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New article is up:

http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/ ... 1/pioneer/

NO WAY does the Pioneer League deserve an auto-bid. They play FCS Football in name only. They should not take away a bid from a deserving team.




Rob - great article - you might get more hits if you change the title to something like: "Rumor Mill - Pioneer League wants Auto-Bid"

Because they aren't applying for one, or because I had left a "p" out.

dbackjon wrote:NO WAY does the Pioneer League deserve an auto-bid. They play FCS Football in name only. They should not take away a bid from a deserving team.

How would they take away a bid from another team? An at-large bid would be added to keep things 50/50. It's not like there are other conferences clamoring for auto-bid status.

Mvemjsunpx wrote:

dbackjon wrote:NO WAY does the Pioneer League deserve an auto-bid. They play FCS Football in name only. They should not take away a bid from a deserving team.

How would they take away a bid from another team? An at-large bid would be added to keep things 50/50. It's not like there are other conferences clamoring for auto-bid status.

NEC and Big South, for two. Great West if they can add another member.

Its a good article with clear presentations of both sides of the argument.

The one thing I would add is that the committee doesn't have to jump over any hurdles to grant the request now since the playoffs can be expanded to 22 without any logistical issue (as opposed to the NEC's fight to 20).

The rest of this post is my opinion:
1. Adding the PFL team does nothing to the quality of the playoffs. It will add an additional at-large to a quality team.
2. Giving the AQ to the PFL will raise the interest in FCS football in this country. The more campuses interested in the playoffs, the better.
3. Having an AQ is a recruiting advantage to not having one. Most PFL schools recruit against Ivy, Patriot and DII and DIII schools in the midwest. Marist competes to some extent with the lower end of the NEC. They cannot claim the Ivy restriction effectively. Now they can claim that kids have the chance to play in the postseason in the Gridiron Classic. That is gone next year.
4. Giving an AQ to the PFL does not preclude the Gateway from getting an AQ if they get another team or the split of the CAA North from getting an AQ. The playoffs can easily accomodate one additional AQ after the PFL without giving rise to a logistics issue. The SWAC and the Ivy aren't joining the playoffs any time soon.

And with all that being said - I do believe the PFL needs to improve their schedules. A lot of PFL teams use the argument that FCS school treat sub-DI schools like FBS school treat FCS schools. That may be true, but let the big boys of FCS play down if they want to. They can afford to do it. The PFL cannot.

I guess I am just a bleeding heart but if the NCAA rules are going to force non-scholly schools to participate at the D-I level in football, then the NCAA should give them an opportunity to participate for the championship.

BlackFalkin wrote:Both sides are true, however, the fact that they meet the requirements is THE focal point. Let them get KILLED in the playoffs if they want to…. THIS IS PLAYOFF college football..throw everybody in the den, and lets see who comes out alive! <–thats what FCS football means to me.

Its what it means to a lot of people. I'm glad to see you say this BF. I thought for sure you'd be against this.

BlackFalkin wrote:Both sides are true, however, the fact that they meet the requirements is THE focal point. Let them get KILLED in the playoffs if they want to…. THIS IS PLAYOFF college football..throw everybody in the den, and lets see who comes out alive! <–thats what FCS football means to me.

Agree...give them the AQ...what are we saving it for? the 6th ranked CAA team? or the 4th place Big Sky or SoCon? An additional AQ helps spread FCS interest with no diminish to the quality of the playoff IMO...

dbackjon wrote:

Mvemjsunpx wrote:
How would they take away a bid from another team? An at-large bid would be added to keep things 50/50. It's not like there are other conferences clamoring for auto-bid status.

NEC and Big South, for two. Great West if they can add another member.

The NEC & Big South already got theirs. There isn't any sign of the Great West adding another team in the near future. There's also the possibility that other Great West teams will leave when they add someone, too (as with the Dakota schools).

The NCAA seems to want to eventually expand the playoffs to 24 teams. That means two more auto-bids after next year. The SWAC certainly doesn't want one & the Ivy League doesn't seem to want one either even though they don't have a legitimate reason for not participating. That leaves the Pioneer League and either the Great West or a possible split-off conference from the CAA.

Mvemjsunpx wrote:

dbackjon wrote:
NEC and Big South, for two. Great West if they can add another member.

The NEC & Big South already got theirs. There isn't any sign of the Great West adding another team in the near future. There's also the possibility that other Great West teams will leave when they add someone, too (as with the Dakota schools).

The NCAA seems to want to eventually expand the playoffs to 24 teams. That means two more auto-bids after next year. The SWAC certainly doesn't want one & the Ivy League doesn't seem to want one either even though they don't have a legitimate reason for not participating. That leaves the Pioneer League and either the Great West or a possible split-off conference from the CAA.

they can expand to 24 without adding any more AQs. The rule I believe is that atleast half the field needs to be at large