB reform though.

I'm all for reforms to college football. Too many programs are in the upper division and so on, too many bowl games, etc. But, I would rather sacrifice one game (or two) for the sake of an additional 85 kids getting to go to school and be productive in life as opposed to those kids not getting an education and being a further drain on the system.
These other schools likely do not have any grand delusions about beating a team like Bama. Sure, their coaches will tell them they have a shot ( see ULM several years ago. They actually did it) but they know it would take a miracle. They do it simply for the paycheck pure and simple.

I don't think FCS wins should count toward bowl eligibility, but since that's obviously not an issue with Alabama I'm fine with it.

ALA2262 said:

Question about Bama playing Mercer this year arose on another board with several comments indicating there were plenty of FBS opponents available without scheduling FCS opponents. My thoughts were if that was indeed the case then Bama would have scheduled one of them so I did some research. Thought I would pass on what I found.

Bear in mind we are not talking about an entire schedule here but rather ONE week. The week prior to the Auburn game which Bama has requested of the SEC to leave open on their schedule so as to be used to schedule an OOC opponent.

There are 130 FBS schools playing football in 2017. One of them is Bama and since the SEC has been unable to figure out how to make Bama play them that leaves 129. Eliminating the other 13 SEC schools leaves us with 116. On the week prior to the Auburn game, ONE HUNDRED of those 116 are playing mandated conference games leaving us with 16. Plenty?

Of the 16 left, two are CUSA, two are AAC, four are ACC, four are Sun Belt, and four are the Independents. The four ACC teams aren't coming so that leaves us with 12. One of the four SBC teams is Troy. That ain't happening, so that leaves us with 11. Only one (UMASS) of the four Independents would even consider scheduling Bama on that week so that leaves us with 8. Plenty!?

Now I don't know what they would do, but if I am the AD at one of those 8 schools, and unless Bama is paying Bowl money(they ain't!), I would not risk getting to the next to last weekend needing two wins to become Bowl eligible and have my team in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I suspect that in itself leaves us with 0.

And that is why Bama schedules FCS opponents prior to the Auburn game. And always will as long as they continue to play an OOC game on that week.

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Truly an incisive breakdown of the scheduling opportunities for the Saturday before the Auburn game. My only argument is based on your apparent premise that were there more formidable opponents available that weekend that we would schedule them. Frankly, I doubt that is the case either for us or for Auburn. In my opinion, both programs deliberately schedule meatballs as warm-up games, even almost controlled scrimmages and would continue to do so regardless , even if power five opponents were available. I admit I'm more than a bit of a cynic in this regard, but with millions of dollars potentially on the line, I just don't believe either AD is about to put it at risk. That said, I really don't expect to see substantially better opponents for that weekend anytime in the forseeable future. Point in fact, I honestly believe that our menu of one substantial non-conference game and three meatballs is unlikely to change anytime soon unless dictated by the conference or the NCAA. There are just too many reasons not to change at this time.

BamaInMo1 said:

I'm all for reforms to college football. Too many programs are in the upper division and so on, too many bowl games, etc. But, I would rather sacrifice one game (or two) for the sake of an additional 85 kids getting to go to school and be productive in life as opposed to those kids not getting an education and being a further drain on the system.
These other schools likely do not have any grand delusions about beating a team like Bama. Sure, their coaches will tell them they have a shot ( see ULM several years ago. They actually did it) but they know it would take a miracle. They do it simply for the paycheck pure and simple.

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Every time i hear that I think about App. St. putting it to Michigan a few years ago...!

The season has too many games with the SECCG and playoffs. We need a couple of cupcakes to make it to the finish line.

I just don't care about playing FCS opponents. I think the angst about it is way overblown. Like others have pointe out, it is mutually beneficial. I thought graduates/fans of places like those in the Big Ten appreciated such arrangements in society, especially those that help out the less fortunate. But I digress.

My only rules regarding scheduling of FCS opponents would be these:

1. Do NOT schedule a top 10 FCS opponent, such as say, North Dakota State.

2. And this one is the most important, NEVER EVER, schedule a triple option, cut blocking team from the FCS.

Abide by those two rules, and 99.9999999999999999% of the time you will be just fine. And the haters can keep hating.

Elefantman said:

The season has too many games with the SECCG and playoffs. We need a couple of cupcakes to make it to the finish line.

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This is one of the reasons I think other reforms would need to happen if you want to get rid of FCS teams. It would need to be well thought out and researched. Unfortunately, I don't see that as likely to happen. CFB changes tend to be more about throwing out random ideas and seeing what sticks.

TideEngineer08 said:

1. Do NOT schedule a top 10 FCS opponent, such as say, North Dakota State.

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For the life of me I have zero idea why any Power 5 team would ever schedule NDSU. They've won like 6 consecutive FCS championships and won like 7 out of 8 against Power 5 opponents. You get no credit for beating them because they're FCS but they're legitimately a top 40 program in the country who is capable of beating a lot of good programs.