Today on this blog is Part 2 of “Make College Football Great Again”. To recap Part 1. I discussed the FBS on conference realignments, teams leaving for the FCS, expanding the college football playoff, and getting rid of some of the bowl games.
This time, it’s the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) turn. I will discuss conference realignments, new bowl games for the FCS playoffs, and expand television coverage for the FCS. Let’s get started.
1. Conference Realignment
There are currently 13 conferences in the FCS. Over the years, teams have left the FCS and joined the FBS. The results haven’t been good for the teams that left the FCS with the exception of Boise State. Earlier this year the Idaho Vandals football program announced that they would leave the FBS for the FCS becoming the first program to drop to the FCS in 2018.
This was a smart move for the program and I believe Idaho will be a championship-contending team in the FCS in 2018. Other programs should follow Idaho as well. Here you will see the teams that I mentioned in my last blog that should drop to the FCS placed in conferences. Some conferences don’t change and one new conference is created based on the teams from the MAC to bring the total number of conferences to 14. So let’s begin with the Big Sky Conference.
Big Sky
North
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Montana
Montana State
Portland State
North Dakota
Idaho (moves to the conference in 2018)
South
Northern Arizona
UC Davis
Cal Pony
Sacramento State
Southern Utah
Weber State
Northern Colorado
The Ivy League stays put with their teams.
Ivy League
Harvard
Princeton
Penn
Yale
Dartmouth
Columbia
Cornell
Brown
The Big South adds Coastal Carolina from the Sun Belt Conference and will add North Alabama in 2019.
Big South
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
Kennesaw State
Liberty
Monmouth
Presbyterian
Campbell
Coastal Carolina (Joining Sun Belt in 2018)
North Alabama (Join Big South in 2019)
The NEC stays put with their teams.
NEC
Wagner
Saint Francis
Bryant
Duquesne
Sacred Heart
Central Connecticut
Robert Morris
The SWAC also stays put with their teams.
SWAC
East
Jackson State
Alcorn State
Alabama A&M
Alabama State
Mississippi Valley State
West
Grambling State
Southern
Prairie View
Texas Southern
Arkansas-Pine Buff
The MEAC also stays put with their teams.
MEAC
North
Coppin State
Delaware State
Hampton
Howard
Morgan State
Norfolk State
South
Bethune-Cook
Florida A&M
NCAT
NCC
Savannah State
South Carolina State
The Pioneer Football League also stays put with their teams.
Pioneer Football League
East
Davidson
Jacksonville University
Marist
Morehead State
Stetson
West
Butler
Drake
Dayton
San Diego
Valparaiso
The Patriot League adds UMass to make 2, 5 team divisions.
Patriot League
North
Colgate
Boston
Holy Cross
Bucknell
UMass (Independent)
South
American
Loyola
Lehigh
Lafayette
Georgetown
The SoCon Conference adds 3 teams from the Sun Belt Conference.
SoCon
East
The Citadel
Wofford
VMI
West Carolina
Furman
Appalachian State (Sun Belt)
West
Chattanooga
East Tennessee State
Samford
Mercer
South Alabama (Sun Belt)
Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)
The CAA also add 2 teams from the Sun Belt Conference.
CAA
North
Stony Brook
New Hampshire
U Albany
Villanova
Rhode Island
Maine
Delaware
South
Elon
William & Mary
James Madison
Richmond
Towson
Charlotte (Sun Belt)
Old Dominion (Sun Belt)
The Missouri Valley Conference stays the same with their teams.
Missouri Valley
East
Youngstown State
Illinois State
Southern Illinois
Indiana State
Western Illinois
West
North Dakota State
South Dakota State
South Dakota
Missouri State
Northern Iowa
The Big North joins the FCS with former MAC teams.
Big North (Former MAC teams)
Akron
Bowling Green
Miami (OH)
Ball State
Eastern Michigan
Kent State
The Southland Conference add the remaining 2 teams from the Sun Belt Conference.
Southland
East
Central Arkansas
Northwestern State
Southeastern Louisiana
McNeese State
Lamar
Georgia State (Sun Belt)
West
UIW
Sam Houston State
Abilene Christian
Houston Baptist
Stephen F. Austin
New Mexico State (Sun Belt)
And finally, the Ohio Valley Conference add a returning UAB.
Ohio Valley
North
Eastern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky
Murray State
Southeastern Missouri
Tennessee State
South
Austin Peay State
UT Martin
Jacksonville State
Southeastern Missouri
Tennessee Tech
Tennessee State
UAB (Returning)
2. Inserting bowl games into the playoff.
First of all, I love how the FCS does the college football playoffs. I like how they take the top 24 teams and do a college basketball bracket and let them play to decide a champion. Do you know what would be really cool? Insert the bowl games into the playoff.
As I talked about in the last blog, there are too many bowl games that no one cares about these games except the two teams playing in that bowl game. I think you need to make these bowl games mean something. This would be a great opportunity to have these bowl games be part of the FCS playoffs.
So I’m going to use the current FCS playoffs and show you what the FCS playoffs would look like if these bowl games were in them. This would be a huge game-changer for the FCS. These bowl games would now mean something going forward.
First Round:
Celebrations Bowl: Cal Poly vs San Diego
Cure Bowl: Youngstown State vs Samford
New Orleans Bowl: Wofford vs Charleston Southern
Camellia Bowl: Villanova vs St. Francis (PA)
Miami Beach Bowl: Chattanooga vs Weber State
Dollar General Bowl: New Hampshire vs Lehigh
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Richmond vs NC A&T
Quick Lane Bowl: Central Arkansas vs Illinois State
Second Round:
St. Petersberg Bowl: Sam Houston State vs Chattanooga
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Eastern Washington vs Central Arkansas
Birmingham Bowl: North Dakota vs Richmond
Belk Bowl: James Madison vs New Hampshire
New Mexico Bowl: North Dakota State vs San Diego
Las Vegas Bowl: The Citadel vs Wofford
Pinstripes Bowl: South Dakota State vs Villanova
Texas Bowl: Jacksonville State vs Youngstown State
Quarterfinal Round:
Poinsettia Bowl: Eastern Washington vs Richmond
Foster Farms Bowl: North Dakota State vs South Dakota State
Arizona Bowl: James Madison vs Sam Houston State
Boca Raton Bowl: Youngstown State vs Wofford
Semi-Final Round:
Taxslayer Bowl: Youngstown State vs Eastern Washington
Alamo Bowl: James Madison vs North Dakota State
Now let’s say North Dakota State and Eastern Washington win the semi-final games.
FCS Playoff National Championship Game: North Dakota State vs Eastern Washington
3. Television Coverage for the FCS.
So, I watched the North Dakota State vs South Dakota State game last night on ESPN. It got me thinking how come ESPN isn’t showing more FCS games during the season on the other ESPN channels not called WatchESPN.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to be able to watch FCS games on WatchESPN. I’ve watched some of the games on the app. Also, NBCSN airs some Ivy League games and ASN (American Sports Network) showed the most FCS games on television.
It would be nice if Fox Sports and CBS Sports Network got involved in showing FCS games. Even if they aired them on their apps. Fox Sports and CBS Sports Network would be nice additions to the FCS. Fox Sports and CBS Sports Network could expand their college football coverage along with NBCSN and ESPN.
These networks would be able to air more regular-season games along with the playoffs. Each network could air 5 playoff bowl games each for the first 3 rounds. 3 networks would get additional playoff games with the semi-final round and the championship game.
You rotate the networks showing the semi-final and championship games. Like if ESPN and Fox Sports aired the semi-final games then CBS would air the national championship game. The following year would be CBS and NBC airing the semi-final games and ESPN would air the championship game. Then the next year have NBC and ESPN air the semi-final with Fox Sports airing the title game.
By rotating the semi-final and championship games, three networks would have an additional game every year with one network ending its FCS football coverage for the year.
What college football teams should go back to the FCS? Leave a comment below.
