For I believe the 5th time this year, a FCS (formerly Division I-AA) team, has upset a FBS (I-A) team. Appalachian State set the tone early with their win over Michigan. This weekend, my Alma Mater, University of Delaware Fighting Blue Hens traveled to Navy and won 59-52.
Yes, this is the Navy that has the #1 Rushing Offense in Division I football. Yes, the same Navy that has played in bowl games for four consecutive years, winning twice (and only lost by 1 point to Boston College in last years bowl game.) Yes, the same Navy that plays Notre Dame next weekend.
There is some great football in the FCS, and many teams are proving it this year. Should make for a great FCS playoff this year.
October 29th, 2007
It’s been 43 years in the making, and I think Jolly Roger was on the squad last time, but even though it has been a down year for the Vatican-line towing midwesterners (which would dampen the bragging rights) I would quite like to see Navy end the drought.
Congratulations to the Fighting Blue Hens.
BTW, does Michael Vick know that blue hens can fight?
October 29th, 2007
What in hell is the FCS anyway? The NCAA website still lists: The Sports Network/CSTV Div I-AA Top-25 College Football Poll, and I can’t find any definition of “FCS” or whatever we are supposed to call 1-A either. This is so foolish, 1-A and 1-AA made sense. This new nomenclature is just politically correct euphemism.
October 29th, 2007
FCS = Football Championship Subdivision
FBS = Football Bowl Subdivision
I’m guessing someone at the NCAA wanted to embarrass the BCS and bowl process by pointing out there were actually college football playoffs. I believe Division I-A/FBS football is the only NCAA sport without a playoff to determine a national champ.
From a program perspective, both FCS & FBS are allowed to have 85 players on scholarship. However, in the FCS, only 63 players can receive full scholarships. I also believe an FBS school must have average attendance over 15,000 fans.
October 29th, 2007
Would they kick Duke out of the FBS (and thus, the ACC) if they dropped below a 15k fan average? Could they?
When I first read that, I immediately thought: no WAY does Duke average more than 15k per game. Fortunately (for what it’s worth), I’m wrong. In our 3 home games this year, we’ve had 17k, 20k and 23k folks (according to the official box scores). No accounting if half or more of those fans are from the visiting school. (but if you consider that the first of those three games was UConn, and the next two were relatively close-by ACC schools, you can draw your own conclusions)
October 29th, 2007
I have to admit, Dave, I did not know that 1-AA had a championship playoff until about two years ago. I thought everyone just played for their league championships (Ivy, Patriot etc.) Maybe they should publicize it more, like the NIT. Of course the analogy is not accurate, in that the NIT of football would be a playoff with 1-A programs with fewer than 6 wins (hey, ND could win that!).
October 29th, 2007
Also, in 1-A while I don’t think you HAVE to have a stadium of particular size, practically, you need a facility that holds at least 40,000 – 50,000 with lights or you won’t get any decent programs to agree to play away games at your school.
October 31st, 2007
On the 15,000 attendance, I read an article somewhere over the weekend (which I of course can’t find now), saying that the NCAA is considering enforcing the rule for the first time. It wasn’t well written, and didn’t have a list of the schools that would be at risk. Maybe if I have some time, I’ll try to take a look into it.
November 1st, 2007
[...] As we talked about in a previous post, in order to keep membership in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (Formerly I-A), a school needs to have to achieve an average attendance of 15,000 once in a rolling two year period. [...]