I get the allure of the big time but this could happen to you. Good opinion piece from the Lewiston Tribune:
You have been warned!
Idaho-Eastern Washington wasn't a David and Goliath matchup circa Michigan-Appalachian State. This was about one team - and in many ways, one conference - dishing a big ol' slice of humble pie to a program that's consistently belittled its former home since leaving nearly two decades ago.
A program that's been told by both Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson and Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson to go away.
A program that has spent a significant amount of time and manpower trying to convince its base that success at the FBS level is not only attainable, it's expected.
A program that by the looks of it, would have trouble competing with Weber State, let alone Montana State.
No, Idaho isn't too good to join the Big Sky, it's that the Big Sky - and EWU in particular - is too good for Idaho.
I think App would struggle with recruiting with the big boys - In NC alone you have Wake Forest, UNC, NC State, Duke (maybe not such a threat), ECU, and now upstart CAA member UNC - NASCAR. Just out side that you start getting into the competition with Clemson, Ga. Tech, Tennessee, etc. not to mention trying to compete in the Virginia market.
Marshall is the poster child for how bad it can get around this area. Top of the world to basement dweller.
ASUG8 wrote:I think App would struggle with recruiting with the big boys - In NC alone you have Wake Forest, UNC, NC State, Duke (maybe not such a threat), ECU, and now upstart CAA member UNC - NASCAR. Just out side that you start getting into the competition with Clemson, Ga. Tech, Tennessee, etc. not to mention trying to compete in the Virginia market.
Marshall is the poster child for how bad it can get around this area. Top of the world to basement dweller.
If an NCSt or UVA is strugging to stay competitive in a mediocre ACC, what hope does an AppSt have?
Uhm, I crossposted this one to the other site, and I thought of the ex-FCS teams (who dropped the sport as recently as 3 years ago) located in the Northeast and the West Coast. I was also thinking about Idaho that should've gone their way because they have really struggled in I-A/FBS.
All the Ivy League needs to become relevant again is to diversify its OOC schedule.
bonarae wrote:Uhm, I crossposted this one to the other site, and I thought of the ex-FCS teams (who dropped the sport as recently as 3 years ago) located in the Northeast and the West Coast. I was also thinking about Idaho that should've gone their way because they have really struggled in I-A/FBS.
I would never want to see any team drop their program.
I'd rather see a team struggle at FBS than drop the program.
bonarae wrote:Uhm, I crossposted this one to the other site, and I thought of the ex-FCS teams (who dropped the sport as recently as 3 years ago) located in the Northeast and the West Coast. I was also thinking about Idaho that should've gone their way because they have really struggled in I-A/FBS.
I couldn't think of any West Coast FCS teams that dropped football in the last three or four years. So, I compared a list of FCS teams in 2008 and 2012. Division II Western Washington did drop football a couple of years ago. St. Mary's dropped football in 2004.
Four are no longer on the list of FCS teams:
Hofstra
Iona
Northeastern
Winston-Salem State (who never completed the transition and dropped back to Division II)
Five have been added to the list:
Georgia State
Lamar
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas-San Antonio
However, most of these are simply passing through FCS on their way to FBS.
bonarae wrote:Uhm, I crossposted this one to the other site, and I thought of the ex-FCS teams (who dropped the sport as recently as 3 years ago) located in the Northeast and the West Coast. I was also thinking about Idaho that should've gone their way because they have really struggled in I-A/FBS.
I couldn't think of any West Coast FCS teams that dropped football in the last three or four years. So, I compared a list of FCS teams in 2008 and 2012. Division II Western Washington did drop football a couple of years ago. St. Mary's dropped football in 2004.
Four are no longer on the list of FCS teams:
Hofstra
Iona
Northeastern
Winston-Salem State (who never completed the transition and dropped back to Division II)
Five have been added to the list:
Georgia State
Lamar
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas-San Antonio
However, most of these are simply passing through FCS on their way to FBS.
Cal State Northridge? But that's been more than 3-4 years...was it 2000?
"Ah fuck. You are right." KYJelly, 11/6/12
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Barack Obama, 9/25/12
Mike Johnson wrote:
I couldn't think of any West Coast FCS teams that dropped football in the last three or four years. So, I compared a list of FCS teams in 2008 and 2012. Division II Western Washington did drop football a couple of years ago. St. Mary's dropped football in 2004.
Four are no longer on the list of FCS teams:
Hofstra
Iona
Northeastern
Winston-Salem State (who never completed the transition and dropped back to Division II)
Five have been added to the list:
Georgia State
Lamar
Old Dominion
South Alabama
Texas-San Antonio
However, most of these are simply passing through FCS on their way to FBS.
Cal State Northridge? But that's been more than 3-4 years...was it 2000?
AZGrizFan wrote:Cal State Northridge? But that's been more than 3-4 years...was it 2000?
That is a good point. They dropped football when they moved from the Big Sky to the Big West. The California members of the then Big West dropped football in the few years before that. I was thinking of Cal State Northridge as part of that mass elimination of football, but the rest of the schools had been I-A. Northridge was I-AA at the time.
If an NCSt or UVA is strugging to stay competitive in a mediocre ACC, what hope does an AppSt have?
