The first half of the 2010 season has seen some brilliance on the part of the reduced-scholarship D-I crowd. We all know what James Madison did to Virginia Tech, and that was just the pinnacle.
But, as much as these FCS-over-FBS wins are nice and all, that’s not what we’re here to discuss. This being the first post, I’m going to give a rundown of relative conference strength among the FCS conferences.
I’m going to rank the conferences based on their total votes in the Sports Network/Fathead Top 25 poll, as that seems the most sensible way to give everyone an idea what’s what. This is more robust than a similar exercise would be for FBS, as there are a LOT more teams receiving votes in the FCS poll than in the FBS poll; this week, seven unranked teams are receiving votes in the FBS AP poll, whereas a whopping thirty-five unranked FCS teams are receiving votes. (Also, the FCS poll has 146 voters, while the AP poll only has 60. Which, of course, is probably why there are so many extra teams receiving votes, yes?)
- Colonial (.354)
- Southern (.140)
- Big Sky (.140)
- Ohio Valley (.091)
- Southland (.071)
- Missouri Valley (.070)
- Mid-Eastern (.061)
- Great West (.038)
- Big South (.017)
- Ivy (.007)
- Pioneer (.005)
- Southwestern (.004)
- Patriot (.001)
- Northeast (.001)
The Colonial, to be horribly blunt, is what the SEC wishes it was. In terms of overall excellence and depth, there’s simply no comparison between the CAA and the rest of FCS; they have five teams in the top ten (actually, five teams in the top eight). Of course, some may question 3-2 Villanova’s presence at #6, but their losses have been legitimate.
The SoCon and Big Sky are literally in a dead heat, with both conferences gaining a total of 6625 votes in the poll. I give the SoCon the #2 spot because it’s deeper in the lower end and has more teams actually in the top 25, but these two conferences are as even as it gets. Plus, the SoCon does have the #1 team in the land, Appalachian State. The Big Sky’s highest-ranked team is #8 Montana State.
The next tier, as you can see, is 4-7. The OVC is where it is because of two highly-ranked teams and a team just outside the top 25; the Southland and Valley are where they are because most of the teams in both leagues are getting some semblance of voter support in the poll. The Valley probably deserves to be higher; their primary problem this year is they’re beating the crap out of one another. You can look at the difference between the OVC and the other two sort of the same way you can look at the Mountain West, I suppose, and you wouldn’t be wrong; the bottom end of the OVC, just like the MWC, is pretty weak. The top end can play with anyone. Our #7 conference, the MEAC, is having a respectable year; in most years, they’d probably still rank #7, but not be quite so close to the tier overall.
The Great West is next, but that league is a transitional holding ground for the most part. It’s losing at least one team next year (South Dakota, to the Valley), and North Dakota might escape, although they’ll probably have to stick around through 2011. Below that, the Big South is (a) not very good and (b) very small, in terms of number of teams.
After those two, you have the non-scholly or limited-scholly leagues. For reasons which should be patently obvious, they’re not going to be as competitive, and as a result it’s really hard to rank them. I would suggest that perhaps the Ivy league is better than it looks based on this, but without trying to segregate the 65-scholarship conferences from the rest, you get a situation where the performance of the rest is affected by too much noise.
There’s one exception, however: the SWAC is just as bad at football as they are at basketball. I really hate having to say it, but it’s true; it’s an endemic problem with many of the HBCU leagues, and it’s a direct result of finances more than anything else. If the HBCUs were better supported overall, they’d probably put up more of a fight on the field.
So, that’s a (somewhat) brief outline of the relative strengths of the conferences. In the future, when I go through and do a weekly conference recap, I’ll do them in that basic order. Before I do that this week, however, allow me to direct you to this week’s top 25.
Okay? Okay. State of the Conferences, which will be briefer this week than in future weeks since I’ve already taken up several hundred words to get here:
Colonial: Delaware and UMass sit in the driver’s seat at the moment. William and Mary and Towson have the week off; all four remaining games involve at least one team in the top 25. The two highest-ranked teams, #2 Delaware and #6 Villanova, get relative cupcake games against, respectively, Rhode Island and Maine. The other two games should be tons of fun: #16 New Hampshire visits #7 James Madison, and #20 Richmond travels to #8 UMass.
Things to know: Rhode Island is apparently contemplating a move to the Northeast Conference. We’ll keep an eye on that. Also, remember that the Big East has “requested” that Villanova consider upgrading their program to FBS.
Southern: Top-ranked Appalachian State and #14 Wofford still haven’t lost in-conference. This week, they get The Citadel and Western Carolina, at home, which should pose no problems. #21 Georgia Southern travels to Chattanooga, where they should actually be underdogs. Furman visits Sanford in the remaining game.
Things to know: Georgia Southern and Appalachian State are both considering a move to FBS.
Big Sky: No, #11 Montana is not in control of this conference this year. Their loss on the red turf at #12 Eastern Washington has left #8 Montana State in sole possession of first place. All three teams are on the road this week, with State visiting Northern Arizona, Montana facing Portland State, and EWU trekking all the way to Greeley, Colorado to take on the UNC Bears. The remaining game involves Weber State visiting hapless Idaho State.
Thing to know: Montana, of course, is now the direct target of WAC expansion.
Ohio Valley: Undefeated, #3 Jacksonville State is not actually in first place in the OVC. That honor falls to #18 Southeast Missouri State, who despite a 5-1 overall record are a half-game up on the Gamecocks in the win column in conference play. SEMO visits Austin Peay in a winnable contest, while Tennessee State visits JvSU. In other games, Eastern Kentucky visits Tenn-Martin, and Tennessee Tech entertains Eastern Illinois.
Things to know: Nothing special.
Southland: Conference play is barely started here, so there’s still a three-way tie at 1-0 atop the standings. SE Louisiana visits Sam Houston State, Texas State should ring up a win hosting Nicholls State, and #5 Stephen F. Austin hosts Central Arkansas. Oh, and McNeese State will go collect a paycheck and a loss in Baton Rouge Saturday. Unless the devil decides Les Miles has had enough of his comedy stylings…
Things to know: Texas State, which was already planning a move to FBS anyway, is among the WAC targets.
Missouri Valley: If you haven’t been paying close attention, this is the league formerly known as the Gateway. You know, the one full of MVC basketball teams, and you couldn’t understand why they didn’t just call themselves the Missouri Valley? Yeah, them.
As I noted above, they’ve been beating the crap out of one another; every team in the league has suffered a conference loss already. The two Dakota schools, who you may remember from their thrilling tour to the Southern Great Plains, are both 1-2, which may give you an idea this league’s not too bad.
South Dakota State visits #15 Southern Illinois; #15 North Dakota State travels to Illinois State; South Dakota hosts #22 Northern Iowa. Games without unranked teams include Missouri State visiting Indiana State, and Western Illinois hosting Youngstown State.
Things to know: South Dakota joins next year. North Dakota will, probably, join later. Once that nasty mascot thing is finally settled once and for all, you know.
Mid-Eastern: There are three distinct levels to this conference this season. There are three teams which stink on ice, three which are mediocre, and three which are pretty good. This week, two of those pretty good teams face off as #10 South Carolina State hosts #23 Bethune-Cookman. Unranked Hampton, also 3-0 in conference, hosts cross-river rival Norfolk State. Florida A&M hosts winless Savannah State in a not-quite-yet-conference tilt, while last place in the MEAC is up for grabs as 0-6 North Carolina A&T pays a visit to 0-5 Delaware State.
Things to know: Twice in the last few years, a team was either supposed to move from this league to FBS (Florida A&M), or was supposed to move to this league from Division II (Winston-Salem State), only to reverse course due to financial considerations. North Carolina Central did make the move from D-II, and Savannah State is in the process of joining the league (formerly independent).
Great West: Not really a league, of course. They have no auto-bid, and won’t be getting one anytime soon since teams use the league as a revolving door. Every team in the conference has won at least two games; every team in the conference has lost at least two games. Despite this, one team is ranked. This weekend, #13 Cal Poly-SLO visits Southern Utah, and South Dakota hosts #22 Northern Iowa in a non-conference game…
Things to know: …which won’t be next year, as the Coyotes join the Valley. North Dakota, of course, hopes to do the same as soon as possible.
Big South: Just started conference play, so nothing’s shaken out yet. #19 Liberty visits VMI, Gardner-Webb visits Charleston Southern, and Coastal Carolina visits winless Presbyterian. Stony Brook travels to 0-5 Lafayette for a non-conference matchup.
Things to know: Campbell is rejoining the Big South next year, but will remain in the PFL for football. The conference is actively seeking another football playing member, as well. This year, for the first time, the Big South champion receives an automatic bid to the tournament, having met NCAA criteria for same.
Ivy League: Unranked Yale, who hosts Fordham in a non-conference game Saturday, leads the standings by half a game at 2-0. In other non-conference tilts, Harvard hosts Lehigh, Dartmouth entertains Holy Cross, and Cornell welcomes Colgate. Brown visits Princeton, and #25 Penn hosts Columbia to round out the weekend slate.
Things to Know: Come on, it’s the Ivy League. Okay… the Ivy League champion technically does get an automatic bid to the playoffs, but traditionally declines.
Pioneer: Dayton and Jacksonville sit atop the standings at 3-0. No conference team is ranked; Jacksonville would be #29, and might crack the top 25 next week as they should pick up a win visiting winless Valparaiso. San Diego travels all the way to New York to face Marist, Dayton visits Butler, Drake is on the road at Campbell, and Davidson treks to Morehead State.
Things to Know: The PFL does not get an automatic automatic bid. (Under NCAA rules, they technically qualify for one, but they have not petitioned to receive one, which is a required step in order to get one.) However, they do get an automatic at-large bid if a team wins 8 games against D-I teams, 2 games against FCS AQ teams, and is ranked in the top 20 of the poll.
Southwestern: No teams are ranked; Grambling would be #30. In the west, Grambling is 4-0, a game up on Texas Southern, who will host the Tigers later in the year in what should probably be the western division title game. Jackson State and Alcorn State, at 2-1 in conference, are a game up on Alabama State. Jackson and Alcorn meet in the regular season finale. This week, action is light; Prairie View hosts D-II Lincoln (MO) in non-conference action, while Alcorn visits Grambling, Jackson hosts Southern (LA), and Alabama A&M travels to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Things to Know: Like the Ivy League, the SWAC technically receives an automatic bid, but does not participate. This is mostly because before they stopped participating, they had never, not even once, won a playoff game.
Northeast: Robert Morris (unranked, would be #36) leads the field at 4-0, a half-game ahead of Central Connecticut State. RMC hosts Albany, while CCSU is idle. Bryant visits Monmouth, Sacred Heart is at Duquesne, and Wagner travels to St. Francis (PA).
Things to Know: The NEC is a limited-scholarship league, offering only 40 scholarships at present. This year, it was finally granted an automatic bid with the expansion of the playoffs to 20 teams.
Patriot: The Patriot league has only played three conference games, all of which have involved Georgetown (2-1), so there’s no clear favorite in play yet. The only conference game this week also involves the Hoyas, as they host Bucknell in their first league game of the year. Other games involve a tour of the Ivy League with Lehigh at Harvard, Colgate at Cornell, Holy Cross at Dartmouth. Lafayette hosts Stony Brook in the remaining game this week.
Things to Know: The Patriot League is a non-scholarship conference, and receives an automatic bid. Fordham is ineligible for the conference title, as they have begun offering football scholarships; however, they continue to play a league schedule (at least through 2012, after which the future is uncertain).
Independents: Just like FBS, there are only three independents in FCS. (Technically there are five, but two of those are teams joining the MEAC — North Carolina Central and Savannah State.) All three independents are in the process of joining conferences, as well; Georgia State and Old Dominion to the Colonial, and Lamar to the Southland. This week, Georgia State hosts NC Central, Lamar hosts South Alabama (who will become an FCS independent next year, as they transition toward full FBS and Sun Belt membership), and Old Dominion is idle.
Things to Know: Already covered, for the most part. Georgia State, of course, is in their first year of football ever, and have received attention due to their appearance on Alabama’s schedule.
And thus ends our initial entry here. Do feel free to comment and offer suggestions, constructive criticism, or even tell me I’m just flat-out wrong.