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HARRISONBURG - Currently, not every football team in the Colonial Athletic Association plays every other member. In 2011 - for one season only - a school might not even face everyone in its own division.

Old Dominion will become the seventh team in the CAA's South Division in 2011, while the North will remain at six teams. CAA commissioner Tom Yeager said Wednesday that four of the South teams will play all six divisional foes, while three will play only five.

The four that face all six will play two games against North Division teams, while the three that play five will have three cross-over games against the North on their schedules.

Yeager said the league held a random drawing within the past month to determine which of the South's schools - James Madison, ODU, Delaware, Richmond, Towson, Villanova and William & Mary - would have which schedule scenario.

Colonial director of communications Scott Meyer said associate commissioner Chuck Boone literally pulled the schools' names out of Meyer's 2008 Kansas basketball national-championship cap. The league has opted not to release the results of the drawing.

"It was about as random as you could get," Meyer said. "We did use a hat and equally sized pieces of paper."

Yeager said the results were sent to the Denver-based schedule-making service the CAA uses, the same company employed by Major League Baseball. Meyer also said the league might discard the whole drawing if it is dissatisfied with the schedule that's produced.

"We could throw out the random drawing," Meyer said. "We want to put our teams on as balanced a schedule as we can."

Teams play 11 or 12 games - including eight in conference - during the regular season.

The 2011 scenario will last just one season - though what comes after that remains a mystery. Georgia State is set to join the CAA in 2012. At that point, Yeager said, the league is looking at a number of scenarios to accommodate 14 teams.

"We haven't figured that one out yet," Yeager said, shortly after a conference call with the CAA athletic directors.

One possibility would be for Georgia State to play in the North. While that sounds like a geographically flawed solution, Yeager pointed out that teams would have to fly to Georgia State either way, and the school is located close to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

A second option would have Villanova slide into the North Division, with Georgia State and ODU both playing in the South. That, however, would break up Villanova's longtime rivalry with Delaware and other southern schools.

A third scenario has the CAA splitting into three divisions - a north, central and south - with five teams in two divisions and four in the third.

"I don't know how they're going to do it," JMU coach Mickey Matthews said Wednesday. "I really don't have any idea, because it's so many teams. I've been in a lot of different conferences; I've never been in one that had 14 teams."

One thing the league apparently isn't considering is losing any of its current members.

danefan wrote:The only realistic sliver of hope Albany has left is the 3 division format.

Why have 2 divisions at 5 teams and 1 division at 4 teams? If they do the 3-division format Albany could join as a football only affiliate in a Central Division with Hofstra, Villanova, Towson and Delaware.

That, of course, assumes that Fordham isn't available and the CAA likes what Albany has to offer more than Stony Brook (I'm not sure Hofstra would like SBU in the same conference, let alone division).

andy7171 wrote:

danefan wrote:The only realistic sliver of hope Albany has left is the 3 division format.

Why have 2 divisions at 5 teams and 1 division at 4 teams? If they do the 3-division format Albany could join as a football only affiliate in a Central Division with Hofstra, Villanova, Towson and Delaware.

That, of course, assumes that Fordham isn't available and the CAA likes what Albany has to offer more than Stony Brook (I'm not sure Hofstra would like SBU in the same conference, let alone division).

I would think Fordham would be the CAAs first choice is going to 15, with the whole NYC market opposed to Upstate NY.

15 teams is obsurd. A major break up in the northeast is more likely to happen.

danefan wrote:

andy7171 wrote: I would think Fordham would be the CAAs first choice is going to 15, with the whole NYC market opposed to Upstate NY.

15 teams is obsurd. A major break up in the northeast is more likely to happen.

Absolutely - if Fordham is on the market. If they aren't then I'd argue for Albany over SBU, although taking SBU is the "easy" way out.

And why is 15 teams any more absurd than 14 teams? Especially if you put them in 3 divisions.

bluehenbillk wrote:

danefan wrote:

Absolutely - if Fordham is on the market. If they aren't then I'd argue for Albany over SBU, although taking SBU is the "easy" way out.

And why is 15 teams any more absurd than 14 teams? Especially if you put them in 3 divisions.

Zero chance of the CAA growing by acquisition on the future, it'd only be organic growth if GMU or VCU or UNCW wised up & got football teams.

danefan wrote:

bluehenbillk wrote:
Zero chance of the CAA growing by acquisition on the future, it'd only be organic growth if GMU or VCU or UNCW wised up & got football teams.

If it stays with 2 division I agree. But once you put three divisions in place, 14 teams becomes akward. 15 teams makes much more sense for scheduling purposes.

grizzaholic wrote:

danefan wrote:
If it stays with 2 division I agree. But once you put three divisions in place, 14 teams becomes akward. 15 teams makes much more sense for scheduling purposes.

WTF is with that????

danefan wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:

WTF is with that????

It is a scheduling option they reference in the article. Three divisions instead of two. here is what Travis posted as a possibility, which makes sense:

North
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Maine
Northeastern
Rhode Island

Central
Hofstra
Villanova
Delaware
Towson
[open for potential affiliate - Fordham/Albany/Stony Brook maybe]

South
Georgia State
Old Dominion
William & Mary
James Madison
Richmond


Play all 4 in your division and 2 against each other divisison on a rotating basis.

grizzaholic wrote:Well I guess maybe the league should be called CAACS and not FCS. Hell maybe Montana should join. Why stop at 15, 32 has a good ring to it. They wouldn't even need to play the playoffs anymore. Just make the CAACS champion the National Champion too.

BlueHen86 wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:Well I guess maybe the league should be called CAACS and not FCS. Hell maybe Montana should join. Why stop at 15, 32 has a good ring to it. They wouldn't even need to play the playoffs anymore. Just make the CAACS champion the National Champion too.

CAACS is a good idea.

As for league size, the goal is too have as many teams as there are playoff spots. That way every team can make the playoffs and we don't have to worry about those out of conference nuisance teams.

Montana would be a good fit, they would be in the CAACS West Division.

skinny_uncle wrote:Oversized leagues like the CAA need to break up into separate leagues. It is just crazy to have a league where you can't play the other members on a regular basis.

Col Hogan wrote:I don't disagree with the idea of breaking up the CAA into two conferences...

I also don't see a major problem staying the way it is for now...

grizzaholic wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:I don't disagree with the idea of breaking up the CAA into two conferences...

I also don't see a major problem staying the way it is for now...

What is the limit? 14? 16?

Wildcat Ryan wrote:I agree with Skinny, they need to be separated into 2 different conferences.

Wildcat Ryan wrote:I agree with Skinny, they need to be separated into 2 different conferences.

houndawg wrote:

Wildcat Ryan wrote:I agree with Skinny, they need to be separated into 2 different conferences.

Yep. A conference is a group of teams that play each other fror the right to advance to playoffs.

BlueHen86 wrote:

houndawg wrote:
Yep. A conference is a group of teams that play each other fror the right to advance to playoffs.

Really? So according to you the Ivy League isn't a conference. Neither are the Pioneer or NEC.

A conference is an association of athletic teams. There is no requirement that every team play every other in a given year, or that they have to go to the playoffs.