I’m sure I have 5-7 teams on there right now that will not be there at the end of the season, 5-7 more that are way too high, and 5-7 that are probably way to low.  I’ve always been on the side of saying the CAA is slightly overrated, although I have not beat that drum as hard as others in the FCS world.  However, it’s tough to do a legit top 25 poll and not include at least 5-6 CAA teams.  Part of that is legitimate top 25 teams, but most of it is because of the top of the conference.  The top 2 or 3 teams are usually top 10 teams, the bottom teams *coughTowsonAndycough* are bottom of the FCS.  That leaves the middle of the pack teams to beat up on each other and look tougher because of the occasional upset of a top team.  I noticed I had more Big Sky and SoCon teams than I thought I would.  As well as more MEAC, Southland and OVC teams in contention….possibly too many.

The Big Sky, SoCon and CAA take home 8 of the top 10 spots in my poll.  That seems excessive, especially to those who support teams from other conferences or who don’t really follow the FCS.  However, it doesn’t take much more than 10 minutes of research to see that there are only a handful of teams from outside of those conferences who have accomplished anything (to be honest there is only a handful of teams from those three conferences who have accomplished anything.)

Full conference break down:

Next 5 considered: Western Illinois (MVFC) , Southern Utah (Great West), Murray State(Ohio Valley), Bethune-Cookman (MEAC), Sacramento State(Big Sky)

As you know, if you have spent more than 2 minutes reading my posts, my knowledge of the FCS starts with UNI and the Missouri Valley Football Conference.  Due to that my FCS blogs on the MVFC will likely be “stronger” than my blog posts on other conferences.  I am a fan of everything FCS – yes even you PFL – so I will do my best to create a blog that gives all the major stories of the day, week, month, whatever from around the FCS proper commentary.  My first actual blog that covers anything will be my yearly MVFC predictions (game by game predictions, O and D POY, COY, playoff predictions, etc…).  I’ll also do my best to put together my preseason predictions for every conference in the FCS.  With those I’m sure I’ll catch a heck of a lot of flak for some of those, so be it.  Once the polls start rolling out I’ll start doing a “Poll Attack”, similar to what Gary Parrish does.  I think Shark Head is a giant D-Bag but I like his idea of the poll attack, and given some of the polls put out by voters from the various polls it seems like a good idea.

On top of the preseason predictions that I’ll be putting out I’m looking to do some other FCS related posts.  I’ll put out my own list (and an fcsfans.com favorite) for top and worst stadiums, best and worst uniforms, and just general commentary on things I find that pertain to the FCS in general.  I’m also open to suggestions to news stories to comment on.

Outside of the football side I’ll be doing college basketball (with an emphasis on mid-majors and FCS schools), and with the NCAA tournament coming up I’ll be doing predictions for those games, as well as my prediction for a couple other games in the NCAA’s.  I’ll also be doing some blogs and commentary on the MLB, NBA, and NFL.  I don’t really follow any other sports (well I do follow Aussie Rules Football but I’m sure I’m the only one here that does so I’ll avoid that).

I’ll do my best to be as objective as I can with this blog, but I’m not going to take a middle of the road approach.  That just isn’t who I am, and it would be a disservice to you as the reader if I tried to act that way.  If you have a problem with my opinions, want to call me out, call me names, or whatever you feel like doing so be it.  After-all:.

If there is anything you want me to look at and blog about send me a PM on fcsfans.com and let me know.  I’ll look it over and see if I feel it is worth my time to do so.

This has been another very busy week with lots of controversy on many differing subjects and I will  summarize a few of them below.

On Thursday the NCAA adopted three new rules. 1) players are not allowed to have any symbols or messages on their eye black starting in the 2010 season.  2) wedge-blocking formations of three or more players by the receiving team on kickoffs has been banned for the 2010 season and 3) players will now be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct as a live-ball foul beginning with the 2011 season. These new rules come with both approval and protests from users across the country.  The most debated rule would be #2 as to what is acceptable taunting and celebration.  Many don’t believe that refs have the ability to make proper judgement… unless of course the penalty is on the opposing team, or any team in the CAA for that matter. WCB

In other news, the NCAA denied Deaware’s TE Josh Baker a 6th year of eligibility.  He was injured in the first quarter of the first game in the 2009 season which ended his season and now it is apparent that it also ended his college career.  My question to you all is… how many fricking years does it take for a CAA football player to graduate?  6 Years?  Really?  All kidding aside (no offense to you Mr. Baker) this just shows that the NCAA is starting to sway to the west. WCB

Iowa… what can I say about Iowa?  Actually, what can’t I saw about Iowa.  Iowa has been the most discussed topic as of late and I am starting to learn just how bad ass that state is.  I mean they have flying fireballs, hailstorms that could take out a small country (excluding Iowa), a sub par football team and don’t forget the Austin Powers missile silo with attached pig trough.  They even have a “mature discussion” thread on the subject, which happens to be the only official mature topic on this entire site.  I’m sure it is soon to be hijacked by a JMU poster soon, oh wait… it was started by one, $#%&.  The only thing Iowa doesn’t have is Willie, and he is one bad ass MoFo.

Facebook rarily makes it to CS (most users on this site can’t figure it out) but when it does, it can be quite the interesting conversational topic.  This weeks facebook topic was asking whether or not andy7171 should add one of his lacrosse players’s mom on facebook and stalk her.  This turned into many demands for pictures which then brought out more facebook mommies from Towson and was quite a treat for all. It was like a trip down memory lane for the 2 people that know where Towson is.  We did get to see a picture of what she looked looked like in the 80′s but have yet to see a recent one so the judgement is still out. andy7171 did end up adding her, which makes his brother andysbrother7070 very happy as he can now…

The last but not least and hugely debated and overly controversial topic is LSAs.  You might be asking what the heck LSAs are?  Well, LSAs are Left Side Avatars (AKA Left Side Profiles) on the topic pages.  It seems that a few (Ursus, dback and DJH, not to name names) can’t seem to grasp the concept of having the information on the left with the pictures on the right.  As of right now, LSAs do not work but we are hard at work *cough* (camping, drinking, fishing, partying) *cough* trying to get these things fixed so please be patient.  If you don’t give a rats ass which side the avatars are on then please ignore this topic and continue on.

This just in, Alpha has a best friend (no homo… or is it?)

This has been your CS Weekly Update!  Enjoy!

The end of November is always an exciting time in FCS football.  For 16 teams it means the beginning of a shot at the national championship.  Starting in 2010 that number will jump to 20 with the addition of automatic bids for the Big South and NEC, and 2 more at-large bids.

When the playoffs started in 1978 there was only 4 teams involved.  In 1981 the format changed to 8 teams.  One year later the playoffs were expanded to 12 teams, with 4 teams getting a first round bye.  The first 16 team playoff bracket was formed in 1986.

With the first change in over 20 years only a season away, another change is already brewing.

A little more than a month ago the rumors began spreading that the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship football only conference, was applying for an automatic bid.  The league is in its 17th year of operation and it currently ranges from coast to coast.  The ten team conference is composed of Butler, Campbell, Davidson, Dayton, Drake, Jacksonville, Marist, Morehead State, San Diego, and Valparaiso.  Although the Pioneer League has not officially announced it’s intentions, the rumor was confirmed by Morehead State Athletic Director Brian Hutchinson.  ( http://www.wkyt.com/wymtsports/headlines/61520037.html )

This announcement has stirred up a lot of arguments in the FCS community.  Here are the two sides to that argument:

“The Pioneer League meets all requirements”- This is the positive side of the discussion, and it’s true.  The Pioneer meets all of the requirements set forth by the NCAA for teams who want to apply for an automatic bid.  They are one of three conferences who are eligible to apply for an autobid, but most likely the only one that will apply.

I agree with this side of the argument.  There is no reason to keep a league from applying for an automatic bid if they meet all of the requirements put forth by the NCAA.  If the NCAA plans to exclude them, they would have to change the language in the by-laws.  If they Pioneer League is denied, they will be the only qualified applicant who has been denied.  The SWAC and Ivy show no interest in participating at this juncture.

“The Pioneer League is not competitive”- The other side of the argument is that the teams in the Pioneer League do not schedule properly and are not competitive when playing against teams from the other auto bid conferences.  Statistically, since 2002 the Pioneer League is 7-25 against teams from auto bid conferences.  They were outscored in these games by a total of 1132-486.  In the 7 games that they won, their opponents combined for a record of 18-54, although one of those wins was against a 2007 Fordham team that won the Patriot League and lost in the first round to Massachusetts.  There are two teams, Butler and Campbell, that did not play teams from automatic bid conferences during this period.  The other issue that makes the Pioneer League appear to be weak is the losses to sub D-I opponents.  The 10 teams in the league have combined for 53 losses to sub D-I opponents since 2002.

It’s hard to disagree with this side.  If the Pioneer League intends to participate in the playoffs, some changes need to be made in order for them to be competitive. The changes need to start with the schedules.  The teams in the Pioneer League need to schedule less sub D-I teams and more teams from auto-bid conferences.  Hopefully with some changes the Pioneer League will find itself competitive and their playoff match-ups won’t end up like a 1 seed playing a 16 seed in March Madness.