🏈 Saban, Muschamp talk about scheduling debate

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Don’t expect to see any FCS teams on Florida’s football schedule going forward. The Gators likely won’t schedule FCS teams in the future, coach Will Muschamp told reporters at Tuesday’s opening day of SEC spring meetings in Destin.

Muschamp said fans simply want better competition. Florida, of course, lost to FCS-level Georgia Southern last season in the midst of a four-win campaign.

If Alabama coach Nick Saban had his way, scheduling requirements would extend a lot further than eliminating FCS opponents.

The strength-of-schedule debate has become a key part of the upcoming College Football Playoff. Selection committee members are allowed to use any criteria they desire to select teams for the four-team playoff, but many have alluded to placing more weight on a team’s strength of schedule.

Much of the issue has centered on a team’s nonconference schedule. Last month the SEC announced it would stick with an eight-game conference schedule, but beginning in 2016, SEC teams will be forced to schedule at least one non-conference opponent from the “Power Five” conferences. The ACC announced it would also stick to an eight-game conference schedule, but it would require one “Power Five” non-conference game beginning in 2017. The Big 12 and Pac-12 already play nine league games, and the Big Ten will move to nine games in 2016.

Saban seems to think the requirement of one nonconference game against a “Power Five” opponent is insufficient. The Crimson Tide coach told reporters that he thinks Power Five teams should only play games against other Power Five teams.





Sports Illustrated—Continue reading...

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Coaches from around the SEC offer a variety of opinions about playing FCS teams.

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[BAMANEWSBOT]

Mike Slive spoke and answered questions for 28 minutes Tuesday at the end of Day One of the SEC spring meeting. The commish addressed a variety of topics, one of them whether SEC schools should avoid playing FCS opponents.

Slive then turned the podium over to Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff. He spoke and answered questions for 11 minutes, with strength of schedule one of the subjects, but Slive felt compelled to have the last word.

He went back to the podium to say this:

"Just one final comment about strength of schedule. ... The strength of schedule is based on 12 games, which means two-thirds of your strength of schedule is your conference games. ... I just wanted to make sure that when we think about strength of schedule we think about the strength of the conference as a significant part of strength of schedule."

In other words, selection committee members, don't focus on Alabama playing Western Carolina when the Crimson Tide faces LSU and Auburn. Don't be distracted by Auburn meeting Samford when the Tigers line up against South Carolina and Alabama.

It was Slive at his gently persuasive best, making a point without poking anyone in the eye, standing up for his schools without stepping on anyone's toes.

It's no coincidence the SEC made its decision to stand on eight conference games and released its rotation of opposite-division opponents through 2025 before the league got to the Sandestin Hilton. Slive didn't want the volatile subject of scheduling to hijack the entire spring meeting.

It was still a major topic Tuesday, especially in terms of scheduling teams from the Football Championship Subdivision. The divide was highlighted by Florida coach Will Muschamp saying the Gators "probably" would stop playing FCS teams - good thing considering last year's upset loss to Georgia Southern - while Florida AD Jeremy Foley said the school hadn't made that decision.

Nick Saban said he'd prefer to not play FCS teams, but Alabama does because not everyone in the Football Bowl Subdivision is willing to play the Crimson Tide, and you have to have 12 games.

Of course, if Alabama is forced to play FCS schools, why not Southern Conference contender Samford rather than SoCon bottom dweller Western Carolina? All smaller schools are not created equal.

Slive, who's paid to protect and promote the SEC's best interests, said the league won't forbid its teams from playing FCS opponents. It's the right call to let each school in the league decide for itself, even if a Jacksonville State can upset an Ole Miss on occasion. Slive channeled his inner recovering attorney to offer a positive to such matchups from the other side.

"One could argue that it's healthy for college football that you give some of these institutions a chance to develop some revenue of consequence to help support their programs," he said.

It's a good argument, but the playoff will shift the debate from keeping the game healthy to finding the four best teams. As Selection Sunday approaches, fans just might find themselves debating Alabama's win over Western Carolina or Auburn's win over Samford vs. Stanford's win over UC Davis.

Slive wants to make sure, at the end of the day, the selection committee focuses more on the victories Alabama or Auburn - or both - pile up in the SEC.

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[TerryP]

There was a point brought to my attention yesterday I hadn't considered. As a group here we've had these discussions off and on for several years now. I'm still of the opinion there's a lot of factors fans don't consider when it comes to scheduling opponents. Here's another one.

When @riz and I were talking a few weeks ago about the financial impact it would have on UA it wasn't high on his list at all. (It's his opinion, not one that's right or wrong, good or bad—an opinion.) One thing I've always pointed to was the scope of that financial impact. It's not just limited to the University itself. IE: A game day in Tuscaloosa brings in roughly 25 million to the local economy. (If you recall, one of my points of disagreement with the NCAA ruling on Penn State was the impact to the community.)

There's a myth about our athletic program—"we're rolling in the dough." I was glad to see Bill Battle touch on this recently.

"We are in good, sound financial ground in the athletic department. There's a myth out there that Alabama is rolling in dough. That's not the case. We bring in a lot of money every year, but we spend a lot. We have pretty significant debt service we have to worry about. We've got reserves, but our debt outnumbers our reserves. What I would like to accomplish is to reduce the debt and build the reserves, and then make sure the business of the athletic department is sound going forward. And then we can continue to accomplish our mission."​

Bringing this back to the schedule discussion. Here's something I think worth considering.

When we played Colorado State last season we ended up paying them 1.5 million for the game. If you look at the "going rate" for playing a team out of the Sun Belt conference, it's over a million for any of the teams. UTC, and FCS opponent, received less than a third of that amount (450k) for their game in Tuscaloosa. Are there more tickets sold for Colorado State than UTC?

We have an athletic director whose job requirement is to make sound financial decisions for the University. Out of those two games, which was the better decision?

 

[TerryP]

BTW, I don't believe—for a second—Florida won't schedule a FCS opponent in the future. Let's not forget this is the same Florida program that lost to a FCS team last season. Assuming I'm wrong, does anyone here believe IF they do decide they are going to schedule some of the Big5 teams they'll play them west of the Mississippi (even if it is a neutral site?) I suspect they would shy away from playing outside the state of Florida.

(I don't believe Mark Richt saying it was a good thing to do because it helps other schools with their budgets—that's not something he's considering and those that believe that's on his mind are drinking yet another helping of the Richt Kool-Aid.)

 

[planomateo]

So in a few years, the rest of the SEC will catch up...

I'm disappointed in the SEC coaches for not speaking up on this subject, they scared.

 

[riz]

Roll Moccasins!