Football lines up FCS teams to ensure wins

Weaker opponents increase bowl opportunity but don’t provide national attention

By Thor Nystrom

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The shocking Appalachian State upset of Michigan will do nothing to change the ideology of KU schedule makers. The Athletics Department plans to continue to schedule FCS, formerly known as Division 1-AA, opponents in the future, according to Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony.

“I remember a couple years ago when we played Appalachian State, and nobody here thought they were any good,” Marchiony said. “There are no gimmes in college football. You can’t worry about what people think of the schedule, you just do what you think is best for the program.”

breakbox

FCS opponents from the past 10 years:

2007 — Southeastern Louisiana, W 62-0

2006 — Northwestern State, W 49-18

2005 — Appalachian State, W 36-8

2004 — None were scheduled

2003 — Jacksonville State, W 41-6

2002 — Missouri State, W 44-24

2001 — Missouri State, W 24-10

2000 — Southern Illinois, W 42-0

1999 — Cal-State Northridge, W 71-14

1998 — Illinois State, W 63-21

In 2005 KU defeated the Mountaineers 36-8. ASU won the FCS championship that year.

Marchiony said FCS schools generally accepted less money than lower-division FBS opponents to travel to Lawrence.

FCS opponents are considered inferior to their larger division counterparts, without the exposure, resources or prestige to recruit on a national level. Michigan’s hiccup coupled with such upsets as Saturday’s Northern Iowa victory against Iowa State has gone lengths to debunk the notion that FCS games are sure-wins.

Marchiony said the Athletics Department has tried to “schedule for success,” with an obvious eye on bowl eligibility.

Eric Sternberger, Wichita junior, said he would rather see a marquee nonconference game in Lawrence than the Jayhawks in a lower-tier bowl game with wins against inferior competition.

“What does bowl eligibility mean?” Sternberger said. “There are 30 bowls. That means you’re an average team. The only bowl games that matter are the BCS games.”

Kansas played an FCS opponent in nine of the past 10 seasons since 1998. KU won each time. Before that, the team only had scheduled one FCS opponent since 1990. Only one victory against an FCS opponent can be counted for bowl eligibility each season.

“When you get to the point where you want the program to be, then you can think of having a more challenging schedule,” Marchiony said.

Sternberger believes a program should be built with the opposite mindset.

“If you play good teams, you will get more national attention and better players,” Sternberger said. “Our schedule looks bad. I’m a fan of a tough schedule, something like Kansas State’s, because they get national TV exposure. That helps recruiting.”

Patrick Millard, McPherson junior, said after Kansas’s 62-0 victory against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday that the University had a responsibility to fans to put together a more difficult schedule.

“I don’t feel like KU should ever have the easiest schedule in the nation,” Millard said. “It isn’t fair for the fans. My uncle drove two and a half hours to Lawrence to watch this game.”

FCS opponent Sam Houston State will travel to Lawrence on Sept. 20 of next year.

— Edited by Jeff Briscoe

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement