[Ed Dantes]

Question about the automatic bid that the Big South is eligible for in 2010:

I know that in college basketball, when you win the conference tourney (or conference if there is no tourney, such as in the Ivy League), you get an auto bid to the Big Dance.

But I thought this isn't the case with D-IAA (or Championship Non Sub Division Contender or whatever it is). I was under the impression that 8 slots are reserved for conference champs (such as the A-10 / CAA or Big Sky) and 8 for at-large teams. So only the winners of the top 8 conferences are getting auto bids.

So even if 2010 rolls around and LU wins the Big South, while the selection committee would be hard-pressed to look over us, it's still feasible that it could happen.

-ED

[thepostman]

yeah that is what i understand as well....not 100% sure about it...but our conference is getting better as far as our rating goes...we actually ranked ahead of 3 of the conferences that already get auto bids according to Lang's article...so we are well on our way

[Libertine]

Short answer, no, it's not guaranteed. Long answer, it's a better than average shot due to conference RPI ratings.

However, if history serves, the NCAA would expand the playoffs. Rules state that no more than half of the participants in an NCAA playoff bracket can be automatic qualifiers and that goes for all sports, not just FCS football. This is the reason that the NCAA basketball tourney now has 65 teams and a play-in game rather than leaving a conference champ out.

[Ed Dantes]

Short answer, no, it's not guaranteed. Long answer, it's a better than average shot due to conference RPI ratings.

However, if history serves, the NCAA would expand the playoffs. Rules state that no more than half of the participants in an NCAA playoff bracket can be automatic qualifiers and that goes for all sports, not just FCS football. This is the reason that the NCAA basketball tourney now has 65 teams and a play-in game rather than leaving a conference champ out.

Well, here's a problem. You play what, 30-35 college basketball games a year? Adding one more game extends your season like what, three percent? That's basically nothing.

College football, on the other hand, plays 12 games. Another game makes the season eight or nine percent longer... How many people would stand for that (as it hurts academically)?

[Libertine]

Hurts what academically? You're already spending most of the semester in "season mode" so that last 2 or 3 weeks before finals doesn't change much. Most programs now structure class loads so that most players take the bare minimum in the fall and then schedule the bulk of the academic work to be done in the spring semester anyway. On top of that, FCS programs can only play 11 but many FBS schools are now playing 12 or 13 game schedules as it is, with bowl games on top of that.

Also, think about this for a second: no NCAA playoff structure takes a lower percentage of participants than the FCS playoffs. In the NCAA basketball tournament for example, there are 65 slots for 336 teams. That means the total playoff participants will equal +/- 19% of the whole. In the FCS, there are 16 slots for 122 teams or just over 13%. What's 19% of 122? 23.18. *

* Does not factor in "non-participating" FCS members. If they don't want in, that's their problem.

[WinthropEagleFan]

Football players miss the least amount of class-time due to games compared to any other collegiate sport that I can think of (just about all of their games are on weekends and they play only 11 or 12 games a year), so I've never bought the whole 'academic' argument that people use to oppose a playoff in Div. I-A (or expanding them in I-AA)...I mean, teams in the NCAA basketball tournament probably miss more class time in a two/three week span than a football team misses in an entire season.

[ATrain]

I can't tell you how many classes I've missed travelling with our tennis teams. With maybe a couple exceptions here and there, the most class time a football team misses is travelling to an away game the Friday before a game...and though PC is only playing 3 home games this year, most schools normally schedule 5 or 6 (sometimes 7) home games per year. The only way it can hurt academically is by making practice sessions go longer in the season and they lose time to study/do homework.