Sunday, November 19, 2006
Many I-A football teams fill 12th game with I-AA foes
College football's permanent 12-game schedule will start with the 2006 season, and besides more work and less time off for players, it will mean more Division I-A teams playing I-AA opponents.
With schedules just about finalized for the fall, 74 of the 119 I-A teams are committed to play I-AA foes. Last year, the final season of the 11-game schedule (but with an NCAA rule changed to allow one I-AA win each year to count toward bowl eligibility), 53 I-A teams had a game against a I-AA club.
The flip side of the equation is that I-AA teams can make more money by scheduling games against I-A clubs. Northwestern State and Portland State are each playing three I-A teams.
When a permanent 12th game was approved, Big 12 Conference Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he would push his schools to use the extra date to schedule more marquee opponents.
That hasn't worked out as well as he had hoped, however. Eleven of the league's 12 schools (all but Oklahoma) will play I-AA teams this fall.
"One of the things that has been a concern to me is the quality of schedules generally, even prior to the 12-game schedules," Weiberg says. "We've been asking for the cooperation of our athletics directors and coaches in trying to make sure the non-conference schedules at least include one opponent from maybe the top 50 or 60 teams in the country." But, Weiberg says, schedule-makers have had trouble nailing down those kinds of opponents in a home-and-home series or without paying what Big 12 schools consider excessive guarantees to visiting teams.
"Not to say it's impossible to get such games, but I think it's a more competitive arena to operate in than some maybe thought it would be," Weiberg says.
A possible solution, at least for his league, Weiberg says, is to seriously consider adding a ninth conference game each season and going back to playing three non-league opponents. Weiberg says that issue will be discussed at the league's annual meeting May 22-25.
The Pacific-10 is already following that model, starting this year.
Weiberg says he didn't know where coaches stand.
"What I've seen is an increased level of interest on the part of ADs who previously weren't supportive of it," he says. "I think it's moving in that direction, but I don't know that it'll pass."
With schedules just about finalized for the fall, 74 of the 119 I-A teams are committed to play I-AA foes. Last year, the final season of the 11-game schedule (but with an NCAA rule changed to allow one I-AA win each year to count toward bowl eligibility), 53 I-A teams had a game against a I-AA club.
The flip side of the equation is that I-AA teams can make more money by scheduling games against I-A clubs. Northwestern State and Portland State are each playing three I-A teams.
When a permanent 12th game was approved, Big 12 Conference Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he would push his schools to use the extra date to schedule more marquee opponents.
That hasn't worked out as well as he had hoped, however. Eleven of the league's 12 schools (all but Oklahoma) will play I-AA teams this fall.
"One of the things that has been a concern to me is the quality of schedules generally, even prior to the 12-game schedules," Weiberg says. "We've been asking for the cooperation of our athletics directors and coaches in trying to make sure the non-conference schedules at least include one opponent from maybe the top 50 or 60 teams in the country." But, Weiberg says, schedule-makers have had trouble nailing down those kinds of opponents in a home-and-home series or without paying what Big 12 schools consider excessive guarantees to visiting teams.
"Not to say it's impossible to get such games, but I think it's a more competitive arena to operate in than some maybe thought it would be," Weiberg says.
A possible solution, at least for his league, Weiberg says, is to seriously consider adding a ninth conference game each season and going back to playing three non-league opponents. Weiberg says that issue will be discussed at the league's annual meeting May 22-25.
The Pacific-10 is already following that model, starting this year.
Weiberg says he didn't know where coaches stand.
"What I've seen is an increased level of interest on the part of ADs who previously weren't supportive of it," he says. "I think it's moving in that direction, but I don't know that it'll pass."
# posted by Kevin @ 10:43 AM 
