GP1

It's a matter of finding lightning in a bottle. There isn't a school that can't find high level of success for at least a year or two. Can't did it and NIU did it this year. The structure that STZ keeps writing about is real. From alumni support to TV contracts to financial support, etc., the BCS conferences have a huge advantage. The BCS schools aren't going to willingly give away their money so the non BCS schools can waste it. The more someone gets, they more they want. What more can the BCS schools get out of the non BCS schools that they aren't already getting? They use the non BCS schools for money making home games and preparation for their conference schedules. They can't possibly schedule more games against non BCS schools than they already do, so what's the answer? When the well runs dry, you abandon the well. The only thing the BCS schools can do at this point to make more money to fund their bloated building process is to play each other exclusively, charge enormous amounts for tickets which people will pay willingly, charge enormous amounts for television rights which networks will willingly pay and have a playoff that will rake in more cash than the ncaa basketball tournament which will get better ratings than the basketball tournament. We are living in sort of an old science fiction movie. You guys remember the type. Aliens come to Earth to kill everyone and use up our resources. When they are used up, they go to another planet and do the same thing. The BCS schools have just about used up everything they can use from the non BCS schools and they are going to move on. It's very logical in many ways.

I don't have the link, but I saw it discussed on television and a couple of business journals as well. It isn't a new idea. 6-7 years ago, I was pretty close with a guy from the Athletic Department, and he was the first to bring this idea up to me. It isn't a new idea and has been kicked around in those circles for a number of years. I think the changes we are seeing in conferences now are those ideas that were kicked around 6-7 years ago slowly coming to life. As a die hard fan of Zips soccer, you should be very worried. There are some very good midwest hockey programs that are now going to suffer because the Big Ten now has enough teams to have a hockey league. Typically, schools like OSU and Michigan have played in the CCHA, which is a very good hockey league. Without those schools, it could hurt the Miami/BG/Ferris States of the world. The same could happen to soccer as well but slightly difference. The Big Ten currently has seven schools playing soccer based upon me looking at the Big Ten website. With the Big Ten Network and bringing in other schools that have soccer, there would be less of a need to play schools like Akron. Those larger schools could draw more attention to themselves and create a recruiting advantage with the opportunity to play on national television a few times a year. It doesn't happen overnight, but slowly it does happen. Once, San Francisco, Holy Cross and Loyola Chicago won national championships in basketball only to be swallowed up by the finances of big time college athletics. Don't think it cannot happen to Zips soccer.

Thanks Dave. I didn't know that and will keep it in mind. JZ84's CNN link also links to this website so it is probably safe to use.

http://localleaks.blogs.ru/2013/01/01/steubenvillefiles/ More

Your spirited debate has some good points, but this is a terrible idea and terrible reasoning. When we jumped in 1987, there was no conference that wanted to come near us for a lot of reasons. Finally, the MAC held its nose and let us in. To make another move on our own would be a disaster. Right or wrong, we are in the MAC. As the MAC goes when the non-BCS teams have their own division, so will we go.

A little trouble with the hyper link function, but I pulled it off....

Deadspin

The destruction of the Death Star in a battle you call a victory? Not until Luke learned to control his recklessness did he defeat the entire Empire and brought balance to the Force.

Just them?

Absolutely it is the smart thing to do and not just because it matches my thought. Right now, it is important for a school to have a home. Strength in numbers. People shook their heads at WVU joining the Big 12, but they needed a home at least for a few years so they joined the first conference they could get in to. Of all the movement, WVU probably made the smartest move that will pay off long term. If they don't do what they did, they are Cincy and Connecticut right now. If only 25+ years ago now, our AD would have listened to the words of Yoda, we wouldn't have this problem. "Ready are you? What know you of ready? For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless. " We acted recklessly without taking a serious look at what it really took to be D1A. We need to be patient with our next move, not reckless just so we can make a move.

Deadspin covered it today as well. A pretty ugly scene. Girl gets raped...moron of a high school football coach defends the rapists...large moron population in a community come to the backing of a moron high school football coach...local law enforcement not willing to do their job correctly. Sort of a mini Penn State. Anyone with half a brain who has ever met the coach of Steubenville would know he is so stupid he could throw himself at the ground and miss.

Schools have to protect themselves from their ADs and set up a structure where there can't be any cross games between divisions. I was watching the NFL with the luckiest woman in the world, Mrs. GP1, last weekend and New England was on. I mentioned it seems as if they play every game at home and she said they are like OSU in that respect. But no, OSU can put on their big boys pants in September along with all of the other Big 64 teams and play a meaningful schedule in September. Don't tell an OSU fan they play a soft schedule because they will tell you they play Oklahoma in 2016.

No breaks for these guys. No demotions, no nothing. They want it all, let's give them what they want and watch most of the schools get crushed under the weight of their greed. They will want a quasi professional league.... Let's see how they do with it. My guess is they will screw up any structure designed to create an equal playing field, like the NFL does, and there will be only a handful of teams within ten years that have any shot at winning a championship. Let the bubble grow and stay out of the bubble.

Nice. I don't think it would take six months of putting together cause and effect tables together to figure this one out.

They did attack in other ways. They ran a couple of jet sweeps that went nowhere. NIU's WRs rushed the ball last night four times for -10 yards. Take away a -20 yard loss on one play, and they rush 3 times for 10 yards. They ran some pass plays that resulted in poorly thrown passes or drops. I would have like to have seen more option, but NIU just didn't have the talent on offense to compete with a great defense like that. If nothing is working, you go with your best guy and hope for the best. It didn't work out. NIU had to play a perfect game. When the QB displays little ability to throw with the accuracy necessary to win in a BCS game (15/41, 175 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) and the receivers display MAClike catching ability (something I complain about on this site all the time) it doesn't matter what is called. Short of using a catapult to launch players over the FSU d-line into the end zone (only if the game could have been that exciting), they weren't going to move the ball well.

I thought NIU played a pretty good game against a BCS conference champion. If those two teams played ten times, FSU would win 9 of the 10, if not 10 of ten. I don't have a problem with their play calling. NIU went in the game and played their game. It wasn't enough. I thought the players could have played better, but that wouldn't have closed the gap in talent enough to produce a win. FSU beat Wake, BC, Duke and Maryland by larger margins this season.

Upward trends in offensive statistics are good. The explanation of the variance is the calling of a true Jedi.

Screw the big 64. They only play themselves and we only play our division. Only conference winners make the playoffs based on a conference and nonconference record like the nfl. Tie breakers consist of conference record. All first place teams have to play each other the following year. Second place plays second place. Third place plays third place, etc,,it is a method of keeping teams from dominating the division like team like Mt Union do in other divisions with a playoff. Shall we now have the discussion as to why this division should be played in the spring to take advantage of the American love of football?

A national division of these schools excites me. Throw in a playoff and a national championship in that division and what isn't there to get excited about? Does a playoff game or two at the Big Dialer sound like fun? Do meaningful game in September sound fun? All of these things are on their way. It is only a matter of time. I look forward to the future of college football because I think it will free the non bcs schools from the reigns of the bcs schools.

Thank you General Pickett for your spirited defense of a bad plan. Where to begin. Winning in college soccer at a high level is easier for a school like Akron than winning at the highest level in football. Is signing KD a commitment to taking the basketball program to another level beyond where they are now? We will see in the next couple of months. Maybe that contract extension was given too soon. You have an odd view of success vs. failure. Faust never once finished higher than third in the Mac. In three years, they went from third to fifth to ninth. The guy was terrible, contacts and all. Brook hart was a disaster in your view? He won a Mac championship and took us to a bowl game. To say JD had no coaching experience of any kind is a flat out lie. JD was one of the big name offensive coordinators during his time at Pitt. Odd view of what makes success.

Does anyone know how those numbers have changed between December 16th and today?

I'm not a big fan of the Mac, but there is strength in numbers. If we left, who would take us? We left 1Aa years ago alone, and nobody wanted us. It was a disaster. You are going to get your wish. The bcs schools are going to break away. We will be in another division. The reason we need to stay in the Mac is because they are going to be part of a new division. Without them, we are hosed. With them we have a fighting chance with other mAClike conferences. The thing I am most surprised about now is how fast the talk of bcs separation is happening. I thought it would take about ten years, but I can now see it happening in the next five years. Lots of changes in the near future.

I wouldn't follow either. I don't think people on this board appreciate how good non bcs football can be. We can be a contender in a division between bcs and IAA. We have won games against bcs schools before so we have proven we can win at the highest level for at least one game. We could duplicate that level of performance on a weekly basis in an in between division. We may be down right now, but we aren't out.

What if the teams were those now in the Mac along with names like Houston, San Jose State, East Carolina, Marshall, etc.? Our own national division with a playoff and chance for a national championship?

Kind of my point. If it is happening, wouldn't someone be able to prove it? Not make an argument in favor of it, but prove the existence (there is a difference). Newton dropped an apple and proved gravity, or so the story goes. The Earth going around the Sun and not the other way is provable. There are 9,125 hours in a year. Three hours is 0.000329% of a year. Not everyone watching a football game is making a decision on where to go to school. In fact, an aging population shows that most people watching football are not making decisions on where to go to school. It just seems counter intuitive to me that the "exposure" gained from the move to FBS football makes financial sense.