Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Here is the place for all other LU sponsored sports. Come here to post about: Men's/Women's Cross Country, Men's Golf, Men's/Women's Soccer, Men's/Women's Tennis, Men's/Women's Track & Field, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Swimming & Dive, Women's Volleyball
Neither is Marshall, located in the beautiful Ohio River VALLEY of Huntington.
"If Cider hit the books any harder, they'd press charges"--Lefty
"When you’re right you’re right"--Purple
"I shall not participate in many discussions..." --Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
We would be crazy to turn down any offer to move up to FBS level. As to most of the world the FCS is looked at kinda like a JV team. It might be nice if you win a JV tournament but you’re not playing with the big boys. It also makes the next step up much more attainable in the future (stepping up to a major FBS conference). I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to move up inside the FCS world but if any opportunity came along to move into a mid major FBS conference we would be crazy to turn them down (I’m sure you could come up with some situation where it wouldn’t make sense but 99% of the time it would). I just don’t see where trying to be a big fish in a little pond ever helps. It cost money for the non-revenue sports but that’s part of the game we are trying to play.
While it would be great to have won a bunch of FCS championships, I would argue that it would be nearly impossible to ever be in a position where a major FBS conference would ask a FCS team to join (even if they just won 5 straight NC). They would always find a mid-major FBS team. The exception being a team like Villanova where they already play everything but football in the Big East.
Last edited by From the class of 09 on June 14th, 2010, 11:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
For the record, so you think anyone at Marshall, Western Kentucky or Boise State really care much about the I-AA titles they posted? Perhaps Louisiana-Monroe would be an exception pining away for their Northeastern Louisiana glory. It was great when it happened and a ton of fun. But really in the broader scheme of things it doesn't have the impact they enjoy now. Following the big fish in a small pond mentality perhaps we should have never left NCCAA where we were the dominant national powerhouse.
I go back to my thoughts that the larger the stage we can perform on, the better our opportunities to use athletics to impact the world. I hate to rehash the BYU discussion but for better or worse look at how they have used their football program to in essence legitimize the LDS for much of America. I realize circumstances are different, but the goals remain very similar for our respective causes.
As someone who was around for our NCCAA championship, I certainly would not have wanted us to stay at that level, but I am also glad that we had a high level of success before we moved on. That was also the case when we moved up from NAIA to D2, but not so much from D2 to D1. The idea of moving up to FBS without at least having an FCS playoff run or two under our belt somehow just doesn't sit well with me.
That is not saying I would be totally opposed to "striking while the iron is hot" if an actual opportunity arises in the aftermath of all the coming upheaval.
I was on campus during the DII to DI transition and the amount of grumbling and naysaying was off the charts. Sadly I participated in the bellyaching about the lack of wisdom of such a move. I was wrong and I believe it would be foolish to question it today. The only reason we don't have playoff runs is because we have been handcuffed without an auto bid. Sure I'd love to have made a few trips and I anticipate we will. Even if we managed an invitation this summer, it would be 2-3 years before it would come to reality pending the NCAA moratorium being lifted. We still have time to prove our point and frankly we are equipped to do so right now. I'd enjoy nothing more than hoisting an NCAA Championship trophy or two before we transition. But transition we must if the opportunity arises.
speaking of fcs not being part of the big boys. i was talking to a bunch of people the last few days about football and none of them even consider FCS DI. FCS, DII, and DIII are a joke to a majority of people. im not saying i agree but this is just what ive gathered from the many conversations ive had recently.
Truth be told, if we make the jump there is a strong chance we would start playing the Dukes every year. And yes, beating the Dukes is sweet. It was a highlight of my days as a student when we picked up our first ever Division I victory over them.
LUnpretty11 wrote:I just want to beat JMU before we make the jump.... at least twice. Championship would be nice, but I just really really want to beat JMU.
Why not make a jump before them, then schedule and whup them badly, as if to say, "look where we are NOW!!"
Schfourteenteen wrote:Why must that name be brought up again?
If two other VA schools get an invite to move up down the road, how would that affect FB recruiting?
Also, this moving up stuff will never happen as long as our basketball team posts a RPI over 270.
BBall can be improved with one recruiting class and doesn’t play as much of an impact as football when considering expansion. The reason that football is the driving force is simply money. It’s the most lucrative program for successful programs and the most expensive program by far. However it sure wouldn’t hurt to improve our Bball in the mean time and we will if we can get some consistency in that program.
Moving from the FCS to the BCS level is probably at least 80% about football. As far as men's basketball RPI is concerned, we were 232 last year, and I see that getting nothing but better. I counted 7 FBS schools who were below us in basketball RPI.
What happens with C-USA either directly or indirectly affects our future. As long as Memphis, Houston & ECU hang out waiting to see if they can step up to the big time the league will continue to meander along. Once those dominoes fall, then it gets real interesting. Or if the dominoes fall and those three (and to a lesser extent UCF) remain then it may force some of them to consider more effective alternatives to the travel-intensive league.
Sly Fox wrote:What happens with C-USA either directly or indirectly affects our future. As long as Memphis, Houston & ECU hang out waiting to see if they can step up to the big time the league will continue to meander along. Once those dominoes fall, then it gets real interesting. Or if the dominoes fall and those three (and to a lesser extent UCF) remain then it may force some of them to consider more effective alternatives to the travel-intensive league.
Big South to C-USA seems like quite a jump. Are we thinking C-USA raids a lower level conference and we look to replace one of those teams who jumps?
It is indeed a huge jump right now ... but if they are raided and have nothing left but a shell of primarily Eastern schools (not a preposterous scenario) then anything is possible.
The Rocco thread got me thinking about "the move" again and maybe everybody already noticed this but last year we averaged 14,931 in attendance. In order to be eligible to move up you have to average over 15k for a two year rolling period so we would only have to average 15,100 this fall in order to break that mark.
Actually those are the old standards and nobody knows what thresholds will be in place once the moratorium is lifted. But suffice it to say that attendance is not ever going to be an issue in a step up.
Intriguing. If BYU, a large, religious school with its own television network and a nationwide following can make this work, who's to say that down the road ... You know what I'm getting at.
Intriguing. If BYU, a large, religious school with its own television network and a nationwide following can make this work, who's to say that down the road ... You know what I'm getting at.
Interesting. I'm not sure if I'd want to go that route though.
Independent status is not available to schools transitioning up to the FBS level from FCS ... it is only available to existing FBS schools. So it would be many years down the road before we'd be eligible to even consider such a situation. But I like how Chris is thinking.
The correlations I could see would involve using university resources and influence to maneuver the tricky conference waters in the coming years. By becoming independent they have made themselves readily available to the Pac-12 or Big XII should either league suddenly have an opening. And as we witnessed this summer, anything is possible.
What I find most interesting is that the past few months have taken the MWC from a borderline BCS-caliber league down to one arguably a step behind the WAC if Boise State decides against joining the MWC. ACC & Big East schools should be taking notes.
Obviously JMU is in the same boat as we are in regard to watching realignment for a potential opportunity to move up to FBS ranks. Here is a lengthy thread on their board ... focus on most recent pages. They have some well informed posters and some who have no clue. But it is a fun conversation.
I've long felt the CAA would be a great fit for us, especially with all of the VA schools currently in there. I have heard that if we move up some are wanting us to go straight to a BCS conf. like the MAC, but I think we should become a more dominant force in the FCS before we try and compete in the divisional formerly known as I-A. And when you look at a school like Marshall, they were dominating I-AA and after some initial success in the MAC have more recently just become another run of the mill MAC team, whereas before they were a dominate 1-AA team attracting the likes of Moss, Pennington and Leftwich to name a few.
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
- By LU Armchair coach
- By Humble_Opinion