No more DII for the sake of Playoffs
September 11, 2009
The Bobcats performed very well against the Rams this past Saturday and things are looking good for this season, but this blog isn’t about that. This blog is not about the Bobcats. Rather, it’s about our schedule, our opponents, and specifically our out of conference opponents. While the win over the Rams was sweet, it would have been sweeter if it was against Cal Poly, Northern Arizona, Georgia Southern, or basically any other team from our subdivision.
It is my firm belief that Texas State football should not be scheduling any OOC games with non Division I teams. It has nothing to do with the strength of Division II or NAIA teams, but whether or not the opponent counts towards the Bobcats D-I win total for the FCS playoffs. Division II and lower don’t count, so we shouldn’t be playing them. With the Southland currently in a 4/3 home/away schedule alternating annually and with the annual FBS game thrown in, we could alternate 5 or 6 home games per year while playing a full D-I schedule. Of course, even more home games are possible during the playoffs.
Bobcats take a knee before the start of the '08 playoff game vs. Montana
With the Division I playoffs expanding, that means more At-Large bids. More at large bids means that OOC scheduling becomes even more important. In my oh-so-humble opinion, any FCS Athletic Department that schedules Division II games immediately puts their team at a disadvantage of getting a chance at the playoffs.
After the SUU game this season, Texas State will have completed all home-and-home agreements with FCS teams we’ve played in the past few years. Well, except Appalachian State, we decided to take the check for that 2004 game in Boone instead of asking for a return trip. WHY?? Still never heard a good excuse for that one.
So since we’ve completed all our contracts with other schools it’s now time for the Athletic Department to dazzle us with a new OOC for next season. Don’t get me wrong, The Drive to FBS has been GREAT so far, things are really looking up. But, how does it look when we say we want to play UP but we schedule DOWN?
I think we should play teams from the Missouri Valley, Big Sky, Southern, or Great West conferences. What teams do you think we should play Out Of Conference? Let me know in a comment below.
-Maximum Bobcat
max@bobcatfans.com
I agree 100% that D-II teams need to be a thing of the past and we need to play exciting OOC teams. The problem is with our schools location. There are just not many teams west of the Mississippi or near us. I asked Coach Wright about this very thing at a Alumni mixer and he summed it up about like this.
With the the expense of travel its hard to get teams east of the Mississippi to come play. Odds are we will continue to see the same teams from the Big Sky and Great West Conferences. D-II games are done because it makes for easy scheduling and gives us a home game. He doesn’t seem to think theres going to be much change soon.
But the good news is we can play teams like Weber St, Montana, Portland St, Sac St, Northern Arizona, South Dakota and North Dakota.
Things can and will change though. I don;t see any reason Missouri Valley or OVC teams shouldn’t be scheduled though.
You are exactly right of course but, as an ‘older’ Bobcat I wish we could beat A&M Kingsville every single year. It would fill the stadium, with their fans and ours.
But it makes no sense to harm the Bobcats to settle a personal score…..
Unlike all other TState sports, Coach Wright doesn’t schedule his own games so we’ll have to press the AD for this change.
More power to you Max Bob, you are right on!
Interesting thesis, but you leave out one factor: most schedules are set years in advance. Perhaps we should get an idea what the AD already has locked into place for the future, and see where the earliest available openings are.
Personally, I’d like to see Texas State adopt Fresno State’s football scheduling mentality: we’ll play anyone, anytime, and beat your ass while we’re at it.