[Jonathan Carone]

Sagarin Ratings
CSU - 136
Liberty - 141
Kennesaw St - 162
Gardner Webb - 183
Monmouth - 207
Presbyterian - 228

Big South Average: 176
Southern Conference Average: 157

Total Defense

CSU - 14
Kennesaw St - 28
Gardner Webb - 48
Liberty - 49
Monmouth - 84
Presbyterian - 89

Big South Average: 52
Southern Conference Average: 58.4

Total Offense

Kennesaw St - 7
CSU - 26
Gardner Webb - 57
Liberty - 72
Monmouth - 79
Presbyterian - 119

Big South Average: 60
Southern Conference Average: 51

Scoring Defense

Liberty - 23
Gardner Webb - 24
Kennesaw St - 27
CSU - 40
Presbyterian - 75
Monmouth - 96

Big South Average: 47.5
Southern Conference Average: 58.4

Scoring Offense

CSU - 20
Liberty - 32
Kennesaw St - 6
Gardner Webb - 76
Monmouth - 72
Presbyterian - 122

Big South Average: 54
Southern Conference Average: 53

[LUnpretty11]

What's the Big South playoff record?

[Jonathan Carone]

I went through and put in where the Southern Conference ranks this year for comparison's sake. I was a little amazed to see how close the two conferences compare when you look at them as a whole. The top of the SoCon is much better than the top of the Big South, but the bottom of the SoCon is really, really bad. The Big South, as a whole, is comprised of a bunch of average teams with Monmouth and PC being pretty horrible.

[Chippy]

Coastal made us a stronger conference.

[olldflame]

Our Conference Sagarin rating is 5th best out of 13 FCS conferences, not surprisingly topped by the MVFC, which is also ranked ahead of 5 FBS conferences

MVFC 56,81
Southern 48,21
Big Sky 47,60
Colonial 46,99
Big South 43,99
OVC 43,19

It drops off a lot from there Sorry about the commas, I still haven't gotten my keyboard fixed and can't type periods

In looking at another conference we are compared to, the Colonial, like the Southern, is very good at the top and awful at the bottom G-W beat Elon by 4 touchdowns early this year

In all, I think we gripe too much here about how bad the BSC is, especially where football is concerned

[Jonathan Carone]

I think the gripes are justified when 1/3 of your league is sub-200 in the Sagarin. The problem is we don't have the good teams to balance the horrible bottom. Most league have 2-3 good, 4-5 average, and 2-3 horrible. Because we're a league where the best teams are still average, it feels like the league really isn't that good.

[olldflame]

I think the gripes are justified when 1/3 of your league is sub-200 in the Sagarin. The problem is we don't have the good teams to balance the horrible bottom. Most league have 2-3 good, 4-5 average, and 2-3 horrible. Because we're a league where the best teams are still average, it feels like the league really isn't that good.

It is an FCS conference Jon You can't rip it based on ratings that include all of D1 It's a 6 team league, so the bottom 1\3 is only 2 teams The majority of the 200 plus teams rated higher than our worst are FBS

As far as our best teams being "average" is concerned, I would suggest that results in the playoffs the last few years do not support that assertion

[olldflame]

In looking at the Sagarin ratings, I couldn't help but chortle at the fact that just one measly spot ahead of us are the mighty Jayhawks of Kansas I would have gotten an even BIGGER laugh had it been reversed, which could happen next week

[olldflame]

I went through and put in where the Southern Conference ranks this year for comparison's sake. I was a little amazed to see how close the two conferences compare when you look at them as a whole. The top of the SoCon is much better than the top of the Big South, but the bottom of the SoCon is really, really bad. The Big South, as a whole, is comprised of a bunch of average teams with Monmouth and PC being pretty horrible.

While there were no matchups between the top teams in those 2 conferences this year, there were 2 games that might shed light on your assertion

Citadel 31
G-W 24

Chattanooga 34
Presby 0


I don't think those scores are terribly inconsistent with Presby and G-W's results against top BSC teams As to the gaudy 17-1 combined record of Chatty and El Cid, look no further than who they have played OOC and compare that with Liberty and CSU

[Jonathan Carone]

You can't compare recent years to this year. This whole conversation is based on this year. The best team in the league left and the second best team has been beaten back to the pack with injuries.

Also - part of the reason the league is so mediocre is because it's so small. That's one of the biggest knocks on it.

[ballcoach15]

Big South does not have a good reputation and it is viewed as a weak conference. As I have stated before, we have too many non-football playing schools that water down the conference. As someone posted above , it is a small conference.

We need to kick Radford, Longwood, High Point and any other non football schools out, and replace them with football schools. Then conference will grow.

[thepostman]

Sounds great in theory but it's much tougher to do in reality and you have other sports to think about as well

The big South isn't exactly the mat attractive conference in the world

[ballcoach15]

Other sports are important, but whether right, wrong or indifferent, football drives the train. And 99% of the time, a conference is judged by its football teams.

[thepostman]

But you can't just kick schools out that don't play football when you don't exactly have a line of football playing schools wanting to get in.

[ballcoach15]

True, but one must do their "homework" in advance. Line up schools to come in, then issue warning to non-football schools. " play football or get out".

[LUnpretty11]

What's the Big South playoff record?

2015 - 1-1
2014 - 2-2
2013 - 2-1

That's a 5-4 record (thanks Coastal) in the last 3 years. That's not awful.

[Jonathan Carone]

That's also not this year which is what the rankings listed are for.

[olldflame]

As usual, we have ballcoach making rash statements based on the way he wants things to be without looking at the facts

With the departure of Coastal, the only all-sports members who play football are Liberty, G-W, Chuck South and Presby Liberty has a solid athletic program The other 3 really do not They are near the bottom of the BSC Sasser Cup standings every year Schools like Winthrop, Campbell and HP have better overall athletic programs

The conference sponsors 19 sports (9 for men and 10 for women) including ballcoach's beloved softball (and Longwood will continue to be good there as long as they have Kathy Riley coaching) It is about much more than football

[ballcoach15]

I have yet to figure out how Longwood got into BSC. They had nothing to offer. I can't believe the conference allowed them in. If they had had a football team, then let them in. otherwise they should have stayed out.

[LUnpretty11]

That's also not this year which is what the rankings listed are for.

I get that, but it also shows how the BSC has done in the last 3 (relevant) years. It's worth noting. The BSC isn't what it was in '07, '08 or '09.

[Jonathan Carone]

It's better than it was in those years, but to deny a drop this year is pretty blinded. 2013-2015 were the best years this league has ever had. 2016 has dropped back.

[olldflame]

True, but one must do their "homework" in advance. Line up schools to come in, then issue warning to non-football schools. " play football or get out".

They are not going to do that EVER

There are schools who are charter members of the conference who are absolutely in no position to start a football program As far as "lining up" replacements is concerned, be assured that the conference is working as hard as possible to find ONE school to take Liberty's place if we get an FBS bid No takers as of now Even the 2 associate football members, Monmouth and KSU, have ZERO interest in joining the BSC for all sports

What you are talking about is what some people call a "pipe dream"

[olldflame]

It's better than it was in those years, but to deny a drop this year is pretty blinded. 2013-2015 were the best years this league has ever had. 2016 has dropped back.

Premature evaluation

[LUnpretty11]

It's better than it was in those years, but to deny a drop this year is pretty blinded. 2013-2015 were the best years this league has ever had. 2016 has dropped back.

I'm not saying there has been a drop or hasn't been a drop. I was just interested to see what the BSC record is when it matters the most. It's pretty good.

[jimflamesfan]

It would be nice if the Big South added 2 schools for all sports. That would give us 8 football and 12 Basketball, I believe. Perfect numbers. Deleware State would probably come and Hampton seemed to show some interest but the presidents voted to focus on basketball and not pursue additional football. Then we were told by Kyle that "there was a plan for football expansion". The "plan" turned out to be an agreement with the Asun that basically does nothing for football at this point but might help with a d2 move up in the future.